Thursday, January 15, 2009

DarcyLee's Black Bean Soup

I found this recipe via the Grocery Cart Challenge, and told DarcyLee that I would be trying it out this week. I did make a few changes to it, which I'll note below.

Black Bean and Salsa Soup

I used a pound of dried black beans for this. I rinsed them and put them in the crockpot, filled it with water, and left them to cook on low for 11 hours (overnight). I drained them, and rinsed them, and then put them in the fridge until it was time to maker dinner.
For the broth, I defrosted 2 cups of homemade chicken stock. I pureed the black beans and stock together in my blender - it took about 3 batches to puree all of them. In to the last batch, I added 1/2 cup of salsa fresca and 2 chopped roma tomatoes. I used a lot less salsa than DarcyLee's recipe called for because Sabrina and Niko are both very picky about spicy food. I also only used 1 tsp of cumin (and could still smell it very heavily), and also added in 1 tsp of garlic powder and 1 tsp of onion powder. The soup seemed very thick at this point, probably because I didn't add as much salsa, so I poured in half a can of fat-fee reduced-sodium chicken broth. I brought this to a simmer and let it cook until the hubby got home from work... probably about 30 minutes.
For toppings, I served lime wedges, shredded cheese (Mexican blend, cheddar jack), chopped cilantro, chopped green onions, sour cream, and tortilla strips. To make the tortilla strips, I took a stack of 4 corn tortillas, cut them in half, and then cut each half into half-inch thick slices. Fry them up until golden brown, and drain on a paper towel. This gave it a nice bit of crunch and chewiness like in a tortilla soup.
Everyone really enjoyed it, saying that it tasted like a bean burrito in a bowl. My hubby told me to include it in our binder of family recipes, but to make a note to double the recipe next time. Everyone wanted seconds, and there just wasn't enough!
Thanks for the great idea, DarcyLee. We love trying out new recipes.

4 comments:

DarcyLee said...

I'm so glad you tried the recipe and I'm really glad that your family liked it. It's a recipe that you can play with by adding or taking away whatever you want.

Darlene - Our Creative Life said...

Thanks for the blog advice & for entering our giveaway! I just added ways for you to get extra enties in our giveaway...come by and check it out. Ok so I'm off to check out your blog!

Take Care
Darlene

The Hat Chick said...

Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog and sharing.

whitsend6 said...

Hey,
Just saw your comment on my blog and wanted to let you know that you actually are a winner even though you weren't in the first 3 comments. One lady doesn't have a blog and another either doesn't have one or it's private so I have no way of contacting her. Anyway, if you're interesting in doing the challenge on your blog then email me your name and address and you'll be getting your handmade gift from me. (as soon as I finish making it that is!) Oh, and the picture was of a barely started crocheted purse...good guess!
Thanks and look forward to hearing from you.