Black Bean Soup

On occasion, I like to cook.  One of those times is when I'm listening to a good book because it's easy to cook and listen.  I also have to be under no pressure to have anything done by a certain time or for company.  It just has to be a relaxing, enjoyable experience.
I like to make soups and desserts and today was a soup day.  It was a little chilly so it seemed like a perfect soup day.   The other day Audrey asked me if I had a Black Bean soup recipe and I remembered the one I got from Ann a number of years ago after I had it at one of her multi-soup dinners.  Last winter I bought a case (6 pack) of Black Beans but never made the soup so I just had to get some of the fresh ingredients to go with it and I did that after Yoga this morning.

I sort of doubled the recipe, sort of because I only had 7 cans of beans, not 8 and I only used one can of corn.  If I'm going to create a mess and spend the time cooking, I believe in making enough for lots of leftovers.  We had it for dinner tonight and I froze the 6 quarts that were left.

Black Bean Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 1 stalk celery, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 4 cloves garlic, chopped 2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 pinch black pepper 4 cups vegetable broth 4 (15 ounce) cans black beans 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn 1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
2. Saute onion, celery, carrots and garlic for 5 minutes.
3. Season with chili powder, cumin, and black pepper; cook for 1 minute.
4. Stir in vegetable broth, 2 cans of beans, and corn.
5. Bring to a boil.
6. In a food processor or blender, process remaining 2 cans beans and tomatoes until smooth.
7. Stir into boiling soup mixture, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 15 minutes.