Ditto to Dharma, and J.W.!! I could live on just soups alone. And bean soups are my favorite. I especially love Great Northern, and Butter beans, and Lima beans. I make a killer Lima Bean soup! I cook the Lima Beans, till just about done, Oh yeah, I usually use two packages of frozen Lima Beans. If you have fresh from the garden ones Great! Anyway, I cook them till they are almost done, and then cut up a sweet onion, and sometimes, if I can get them, a Leek, you know like "Julia Childs" said, on one of her cooking shows, quite some time back ...... "First you take a Leek" ..... Anyway, sometimes I will also add a Leek, and dice it up, and either put in a half to a pound of non cured bacon, or Hillshire Farms smoked beef sausage. But I normally use the uncured bacon, because the sausage ingredients, reads like a Jr. Chemistry set. But if you don't mind that, then use it. Then I make a roux (Roo) of the bean broth, and flour, and onion, and garlic powder, and a dash or two of McCormicks original chicken, or just use Old Bay if you can't find the original chicken seasoning. Then I put in a few liberal dashes of McCormicks, Smokehouse maple, seasoning. Oh, when cooking the beans, I put a cup and a half, of water, and a cup and a half of Half, and Half cream. Salt and pepper, to taste. I do all this by taste. I also mash, or take some of the cooked Lima Beans out of the pot, and puree them, and put them back into the pot. If you can get them, use the Ford Hook, type of Lima Bean, they are the big ones. It has a much more rich flavor. Anyway, baby ones, will work also. I have had people who absolutely hated Lima Beans, ask for the recipe, after eating two or three helpings. It is a very rich, and flavorful soup. Not something for dieting, but as my Buddy's Wife calls it, it is Comfort food. Try it, and you will like it.
Wayne