School Night Recipe: Best Black Bean Soup

Meal Monday

It's actually kind of cold today. I'm wearing long pants and a hoodie and socks. OMG, summer is over! Cedar has started preschool -- which is bittersweet, of course -- and the days are getting shorter. Leisurely meals on the deck are behind us; we have to focus on how to get easy, nutritious meals on the table stat. Time to pull out my black bean soup recipe! 
 
In these times of lean economics and fatty bums, a lot of us could do with incorporating more beans into the weekly menu. They are cheap (99 cents a can, wow!), easy (especially if you are slack like me and only use canned beans), and super nutritious. A single cup of black beans has almost 15 grams each of protein and fiber, and only 1 gram of fat. They are also as rich in cancer-preventing flavonoids as the lauded red wines (although without the fun side effects). Remember, to form a complete protein, pair beans with a grain of some sort.
 
If you have difficulty at the bottom end of things, soaking and rinsing beans (this means using dried) or using beano can assuage some of the issues. Definitely worth the trouble to keep beans in the dietary mix.

So now that I've reminded you of the black bean's status as a super food, here is my super easy and delicious black bean soup recipe. My very non-vegetarian family loves this stuff, and my very non-Martha stepmom actually makes it on a regular basis. What other convincing do you need?

Black Bean Soup Recipe

What you need:

1 large onion, chopped

2 tbsp. olive or vegetable oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 jalapeño, diced or a pinch of cayenne

2 25 oz. cans black beans, with liquid

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 5 oz. bag baby spinach

Lime wedges

Chopped cilantro

Plain yogurt or sour cream

What to do:

Sauté the onions in oil over medium-high heat until translucent.  Add garlic, cumin, oregano and jalapeño or cayenne. Sauté, stirring, for one minute. Pour in beans and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Add salt to taste. Simmer for at least 5 and up to 30 minutes. A couple minutes before serving, mix in the spinach and put the lid on. Give the spinach a minute to wilt and then ladle into bowls. Garnish generously with lime and sprinkle on the cilantro. Plop on a dollop of yogurt. Yum!

I am way into eating my soup with cornbread these days, but you could serve it over rice or quinoa, or alongside bread, tortilla chips or crackers. Makes great leftovers, too!

Comments

[recipe cooker]

can I make this soup without the tomatoes?

[Meagan]

Beans are one of my favorite high-protein fillers. I often toss them in a pan with turkey or chicken sausage and a can of rotel tomatoes for an easy and fast weeknight meal.

[Emily Rodman]

Certainly you can leave out the tomatoes. You can do whatever you want, it's your soup! To make up for the lost flavor, you could try adding some chopped carrots and/or a bit of red wine or balsamic vinegar.

[Emily Rodman]

Thanks for the kudos. They are very much appreciated.