Revisiting My First Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays Post; Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup

I still have not found my cooking mojo or soup making mojo, so this week, we are going to take a trip back to October of 2008, when I published my first "official" Souper Sundays post of Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup. 

I started my blog in April 2008 and found I was making soups almost weekly so I came up with the Souper Sundays concept, where I would make and post a weekly soup. It started out as just me, then some blogger friends wanted in, and eventually it morphed into soups, salads, and sandwiches. 13 years later, it's still going.

Excuse the photos--it was early days in my food photography! 

What I said. in 2008: 

For my first Souper Sunday post, I am starting with Black Bean Soup from Fresh From The Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. (I posted a few of the recipes from her CarbConscious Vegetarian cookbook here, here and here). I have made this soup recipe before (pre-blog) and like the ease of throwing it all into the slow cooker as well as the combo of flavors in it. It also is pretty healthy and economical to make.

Black Bean Soup

Fresh From The Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson

Serves 4-6

-----

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium-size yellow onion, chopped

1 medium size carrot, chopped

1/2 small green pepper, seeded and minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups cooked black beans or two 15.5-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed

one 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, left undrained

4 cups vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp fresh lemon juice (optional)

-----

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, bell pepper, and garlic, cover, and cook until softened , about 5 minutes. Transfer the cooked vegetables to a 4-6 quart slow cooker, add the beans, tomatoes and their juice, stock, bay leaves, cumin, thyme, and cayenne, and season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Remove and discard the bay leaf and taste to adjust the seasonings.

Notes/Results: I made just a couple of changes--I used a red pepper as I prefer them to green peppers, fire roasted diced tomatoes and a 1/2 tsp of chipotle chili powder in place of the cayenne pepper. I also squeeze in a bit of lime juice before serving rather than the lemon juice in the recipe. (BTW--the giant bay leaves you see are the ones from the Farmer's Market). You can leave the soup as is but pureeing half of it really enhances the texture. And if you don't have an immersion blender put it on your Birthday or Christmas list, mine is one of my favorite kitchen and soup making tools. I like to serve this soup with some cheese, avocado chunks, a bit of cilantro and one of my favorite chips.

Now let's take a look into the Souper Sundays kitchen: 

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor is here with her Grilled Fajita Wrap, saying "Is it a soft shell taco or fajita wrap? Either way, it was great with seasoned beef strips and loads of onions, peppers and sour cream.Great lunch "sandwich."

Debra of Eliot's Eats shares her Autumn Buddha Bowls saying, "I’m also linking up with Deb’s Souper Sundays. She allows salads in the link as well and this bowl is “salad-like.” Plus, I really recommend roasting whatever Autumn veggies you have, making the citrus-tahini dressing and using it as a side for the upcoming holidays."  

Thank you Tina and Debra for joining me this week! 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.
• Although we are pretty wide on what defines a soup, sandwich or salad, entries that are clearly not in the same family (ie: desserts, meats, random main or side dishes that aren't salads, etc.) are meant for another round up and will be deleted. 

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy, healthy week!