Black Bean Soup

I had a pile of black beans left after making a tostada bar and wanted an easy supper last night.  Viola!  Black Bean Soup!

This is the recipe I used
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/black_bean_soup.html

I am paring down the ingredients here so that it won't make black bean soup for you and the rest of your schoolmates :-).

In a medium saucepan, heat:
1 t. canola oil

Add and saute for a couple of minutes:
1/2 of a small onion, chopped (onion freezes well.  Chop the whole thing and stick the rest in a freezer ziploc for the next time you need chopped onion)

Add and saute for a minute:
1/2 T. chili powder
1/2 t. cumin

Then add:
1 15-oz.can black beans (the original recipe says to drain and rinse, I just dumped the whole thing in a cut down a little on the other liquid)
1 1/2 c. chicken broth or water
1/4 c. salsa (we used medium Hy-Vee Salsa, but pick your favorite brand)

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer (just barely bubbling) for about 10 minutes.
(At this point, it seemed a little thin to me, so I took a little of the liquid out, stirred some masa into what I had pulled out and added it back into the soup)

Pull out about 1/2 of the soup and puree it in the blender or use an immersion blender to puree the soup just a little.  Make sure to leave chunks!

Serve with a little fresh lime juice, sour cream, avocado or guacamole, or salsa.  These are all optional.  It's pretty tasty without these.

*If you've never pureed hot soup in a blender, beware! You can blow the top off if you're not careful.  Put the soup in, remove the middle part of the blender lid, cover that with a paper towel and  hold it down on the sides (so you don't burn yourself).  Blend away!

Hope you enjoy it!

-Jennifer