Black Bean Soup Improvised

Carter has been asking me to make black bean soup for a while now and it's one of my favorites, so I decided to make it for dinner tonight. Unfortunately I couldn't find my recipe anywhere, but already craving some black beans I figured I'd just improvise. Here is the recipe as I threw it together in the pot...


INGREDIENTS

• 5 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large red bell pepper, finely diced
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 8 cups water
• 3 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons chili powder

DIRECTIONS

1. Saute garlic and red peppers in some olive oil for about 5 minutes.
2. Add carrots and celery, saute another couple minutes.
3. Add water and spices, cover and cook on medium high for about 45 minutes.
4. Add black beans and continue to cook until desired thickness.

Honestly, this was a saved draft and it's been so long since I've put anything up on this blog I don't even remember writing this. So, I think that means I need to make it again and remind myself of its deliciousness!

Thanksgiving 2016

Planning my menu for Thanksgiving. For the most part I'm just cooking for myself (though my parents and my kids will definitely eat some of what I make along with their 'main' meal of turkey and whatnot). I have a triple crock pot so I'll make three side dishes in that and cook my main on the stove top. I did it the same way last year and it worked or really well.  I measured out all my spices and put everything in baggies, transported it all to my sisters house in the individual crocks, then assembled and plugged it in to cook. Super simple! 


My main will be a go to favorite that I've posted here before: Macaroni and Not Cheese. I'll skip the oven bake step though, since my family will have their bird in the oven.  

My three side dishes will be as follows:

•a vegan version of this Paula Deen corn casserole
•again, a slightly edited version (for my own personal tastes) of these slow cooker italian seasoned potatoes (I made them last year for Thanksgiving and they were pretty delicious)
•and finally these amazing garlic mushrooms... I made them on the stove top (as the recipe calls for) a few years ago for Christmas. They are extremely garlicky, and SO delicious. I'm hoping to edit slightly so I can easily make them in the third crock. 

So that's the plan... and it's making me hungry just thinking about it!