Today we drove to Lancaster so Cari could participate in a dog fair thingy.  On our way home, the standard question came up, "What's for dinner?"  Neither Cari or I had a clue so I told her I would "wing it" and make some kind of black bean soup.  So I looked through the fridge and cupboards and came up with the recipe below.  Because of the diced tomato with fire roasted peppers it has somewhat of a southwest flair.  For the corn, I used Trader Joe's Roasted Corn (frozen) but you can use any corn.  One kid said they didn't like the red bell pepper in is, so you may want to leave it out if red bell pepper is not your thing.  It turned out very yummy and I plan on making it again soon!!  I call it Southwest Black Bean Soup.


Southwest Black Bean Soup

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup vegetable broth, divided
1 cup water
1 can fire roasted dice tomatoes
1 cup frozen corn (roasted corn is even better!)
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, saute the onion, red bell pepper and garlic in 1/4 cup of vegetable broth for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.  You may want to use a potato masher to mash some of the black beans (optional).
   

It was a dad and the kids weekend.  For my wife's birthday she gets to go off to a scrap booking retreat and spend the whole day scrap booking with all meals provided.  It's a cool treat and she totally deserves it!!

Of course, hanging out with kids means they become guinea pigs for my recipe experiments.  Tonight I decided potato soup sounded good.  I didn't have a specific recipe but decided to kind of throw my own recipe together and put a cheesy touch to it.  Here's what I came up with and, I have to say, it's pretty good!  The kids loved it and I will be making it again as we get closer to the cold weather!
Cheesy Potato Soup
Servings: 4-5
Prep and Cook Time: 30-35 minutes

Ingredients:
2 cups vegetable broth
4 large potatoes, peeled, cubed
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. salt
1 pinch black pepper
2 Tbsp. and 2 tsp. flour
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. corn starch

Directions:
1) Put vegetable broth, potatoes, onion, parsley, salt and pepper into large pan.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook 18-20 min or until potatoes are soft.
2) In a separate bowl, mix flour, milk, nutritional yeast flakes, lemon juice, garlic powder and corn starch.
3) Once potatoes are soft, add in mixture from bowl and simmer for another 5 minutes.
4) Serve!