Let me start by saying although my hubby (Chris) and I are not vegetarians we do strive to eat more and more meatless meals. But every year when winter rolls around I crave my favorite meals like pot roast, meatloaf, and stuffed cabbage.
After fighting my weight and diabetes for so many years I recently had gastric bypass surgery. It has drastically changed what I eat and as I add more foods back into my diet I have been on the search for more flavor and less meat.
I enjoy making beans from scratch and it doesn’t get any easier than cooking them up in my crock pot. Here is a recipe I found awhile back that has been sitting on my pinterest site just waiting to be tried.
It comes to us via Lindsey Johnson’s blog cafejohnsonia.com
I highly recommend you give this one a try. I did however make a few alterations in mine since we love spices I actually doubled the spice amounts from 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp and added a bit more liquid smoke to taste. I also substituted the paprika for smoked paprika.
Lindsey doe’s recommend that you wait to taste and then add the extra seasoning to taste which is exactly what I did. Also I skipped the section where you puree I was feeling a bit lazy, and I love texture. The Advacado was a perfect topper to the soup I’m not a fan of radishes so I skipped them. Give it a try and tell me what you think. Go Lindsey I’ll be trying some more of your recipes.
Smoky Black Bean Soup
Ingredients:
6 cups cooked black beans (about 4 regular sized cans, drained)
1 tbsp. canola oil
1 onion, diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
1 large stalk celery, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
32 oz. undrained whole or diced tomatoes in juice (I used a quart of tomatoes I bottled from my garden)
1 vegetable bouillon cube plus water to make 2 cups (or 2 cups vegetable stock)
1/2 tsp liquid smoke (I used mesquite)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. paprika (not the spicy kind)
salt, to taste
Diced avocado and thinly sliced radishes, for garnish
Instructions:
In a large pot, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Cook until softened. Add the cumin and paprika and cook for a minute or two longer, until fragrant. Add the black beans, tomatoes, vegetable broth and liquid smoke. Simmer until thickened. Remove about 1/3 of the soup and puree the remaining 2/3 using an immersion blender or in batched in a regular blender. Add the 1/3 back to the pot. Simmer a little longer and taste. Adjust seasonings as needed.
Ladle into cups or bowls. Garnish, if desired.
Makes enough for 4-6 good sized portions.