Black Bean Soup - Home Cooked Recipe 55

Weather is finally getting chillier here in FL (we actually reached 45 this past weekend -whoah!) and it's time to start cooking the recipes I reserve for winter cooking.  In addition to making old favorites, I like to try new ones as well.  Also, I am looking for meatless and/or gluten free recipes and this recipe for black bean soup fits the category!

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 can black beans
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups chicken broth (use vegetable broth to make this recipe vegetarian)
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cajun or creole seasoning

Directions:
Saute onion and carrots in 2 tbs olive oil until soft and tender (5-10 minutes).  Add in garlic and saute another minute.  Add salt and pepper, as well as creole/cajun seasoning at this stage.  Pour in 2 cups of broth and cook at a boil for 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to simmer and stir in beans, tomatoes, and remaining broth.  Simmer on low for 15 - 30 minutes.  I served mine with yellow rice and a caesar salad, but white rice, another kind of salad, and bread also make great additions to make this soup a main meal.  Hint, use a couple dashes of hot sauce to spice up this soup if you/your family can handle the heat.
I used an immersion blender to partially puree the soup.  You can also use a blender or food processor.  I would only puree half the soup though, you want some texture by leaving the other half unprocessed.
Enjoy!