26 Soups: #3

Good Morning and Happy Thursday everyone! Can you believe that there's only 1 more day left until the weekend? I know I can't! I will be posting twice today - now with a delicious soup recipe for you - and later with a short review of a great book that I just read - The Long Goodbye by Meghan O'Rourke. I have a bunch of recipes planned to show you over the next week or so and I wanted to start them off with this delicious soup that I made last weekend! I took the original recipe from here at AllRecipes.com, but I changed the recipe quite a bit and will put my version of the recipe at the bottom of this post.

First, I started by gathering my main ingredients in groupings:

1. 1 Can Organic Chicken Broth, 2 Cans Organic Kidney Beans and 1 Can Diced Tomatoes


2. Sweet Onion, Garlic


3. Spices: Garlic Powder, Cumin, Chili Powder and Crushed Red Pepper


Then, I took a large soup pot from the cabinet, sliced and diced a couple of cloves of garlic and little less than a quarter of an onion and threw them in the pot with the some olive oil - set on low to simmer.


While I was getting some flavors out of the onion and garlic, I drained and rinsed my kidney beans.


Then, once the garlic and onion were slightly browned, I brought the temperature to a medium heat level and added the broth.


Before adding the kidney beans, I reserved one cup to keep whole to add some texture back into the soup after I was done blending.


I then added the kidney beans and 3/4 of the can of diced tomatoes. Next, using my brand new super amazing Cuisinart Immersion Blender (thanks, Mom Jonathan!) I blended the soup and then added in the remaining cup of beans.

I stirred this around at medium heat for a couple of minutes, and then added my spices. I used all 4 - probably more cumin and chili powder than anything else - but I really just did it to taste. I started with about a teaspoon of each, and then added from there as needed. Finally, I set the soup to simmer for about 15 minutes before serving it. And to serve, I added some shredded cheddar cheese (not pictured), sour cream, chives and avocado!


This soup was incredibly easy to make and so, so delicious! I love avocado and so I ended up adding a little extra later on, but this entire meal took less than 30 minutes to make and tasted wonderful! 


This is my 3rd soup out of my 26 soups challenge and I love how each of these soups is better than the last! I'm hoping to tackle a minestrone or chowder next - hopefully soon! Have any of you made any soups lately? It's definitely a good time of year for it with the cold weather finally coming in. I hope you have a great Thursday and I'll see you back here later today with a review of The Long Goodbye by Meghan O'Rourke!

Here is my version of the recipe:

2 (15 ounce) cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3/4 (15 oz) can of diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon ground cumin, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon chili powder, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon garlic powder, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, plus more to taste
1/4 onion, sliced and diced
2 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon olive oil

Sour Cream, Avocado, Chives and Shredded Cheddar to Serve

1. Add onion and garlic cloves to medium saucepan to low heat with olive oil until tender.
2. Bring to medium heat and add broth, tomatoes, and beans to pan, reserving 1 cup of beans to be added later. Then, using your immersion blender, blend ingredients.
3. After blending, add in cumin, chili powder, garlic powder and crushed red pepper, plus more to taste if desired. Stir at medium heat for 2-3 minutes, then place lid on pot and let simmer at low heat for 15-20 minutes.
4. Ladle soup into bowls (makes approx. 4 servings, depending on your level of hunger) and top with shredded cheese, avocado, sour cream and chives to serve.