Black Bean Soup & Dean's List

I've been wanting to make this for what seems like ages, but I kept putting it off because it seemed (wait for it) "time consuming."  For the most part, this requires almost no hands on time, but it takes care of itself when the beans are soaking overnight, and simmering during the day.

Winter makes me feel lazy, I suppose.

In other news, I made the Fall 2011 Deans List!  I've never made it before, so I'm super, incredibly excited.  I thought I was definitely out of the running because of the two B's (because two B's disqualified me for it last year), but they didn't!  I was pretty depressed because I start school on Monday, and I loathe my school, but I'm actually not dreading it too much anymore (even though they cancelled my favorite-class-ever, German II.  Thought I was going to cry after that).

Anyway, ingredients:

1 pound dried black beans, soaked overnight
8 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely (preferably in a food processor, because we all know how much cutting onions sucks)
8-10 baby carrots, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
One 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes (undrained)
6 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
dried cilantro for a garnish

Directions:

1. Soak the beans overnight and drain the next morning.
2. In a large pot, combine the beans, the 8 cups of water, and the two bay leaves.  Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer for an hour and a half.  Drain the beans and discard the bay leaves.
3. In the same pot (but without the beans in it), heat the olive oil.  Add the onion, carrot, and garlic and sautee until fragrant and partially cooked (five minutes or so).  Poor in the tomatoes, beans, stock, oregano, cumin, salt, and cayenne.  Simmer for thirty minutes.
3. Transfer three cups of the soup to a food processor and blend, then recombine in the pot.  You can process more if you want it thicker and more stew-like, or less if you want it thinner and more soup-like.
4.  Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with a little cilantro.  If you're the "think-ahead" type, you can use fresh cilantro, but since I'm not, I used dried (worked just fine).

This soup makes (in technical terms) a "butt load," so it's great for a pot luck, a big family meal, etc.  I took half the leftovers and froze them for a later meal, which is great if you live by yourself (or just have a couple people in your family).

It's also a good idea to freeze this in single-serve portions, because I know a lot of us have vowed to save money this year:)

Enjoy!

Until Next Time,

Ashley

(Recipe adapted from Vegan Planet)