All Natural Healthy Black Bean Soup

Black Bean Soup w/ Sprouted Corn Tortillas


 What's for dinner? Black bean soup! YUM! Well, it's not what's for dinner in our house tonight, because we had it last night, but of course I wanted to share it with you! Everything about this recipe is good, and rediculously healthy for you! You'll soon learn that another plus of creating healthy meals is that they don't take much time to make since you really barely cook the food you are eating as to keep it as alive and beneficial as possible. Aside from cooking the black beans, this soup takes less than 30 minutes!

Ingredients:
cold-Pressed Olive Oil
1 onion, chopped
4-6 stalks celery
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 boxes Organic vegetable stock *originally used beef...but found vegetable to be better...and healthier.
4-6 cups cooked black beans
1 can Organic crushed tomatoes
1-2 tsp salt, or to taste
1-2 tsp cumin, or to taste (I love more cumin and less salt personally)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (we keep the amount we add directly to the soup small for the sake of the little ones, and add more to our personal bowls.
1 lemon
sprouted corn tortillas (optional)

About 1.5-2 hours ahead of time, cook the black beans. I usually cook about 1 1/2 16 oz bags, so 24 oz. uncooked beans.

 When the beans are finished, chop the onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic. (I suggest that you do them all first because if you're like me when it comes to chopping and cooking at the same time, one usually gets neglected. Since the whole purpose is to cook the vegetables as minimally as possible, you don't want to leave some cooking while you're trying to chop the others.)

Put the chopped onion and celery into a soup pot and drizzle them generously with the olive oil. Warm them until they just start to sweat.

Add the bell peppers and garlic



Continue cooking for another minute or so. Do not over cook. Your veggies should still have nearly their same original color!





Add Organic Beef Broth *I've since switched to Organic Vegetable Broth





Let simmer for a few minutes.

Add about 3 soup ladles full of black beans. Also add salt, cumin and cayenne pepper. Stir until soup and spices are nicely blended.

Using a large liquid measuring cup, or whatever else works for you, scoop as many of the beans as you can, many of the vegetables, and some of the liquid and puree them in a blender. *this is also where you can add the can of tomatoes. Make sure the blender is only 3/4 full so you don't have an explosion! If you don't have a blender that will do the trick, an immersion one should work. **Caution- SOUP WILL BE EXTREMELY HOT! Keep children out of the way, and be careful should any steam or liquid squeeze out when you initially turn on the blender.

Add blended mixture back into the soup pot.

Add the rest of the cooked black beans to the blended soup.

Squeeze 1 whole lemon into the soup and stir until the soup is mixed well and all flavor have combined.



Once we pour the soup into our bowls, we sometimes like to tear small pieces of Sprouted Corn Tortillas. The are a delicious addition!



Add any extra cumin, cayenne, or salt as you'd like. Scott likes to add Frank's Hot Sauce to his. The cayenne is enough for my little taste buds!

NOTE** You'll know you've cooked or "not cooked" the soup right if your vegetables still have some crunch to them!

ENJOY!

Just a few of the health benefits from some of the ingredients in this soup:

Black Beans -High in Fiber

Onions-lower blood pressure and blood sugar

Cold-pressed Olive Oil-excellent source of Omega-9 monounsaturated fatty acid. (Good fat), lower cholesterol

Celery-lower blood pressure, contain cancer preventing phytochemical compounds

Red Bell Peppers-High in Vitamin C

Garlic-SO MANY...but one, helps prevent heart disease

Cumin-Helpful in digestion, fights free-radicals

Cayenne-Helpful in digestion, helps with circulation, can reduce/prevent varicose veins

Lemon-High in Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, folic acid, and the phytochemical Limonene.