Recipe #4: Black Bean Soup

Yesterday we got off work a bit early because of the weather. I went to the bookstore and bought knitting magazines and the pet store and bought pet things. Then I went home and started Recipe #4.

Pretend that I intended for the pictures to be all steamy. I call them "action shots."

I've never been a huge bean fan, but I've been learning to like them over the past year. I'm working on consciously trying new foods. I never really liked nuts, but now I do. I never really liked beans, but now I do.* I'm not sure if this is because I need to like them for my health or because I actually do like them, but I'm pragmatic enough not to care.

Panera has really good black bean soup, and it's low in Weight Watcher points. Emily showed me this recipe and made her version, which she insists is better than Panera's. I decided to try it as well.

It took a very long time to make. We ate stir fry because the soup took three and a half hours to make and I would have wilted away by then. Most of that is unattended, but still. That's a long time.

It's basically black beans, bell pepper, onion, lots of spices, veg. broth, cooking wine, and water. I might be tempted to just soak the beans overnight next time instead of bringing them to a boil for an hour, having them sit for half an hour, simmering them for another hour, etc...




The bites I had from the pot were quite good. I'm looking forward to having some tonight with some multigrain bread popped under the broiler**.

I wish I could be more effusive about it. I know it's a mistake to blog about it before really eating a bowl of it, but I'm so pleased to have another new recipe attempt made that I couldn't wait. I'll let you know the full verdict tomorrow.

*I never really liked grapefruit, but now I like grapefruit Jelly Bellies. See how I'm growing?

**and Bean-O