Adapted from Whole Foods Market.  Simple black bean soup. Downloaded from the web on March 6, 2011.

My Comment While I prefer preparing beans over canned beans (be sure to rinse off that gelatinous goo), it sometimes is a challenge to get my act together enough to soak and cook the beans. This time I soaked the beans all day, but when it came time for cooking, I neglected to forward think the 2 hour cooking time! No problem – we ate our “pick up meal” of veggie burgers and finished the soup for the next night. Served with a nice plonk-priced bottle of Cabernet.

Ingredients

1 pound dried beans (about 2 1/2 cups) rinsed
2 medium onions, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 TBSP ground cumin
1 tsp ground chipotle pepper (worth the purchase – it was delicious!)
2 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro
2 TBSP nutritional yeast
1 TBSP lime juice
1/2 ripe avocado, chopped

Method

1. Soak the beans overnight or for 6-8 hours prior to cooking. Drain and rinse.

2. In large pot, bring 1/2 cup water to a simmer over medium high heat. Add onions, bell pepper and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent and beginning to brown (about 10 minutes). Stir in cumin and chipotle and cook 1 minute stirring.

3. Add drained beans and 10 cups of water. Bring soup to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until beans are tender.

4. Remove 4 cups soup and carefully puree in a blender (or use your hand blender to partially puree right in the pot). Return puree to the pot and stir in cilantro, nutritional yeast and lime juice.

5. Spoon into bowls for serving and garnish with avocado.

Servings = 8. Weight Watcher Points = 3.