Wednesday, September 30, 2009

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??

7 comments:

  1. Hi Rachel,
    I am completely loving your soup recipes! If my husband was a soup guy, our daily menu would be soup or cereal.
    If you want to change your French comment on your soup to a Spanish one, just say, "Que Rica!" (How good, tasty, rich, yummy)

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  2. Thanks for supplying that phrase, Stephanie. In my experience, guys like this soup - as soups go, of course. :)

    "Que Rica!" ~ Rachel

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  3. That picture sure does look intimidating. I guess when we look at all the ingredients it looks like more work than the listing.

    And shall I also say another reason you shouldn't invite fancy people over for this.

    There might not be enough air freshner or enough bathrooms.

    If you add shredded carrots or some baking powder that can eliminate/reduce the effects of beans.

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  4. Paula, don't let the picture scare you - this is very easy to make! Thanks for the carrot or baking powder tip ... and there's always a little product called Beano.

    Y'all let me know if you've got any good recipes posted b/c I'd love to try a new one.

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  5. This sounds yummy... and I'm encouraged to see I'm not the only one who uses lots of canned goods!!! I have a recipe for chicken tortilla soup that is made from almost all canned ingredients and I love it!!! Soup weather has arrived here in Kentucky!!!


    On a different note... Rachel... did you ever make that Pepper Jack egg casserole???? I was thinking 'bout you when I made it for MOPS a few weeks ago... ;o)

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  6. Nice, maybe I should have you be a guest blogger!
    Diane

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  7. Thanks for the recipe. I had everything here on the shelf, it was a cold fall day - midwest - and soup just sounded wonderful. It was sooo easy, and tasted great. I'll be making it again. Since I made it early in the day I just dumped it all in my crock pot.
    Que Rica!
    (I hope que rica is correct. Last time I said "yote amo" to someone, I found out it was more about love than friendship - guess it's all in the translation LOL)

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