South American Black Bean Soup

Its finally seeming a little spring like here, even though everything is still buried under many feet of snow.  It was a beautiful day for opening the windows and eating a delicious bowl of soup.  I took this recipe from the same slow cooker cookbook that I take most of my Tuesday meals from 125 Best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes.  I served it with a small green salad and some pita "chips" that took less than 10 minutes to make.  The kids were upset that they hadn't thought of dipping their chips in the soup (the REASON for the chips, lol) until after they finished.  This soup could have used a little more spice but the kids may not have liked it then.

South American Black Bean Soup

Olive Oil

2 chopped onions

3 chopped celery stalks

2 chopped carrots

3 cloves minced garlic

1 chopped jalapeno

1 tsp thyme

2 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp oregano

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cracked black peppercorns

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 can tomato paste

6 cups vegetable stock

4 cups cooked black beans

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

chopped cilantro

*Saute onions, carrots, and celery and cook, until softened, about 5 minutes.

*Add garlic, jalapeno, thyme, cumin, oregano, salt, peppercorns and cayenne and cook for 1 minute.

*Add tomato paste and stir to combine.

*Transfer to stoneware and add stock and beans and stir to combine.

*Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

*Stir in lime juice.

*In the cookbook it says to puree the soup in batches.  I skipped this step today!

*Top with chopped cilantro