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

Potato Soup

I know.  Potato Soup?  Really?  Yes, really.  It's pretty spectacular and REALLY easy.  Like make it tomorrow easy.  Really.

It comes from this recipe, but I changed it just a little
http://www.food.com/recipe/unbelievably-easy-potato-soup-74275

For each person:
Cut up and put into a small pan:
One decent sized potato (you can peel them, but why?  It makes the soup harder to make and takes out some of the nutrients.  I say - Keep the skins!)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped celery.

Put in water that doesn't quite cover the vegetables and bring to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer until the vegetables are tender (maybe 10 minutes?).  Drain them a little, but don't feel like you need to get all of the water out.  Then mash up your vegetables with a fork or potato masher.

Add:
1/4-1/2 cup half and half - basically until it's to the consistency you like your soup.
Plenty of salt and pepper (If you think the soup doesn't have much flavor, just add some more salt.  Remember that there isn't any salt in the recipe up to this point, so you can control the taste and sodium content).

Heat it a little more and enjoy!

See, I said it was easy :-).

-Jennifer

Cream of Mushroom Soup

This recipe showed up on our Thanksgiving table about 10 years ago. 

Dan and I were still living in Dallas, TX when we ate at a great restaurant on Greenville Avenue.  I think it was call "The Grape" or something like that.  I'm not sure what made me order it, but I ordered their Cream of Mushroom soup.  Once I had it, I couldn't believe that Campbell's soup had the audacity to call their condensed soup by the same name!  I had to search out a recipe and thankfully, my Joy of Cooking provided.

Here's the recipe with a few modifications:

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Heat over high heat until the butter is melted:
3 1/2 T. Olive Oil
1 T. butter

Add:
1/2 cup chopped shallots
1 1/2 pounds mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
I prefer about 1/2 of them to be some type of wild mushrooms.  We've used dried before.  If you need to do that, just purchase a couple of ounces of dried and reconstitute them by putting them in hot water for about 30 minutes.  Save the water and use it as part of the stock for the soup.

Cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are wilted (about 5 minutes)
Add:
3 T. dry sherry
1 t. dried thyme or 1 T. fresh thyme

Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, scraping the bottom of the pan.
Stir in:
6 cups chicken broth (or any vegetable broth - sub in the mushroom reconstituting water for some of it, if you have it)  If you like soup really thick, cut this down to 4 1/2 cups.
1/2 t. salt
3/4 t. pepper

Bring to a boil, reduce to medium to simmer for 20 minutes.  I usually make this very early in the day and let it sit after this step.  Soup almost always benefits from sitting a little.
Just before serving, heat the soup to a simmer and add:
1/2 c. heavy cream
maybe a little more salt

Serve in warmed bowls with a thyme or parsley garnish.

-Jennifer