Kickin' Black Bean Soup

This recipe got its legs from the best black bean soup recipe I ever found on All Recipes. I only kept the legs, mind you.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds black beans, cooked, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable, chicken, or ham stock
• 1 1/2 cups favorite salsa
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. dry cilantro
• 3 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. or more cayenne powder
• juice of 1/2 lime
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 Tbsp. sour cream for garnish
• 2 thinly sliced green onions for garnish

Directions

1. Throw all but the last 4 ingredients in your 4-quart crock pot. You need just enough broth to barely cover the beans and no more. (Too much and the soup will be too thin.)
2. Cook on high 1 hour and then low for 5-6 hours.
3. Scoop out one cup of beans to reserve.
4. Use an immersion blender (or food processor or potato masher) to puree remaining beans.
5. Stir in whole, reserved beans.
6. Add lime juice, salt and pepper to taste and stir together, simmering an additional 15-30 minutes.
7. Garnish with sour cream and green onion to serve. Tortilla strips are a nice touch too

I serve this regularly, often with quesadillas for dipping. The whole family loves this! Nick prefers it with more whole beans and the rest of us love it pureed more. Just play with it to get it right for you.

Zesty Lentil Soup

My lentil soup gets a lot of play in this house, and a lot of praise wherever it goes!

It is such an easy recipe and tastes so fabulous that I thought I'd share it here. Served alongside my homemade bread (did I post that recipe yet?) it is a perfect, nutritious meal.

Ingredients

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 large carrots, finely chopped

2 large stalks celery, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

4 tsp. Italian Seasoning (or combine oregano, basil, and parsley)

3-5 dashes cayenne powder

1 large bay leaf

1 can diced tomatoes

2 cups dry lentils, rinsed (any variety of lentils. I combine 3 varieties)

1/3 c. raw quinoa, rinsed (optional but kicks up the nutrition and thickens the soup)

6-8 c. water or stock (stock is better)

1 c. fresh spinach, sliced

zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon

salt and pepper to taste

Balsamic vinegar to drizzle and serve (MAKES the dish!)

Directions

I clean and roughly chop my veg and then throw them in the food processor to get a very fine chop, and then I puree the tomatoes.

Throw all but the last 4 ingredients into a 4-quart crock pot. Cook on high for 2 hours, then low for an additoinal 4-6 hours. In the last 1/2 hour of cooking time, add your sliced spinach and lemon juice and zest. Salt and pepper the soup to taste. When serving, drizzle the Balsamic vinegar (we use a yummy pomegranate-infused Balsamic) over the soup. Enjoy!!!

This is a very easy recipe to double and serve a crowd or put away in the freezer for another day, which I just love to do! This is a very healthy meal, but don't let that turn you off. Even if you don't like lentils or THINK you don't like lentils, this could change your mind.