Hearty Black Bean Soup

I apologize for not posting yesterday. With the twins I have to post when I can and they didn't give me a chance yesterday. I have so many good recipes that I’m going to try and post at least one a day.

Today's recipe is an awesome soup that can easily be made year round, but because of all the beautiful peppers and tomatoes I’ve been getting in my share this week, I decided to make my Hearty Black Bean Soup. It’s a creamy soup, without any cream added and has lots of chunky vegetables. I enjoy it a bit on the spicy side, so if you don't like spice leave out the jalapeno and your soup will be fabulous. From April- November, I get my vegetables through my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), they are super sweet and speak for themselves, so I don't add a lot of spices so I can let them shine. in this recipe aside from the veggies I only use cumin salt and pepper, but if I make it in the winter and I don’t have any of the tomatoes I canned for the season left, I’ll add a teaspoon of taco seasoning to spice it up a bit.

This soup reheats really well in the microwave. My husband ate this for lunch yesterday and told me I had to post and share this recipe next, because it’s too good to keep to myself. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.

I made a pretty big batch last time and didn’t take any pictures, so when I make it again in a few weeks I’ll post some. Sorry but it’s a pretty simple recipe, so you should be able to make it without them.

 

Hearty Black Bean Soup

1 29 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed

1 bell pepper any color cut roughly into 1 inch chunks

1 large tomato cut roughly into 1 inch chunks

1 small onion roughly chopped

3-4 cups of beef stock (can substitute for vegetable stock)

1 jalapeno finely diced

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. cumin

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the onions and cook until just starting to turn golden. This may take up to 10 minutes, but usually takes about 5. Then add the beans, cumin, and jalapeno. Cook for one minute then add remaining ingredients. Cook for 20 minutes. Now comes the creamy part. Take 2 large ladle full of soup and place it in a blender. Blend carefully; you can get burned if you don’t have the lid on securely. Now add back into the soup and stir. Check for salt and pepper. If satisfied serve or allow to cool completely before freezing.

This reheats perfect in a microwave. Just be sure to either loosen or remove the lid so the steam doesn't blow your lid off and splatter soup all over your microwave.

 

*If you want it a little thicker you can add 1 tsp. of corn starch to 1 Tbsp. of cold water, stir together so there are no lumps and add to soup.