CrockPot Black Bean Soup Recipe

Day 42.

mmmm. soup. I'm becoming a bit concerned that if I'm not careful this is going to be the year that I use my crockpot everyday and gain thirty pounds. So, this past week, I had this yummy black bean soup for lunch every day. It was filling, full of fiber and veggies and allowed me to save my allotted calories for dinner, dessert and margaritas.

The Ingredients:

--3 cans of black beans

--1 can of Itallian stewed tomatoes

--2 cups of broth (vegetable or chicken)

--2 T taco sauce (great use for those taco bell packets!)

--1 1/2 cups chopped vegetables

The Directions:

--chop up vegetables with a food processor or blender. I used my vitamix, because I love it. Deeply.

I had leftover roasted vegetables, and decided to use those. If I hadn't, I would have used frozen corn, peas, some carrots and some celery---anything I already had in the fridge and freezer. dump pulverized vegetables into stoneware insert.

--empty all cans into the crockpot insert. do not rinse the beans or drain the tomatoes.

--add broth and taco sauce.

--mix with spoon.

--cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 5-6. Soups taste better the longer you cook it.

Before serving, use an immersion blender to soupify the beans and tomatoes.

Serve with some shredded parmesan cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

The Verdict:

I loved this and ate it daily for lunch for 6 days. I did find it to be a bit salty, however. Adam thought it was fine. Next time I might look for low sodium beans and tomatoes. One kid ate her serving and asked for seconds before being distracted by something noisy on the television. The other kid fell to the ground and said she would never eat anything that looked like dirt. She did end up eating enough to satisfy me, but it took a lot of cajoling. I need to find a way to make a pink soup.