Green Bean Soup

Ingredients

3 ½ cups of vegetable stock (see our recipe for Vegetable Stock)

½ cup of onion, chopped

½ a vanilla bean, split lengthwise

3  tablespoons soft butter

3  tablespoons  all-purpose flour

3 to 3 ½ cups green beans, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces

1. In a dutch oven, bring the broth, onion, and vanilla bean to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until onion is tender. Discard vanilla bean.

2. In a small bowl, stir together the butter and flour. Whisk into broth mixture. Cook and stir until slightly thickened.

3. Add beans to broth mixture. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. If desired, garnish with steamed green beans.

Serves 6 to 8.