Black Bean Soup

This soup is souper simple! Ha get it? Ok. I know. That was lame. As a family we are trying to eat less meat. It's just a health thing my husband and I have decided on. We try to make sure that about 90% of our meals lately are meatless. It's been hard! But this soup is tasty and comes with a kick!

Black Bean Soup
adapted from Betty Crocker


1- medium onion, finely diced
1- large clove garlic, finely diced
1- tbs olive oil
1- large celery stalk, chopped
1- large carrot, peeled and chopped
2- 14.5 oz cans vegetable broth
1- tsp dried oregano
1/2 to 1 tsp red pepper flakes (depending on preference)
2- 15 oz canned black beans, rinsed and drained
Lemon wedges








In a large saucepan, add olive oil, onion and garlic over medium high heat. Cook until onion is tender and translucent. Once onion is tender and translucent pour in vegetable broth and add the celery, carrots, oregano and red pepper flakes. Heat until boiling and then reduce heat so that the soup is simmering. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until carrots and celery are tender and easily pierced with a fork. While the soup is simmering drain and rinse the black beans. Reserve some beans to be mashed with a fork about 3/4 of a cup. Once celery and carrots are tender stir in the black beans and the mashed black beans in to the soup. Let the soup simmer for another 5-ish minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.

Yum!

Serves 4-6

Pumpkin Chili

I've been pinning lots of yummy looking food on my pinterest account, but my goal is to actually make an item off my board. This pumpkin chili is one of them. I was a little apprehensive to make it. Pumpkin? In chili? It seems that pumpkin is usually paired with something sweet. But you couldn't even taste the pumpkin flavor. It was sweeter than typical chili.

The recipe calls to make it on the stove, but I browned the onions and beef and then tossed everything in the crock pot and put it on low all day. You can do either depending on the time you have.

Pumpkin Chili
adapted from Whole Foods

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 jalapeños, seeded and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 pound ground beef
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with their liquid
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin purée
1 cup water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add onion, jalapeños and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add beef and cook until browned. Add tomatoes, pumpkin, water, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and add beans. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes more. Ladle chili into bowls and serve.

Butternut Squash Soup

I'm alive, I promise. And I have been cooking meals, but honestly nothing that's blog worth. We've been busy. The husband is interviewing like crazy. And so far has four more interviews that he has to fly to. So when he's gone I don't really make dinner.

A couple weeks ago we had a few days of cooler weather, like in the 60s. It was time for soup. Squash are my favorite vegetables. They are cheap, last a long time and you can dress them up so many different ways. This time I used a butternut squash. They are tricky to cut, so unless you are strong I recommend letting the husband/boyfriend cut it for you. This soup had a nice kick to it because of the jalapeno, but it's not too bad.

2 T butter
1/2 onion, diced
2 t ginger
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 butternut squash-peeled, seeded and cubed
2 c chicken broth
1 evaporated milk
1 t sugar
salt and pepper
1 c sour cream

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in onion, ginger and jalapeno pepper; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 7 minutes. Add the butternut squash and chicken broth, and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until squash is tender. Stir in evaporated milk, sugar, salt and pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes. CAREFULLY, pour soup into a blender. Hold the lid of blender with towel and start to blend. Puree in batches (I was able to do it all at once in my blender), or if you have a hand blender you can blend it in the pot. Serve with sour cream.

Chicken Taco Soup

We love this soup. We made this awhile ago and I literally ate taco soup every meal for about 4 days. I got this recipe from my neighbor Ruth Boulton. She brought us this as a meal after I had my baby this past January. I had to have the recipe. The best part is you probably already have most of the ingredients in your pantry right now!



Chicken Taco Soup
From Ruth Boulton

1 can diced tomatoes with juice
1 can corn with juice
1 can kidney beans with juice
1 can black beans with juice
2 cans cream of potato soup
3 chicken bouillon cubes
2-3 cups water
1/2 - 1 package reduced sodium taco seasoning
4 chicken breasts cooked and shredded

Directions:
Cook and shred chicken breasts. Add all ingredients in to a crock pot. Cook on high for 3 hours. Serve. If desired top with cheese, Fritos, and sour cream.

Serves 4-6

Notes: This can taste pretty salty with all of the ingredients especially if you add cheese and chips. Go for the reduced sodium items. Check labels and make sure your canned items don't have any unnecessary sodium added.