black bean soup

First things first.  I am very much a soup person.  Soup is just so versatile!  You can make thousands of versions of just black bean soup alone.  I am a huge fan of soups where you dump whatever you have in your kitchen into a pot.  Nothing is easier, and somehow ALWAYS delicious.  I'm pretty sure I've only made soup once or twice in my life that I didn't really care for.  And that says a lot given my sometimes wild experimentation.  This particular soup can be pureed ( as I did) or not, if you instead dice your veggies.  It just depends on your mood.  I just find pureed soup lends itself much easier to having bread dipped in it.  Yum.  I used the bread from the previous post.

Cut up your veggies and place them in an oven safe bowl.  Roast them in the oven for 45 minutes, until they are tender but not browned.

Add all your ingredients into your pot and cook until everything has softened, and your kitchen smells heavenly.  Use a blender or immersion blender to puree your soup.  Simmer a bit longer if you like your soup thicker.  It will also thicken more when eaten as leftovers.

I'm still trying to figure out the color filters on the food setting of my camera, so bear with me.  The color in these pictures is not true.  They are both a bit too bright.


ingredients:
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 C tomato slices
2 carrots, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 28 oz. carton chicken broth (or substitute veggie broth)
2 cans black beans
2 tsp garlic
2 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
salt to taste
pepper to taste
2 tsp cornstarch (optional)
directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Chop the veggies and place them in a oven safe dish tossed with the olive oil.  Roast for 45 minutes.
2. If pureeing, place all ingredients in blender, and blend, or use an immersion blender.  Otherwise dump everything into a pot.  Heat on medium until hot.  If you prefer thicker soup add a little cornstarch mixed into 1/4 cup water, and combine into the soup.  Serves 4-6.