Black Bean Soup

  Its the best part of my day finally!  Sittin’ here sipping my tea and eating my daily dark chocolate peanut butter cup.  I alternate between the peanut butter ones and the almond butter ones.  Always dark chocolate, always delicious.  Eric is in town picking up more garage supplies – hopefully, for the last time.  Figured it might be a wise idea to finish up the siding to make it presentable to buyers.  Picky, picky! 

Not too many photos today for ya!  It raining all day today, so the light in here was crap for food pics (not that its every that great anyway) and my purdiest subject wasn’t in the mood for photos.  And she had the cutest outfit ever today too!  Boo, Avery!  Boo!  I managed to at least take a picture of her before we left for school this morning.  She does NOT like things on her head, so this hood is a waste on her.  What a shame.

Still won’t let me do her hair.  One day she’ll be sorry about that.  I just know it.

Sigh, the house is un-officially up for sale.  Un-officially because its not yet up on the MLS.  I suspect it will be by tomorrow though.  Makes me feel sad seeing this picture.  I’ve really come to like it here.  If only we were 20 minutes closer to Brainerd.    Oh well, I’m sure we’ll find something even more fabulous.  For now, the “fun” begins.  Ha.

So, did I mention how much I love the Chop Wizard?  Yes, I think I did.  Here.  And here.

Seriously, this thing rocks.  Here I was holding out for my sous chef to get bigger (and safely handle knives on his own) and now I don’t have to wait!  Its so fast!  And the best part is – NO TEARS!  I don’t even have to wear my fun onion goggles anymore.  Wait a minute – I like wearing those.  Dang!  Stupid cool chopper!

Well, I repurposed last nights peppers and thru in some carrots to my usual black bean soup.  I absolutely love this soup.  Soooooo good.  A touch spicy, but not too spicy for kids.  Our kids, anyway.  The sour cream on top always does a good job of toning it down though if does accidently get too spicy.  Yeah, so I don’t always measure the spices.  Whatever!  We

had some crusty bread with it for dipping purposes.  Seriously satisfying dinner.  My tummy was happy.   Here’s the recipe:

Black Bean Soup

Adapted from Cooking Light, September 2008

1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed

1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 15 ounce can reduced sodium chicken broth
2 celery stocks – chopped

1 small onion – chopped
1 tsp cumin (or more, if you’re like me – just dump some in!)
1 tsp chipotle chile powder (DON’T dump this in.  Its HOT.  Actually, if you want to be on the safe side – do 1/2 tsp.) 
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic – chopped
Today I added chopped green pepper and shredded carrots.  Sometimes I add red pepper.  Any veggie can go in here, really.  I sometimes add chicken or bacon too. 

You can either do this on the stovetop or throw it all in your crockpot and let it simmer.  If you do it on the stovetop – saute up the veggies and garlic with the spices first and then add the tomatoes, beans and broth.  Finally, (and this part is important for those who are afraid of vegetables or have children) blend it up in either your food processor, blender or use an immersion blender (I just bought one today and it was awesome for this purpose!) to blend it all up.  No one will have a CLUE what they are eating and trust me – they’ll eat it.  Its good stuff.  We put sour cream and cheese on top. Sometimes I do avocado and chips in mine instead of the cheese and sour cream.  This soup is really versatile and super tasty!  Enjoy!

Time for tv!  Woohoo!