It is freezing outside so I was home all day. Bear is still staying with his parents until tomorrow so I'm just here by myself. Mostly, I read or watch "Supernatural" (I'm halfway through Season 2) or BBC News. But this morning I was also cooking since I decided to make black bean soup.
I got a hand blender for Christmas from Bear's parents so now I can really try different recipes and my Mom brought me a bag of black beans last month so black bean soup it was. I never really made beans, just peas, so I spent some time yesterday looking up directions for best dry bean cooking and soup recipes.
And as I was making the soup today, I decided that this year, or at least until July, I'm going to try to make a different soup every week. I normally stick to split pea soup and occasionally chicken soup. And one time I made butternut squash soup (which is why I wanted a blender). So I want to branch out and try new things. So Soup Project 2014 sounds like a fun idea to me.
Soup Project 2014: Soup 1 - Vegan Black Bean Soup I used
this recipe from All Recipes website (I love that website) as a base but I played pretty lose with it. Instead of using cans of beans I used 1/2 pound of dry black beans. I soaked them overnight and then made them in Dutch Oven with a little garlic, onion and carrot. I put more celery and carrots into the actual soup and didn't use any more garlic. Then, instead of 2 tbs of chili powder, I only put in 1 tablespoon since I wasn't sure how spicy I wanted it. Instead of vegetable broth, which I don't have, I used water and the liquid from the cooked beans. And I simmered for longer.
Result: very good, nice amount of spiciness for me. I like the tomato, bean, carrot and corn combo. Next time I can make it with some beef too. And now there is lots of soup for the week.
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