confessions of a soup-lover

hello, my name is robyn, and i am a soup-aholic.

i have soup for dinner at least three nights a week. i just love, love, love soup. sometimes i do store-bought, but i really prefer to mix up my own when i have the time, or can't justify stopping at panera (they have super-yummy vegetarian options almost daily and you can get them in a bread bowl - pinky fingers up!)

anywho...yesterday i decided i was in the mood for black bean soup (we just bought a bulk carton of black beans and yummy produce at the farmers' market - woot!), so i mixed up what i thought was a pretty good estimation of what you can get at panera (which is where i first had black bean soup, and it was awesome and life-changing). this is approximately what i did (give or take. i'm lousy at measuring and keeping track, as previously stated):

super-easy, quick-n-yummy, black bean soup

• 2 cans black beans
• one large tomato, diced
• one medium green bell pepper, diced
• one medium onion (yellow or red - i had yellow on hand), diced
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp cumin (or more. i think i used more. i love me some cumin)
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• dash of black pepper
• several blops (that's a technical term) of green tobasco
• some cilantro (because i can never use an entire dealy of cilantro, i've resigned myself to using this paste-stuff that they have in our produce section. it's not as good as fresh, but better than nothing), to taste
• one veggie boullion (sp?) cube + about 2 cups water (you could probably use one can veggie broth and some water, but i was cutting corners)

the how to:

saute the onion and pepper with a little olive oil cooking spray until they're soft. add the tomato. stir. talk to the boy. tell him to stop grabbing your legs. start fixing husband's dinner. add the black beans and stir. add your seasonings and stir. put the boy in the jumpster. tell him it won't be long until dinner. give him some cheerios. hope the husband comes soon to rescue the boy who is feeling dejected. add the water and boullion cube. stir. let simmer. finish making husband's dinner. heat up the boy's dinner. using your blender (i have one of those wand dealies that i used), blend up all or part of the soup so it thickens up as desired (i like mine a bit chunky still.) call the boys to dinner. serve the boy his dinner. let the husband get his own dinner. serve yourself. enjoy.

note: this makes about three good-size servings, or two dinners for me :)

image via here. i wished mine was so photogenic, but it's not. it's probably just as tasty though.