Black Bean Soup (V)

Hi there! Another soup, can you tell I love soup? :) This was delicious! My husband thought it was a bit spicy but I thought it was barely spicy which was strange for us, so if you aren't sure then I would suggest adding the seasonings a little bit at a time and trying it before you add it all in. This makes a big batch of soup and you could half it if you wanted and still have plenty, or just have leftovers which will get eaten I'm sure! Hope you like it, I did :) I think I orginally had a black bean soup recipe from veg web and then altered it to fit our tastes, anyway here it is:

Makes a lot, at least 10 cups:

4 (15 ounce) cans black beans, or 1lb dry beans soaked over night

4 cups vegetable broth

1 large onion

1 stalk celery (optional)

2 large carrots

1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, or 1 1/2 cups

1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed or diced tomatoes

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tbs chili powder

1 tbs ground cumin

1 pinch black pepper

-Start by cooking your dry beans, rinse your soaking beans and put into a very large pot, add water a few inches above beans, bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and let simmer about 1 1/2-2 hours or until soft.

- Chop onion and saute until translucent in another very large pot with a splash of vegetable broth, or water as needed. (Set beans aside and use the same pot if needed)

-Chop celery and carrots into bite size pieces, add to the pot of onion and about 1/2 the vegetable broth, simmer until carrots and celery are just about tender.

-Drain and add half the beans to the pot of vegetables (doesn't half to be exact, just eyeball it)

-Put the other half of beans in a blender with the can of tomatoes, add some of the vegetable broth as needed to get it going, blend until it's as smooth as you can get it. You can leave the tomato in chunks if you want or half and half.

-Add blended beans and any leftover broth to the pot.

-Add seasonings and corn, bring to a simmer until ready to serve, the longer it simmers the better the flavor.

*Click Here for the corn bread recipe!