Souper Dinner south of the border

Ready to head a little south of the border? Here's the recipe, as promised, for my black bean soup. This one is good loaded up at the end with shredded cheese and sour cream. But let me warn you, you may not want to invite fancy company over to eat it with you. Once that cheese is all melty, it can get a bit messy!

You already know I'm not great about having exact recipes but here is an ingredient list:

chicken broth - 1 can or 1/2 a carton

salsa - 3/4 cup (I much prefer Pace chunky picante, even though Chi Chi's is pictured)

diced or petite diced tomatoes - 1 can undrained (or use fresh)

chopped onion - 1 small to medium

black beans - 2 cans

white beans - 1 or 2 cans of great northern, navy, pinto or white kidney, drained

red beans - 1 can of light red kidney

****

cumin - to taste, maybe 2 teaspoons

red pepper flakes - to taste, maybe 1 teaspoon

sea salt - to taste

sour cream - to taste

shredded cheese - Mexican blend or cheddar, added to taste

tortilla chips - well you can't have just one, now can you?

Directions:

Chop the onion. (If y'all could see me doing this you would laugh - I'm so bad with a knife. But don't tell anybody that because grabbing one is my big plan should a robber ever break in. I don't want him knowing I'm more likely to cut myself with it.)

Dump one can of black beans, undrained, into a blender or food processor and blend to a thick baby food consistency. This will give the soup both flavor and body. (Note, this will look yucky. See below. Do it anyway.)

Combine all ingredients - except the to-taste ingredients - in a soup pot and heat to a slow boil, or until the onion softens and it is heated well throughout. Add spices to taste.

*I like to do this the day before then refrigerate overnight and rewarm the next day. Soup always tastes better the second day. But this one is still good the first night.

Serve with the chips, cheese, and sour cream on the table so each person can add as much as they want to their bowl - the more you add, particularly of the sour cream, the more it cuts the "spice factor." In our family, we load it up with cheese! Then one of us crushes their chips into their bowl, another one uses their chips as a spoon, and one of us puts a spoonful of soup in their mouth and then takes a big bite of chip. I'll leave it to you to figure out how to eat it. But you'll need napkins no matter your method.

And Voila!

Oh wait, that's French not Mexican ... anybody know the Spanish word for voila??