Vegan Black Bean Soup

Tonight I wanted to try a vegan recipe and decided to try a black bean soup. Soups are perfect for this weather. They are easy. Hearty and hit the spot. The last and I think you can freeze them. I'm not good with the whole "make food in bulk and freeze it and then defrost it." I must have the defrosting part wrong because it never turns out right.

One of my favorite soups is my Corn Chowder with Jalepeno Parsley Puree but I was trying to do something out of my comfort zone.

I found four recipes that I used as my inspiration. At FatFree Vegan I found a  Stormy Black Bean Soup . On AZ Central I found, Black Bean Soup. There was also two soups. One in Voluptuous Vegan and the other in the Soulfood Vegan cookbook I just bought.

These were the ingredients I was working with.....
1 can of Black Beans - in a can
1/3 of an Onion
1/2 of each of a Yellow and Orange Bell Pepper
2 Tbs of Minced Garlic
Lots of different seasonings
1 can of Vegetable Broth
1/2 of a Jalapeno

 Cut up your onions and bell peppers and jalapeno

Add the garlic, bell peppers and onions in the pot. Let it sautee until the onions are soft.

 One of the seasonings that I added was the mix from a street market during my Labor Day Trip to New York. The seasoning had dried roses but also dried chilies. It was really chunky and I didn't have a pestle and mortar. So I put it in a ziplock bag and used a rolling pin to crush it. When the lovely Frenchman crushed it at the street fair, it was so potent and strong, he started to tear up. This stuff is strong..whatever is in it.

 Add your seasonings and black beans to the onions and bell peppers

(Drain and rinse your black beans beforehand)

Yum Yum.

Next after a few moments add your veggie broth. Reduce the heat and let it simmer. If its not soupy enough you can add water. One recipe even says you can substitute the veggie broth with water.

While this is cooking, I also made rice. I used instant white rice. I recommend brown rice.

One recipe says to add a scoop of sour cream or scoop of yogurt. I didn't have any sour cream. But I did have plain yogurt, since I recently purchased it to make a homemade all natural face mask. (I love when I find multiple uses for things I have around the house.) But I did think yogurt in my black bean soup was going to be weird and too different. (It reminded me of when Sam made a pie that involved blueberries and yogurt. I scoofed at first and yet it was amazing) Same thing here. Adding the yogurt...was actually very tasty.

Once its all done, add in your rice. A dab or two of hot sauce and enjoy!

(I would also add tofu and lime as well next time)