Black Bean Soup Recipe

Last weekend, I made a black bean and tomato soup. 
I had been craving one for some time and when I want to make something like that, when I haven't ever made it before, I will often google search for recipes and then look at about four or five recipes that look good. 
Then I just pick and choose a little from this recipe and a little from that till I get what I think will be what I am looking for.
I found some good basic steps and ingredients here, here, and here.
This is what I came up with for my own version of this soup.

Ingredients:

2 cans black beans, rinsed
1 ½ -2 cups vegetable broth
6-8 Roma tomatoes
1 onion
1 celery stalk
2-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
½ -1 tsp cumin
½ -1 tsp chili powder
½ -1 tsp oregano or mixed Italian seasoning
salt
pepper

Juice from one lime
chopped green onions
half an avocado, diced

Okay so the biggest step is roasting the tomatoes.Slice them into quarters lengthwise. Also cut up onion and celery (I cut into large chunks so they wouldn't burn when roasting) Toss, in 2 tbsp of olive oil a sprinkle of salt and the oregano/Italian seasoning. Roast for about 30 minutes @ 350, then add the garlic in and roast for another 20-25 minutes.

Once roasted, add vegetable stock to the pan to scrape up all the roasty bits. Then, transfer it all to a large soup pot. Here I used my handy dandy Cuisinart stainless steel hand blender, using just a few pulses to blend things up a bit.

Then I added the rinsed cans of beans. I've cooked kidney beans and navy beans from dry, but I have yet to try black beans. Comes down to saving time really, when I use the canned variety.

Add in the spices and mash about half of the beans (or use the blender).

Bring to a boil and then lower to simmering for about 20-30 minutes, adjusting salt, spice and thickness (by adding more water or veg stock) as needed.

Serve in bowls.
I offered the lime juice, green onions and avocado on the side to add as desired.  I also think it would be nice with the bacon, but was serving a vegetarian guest.  Sour cream and cilantro would be nice additions to top it off with as well.  Perhaps I'll try that next time.

Yummy! I loved this soup and will make it again soon!

Menu for Week of March 5

Here is a photo of last Thursday's meal of vegetarian chili-cheese nachos

with spinach, strawberry, pecan salad.

Last week's menu plan went over well, and so I am encouraged to do it again!
And a piece of good news as well. My sister-in-law's partner gave me an

external keyboard, so typing up my posts is so much easier to do now!

This week we will dine on:
Monday~Roast Beef, Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Carrots and Parsnips, Green Beans
Tuesday~Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli and Tomatoes, Baked Beans
Wednesday~Pepperoni Pizza, Caesar Salad
Thursday~Vegetarian (TVP) Tacos
Friday~Potato-Leek Soup, Broccoli-Cheddar Quiche
Saturday~Grilled Steelhead Trout, Sun Brown Rice, Roasted Veggies (peppers, sweet potato, onions, zuccini, mushrooms)
Sunday~Ginger-Beef Stirfry with lots of Veggies over Rice Noodles

I also found a couple of recipes through some other blogs that I'd like to start incorporating into my menu plans and I also do plan to begin including some of the recipes for some of these options you are now seeing in my menu plans. One step at a time!

Beet and Lentil Salad

Crispy Baked Onion Rings

Tomato & Pesto Soup

Please feel free to share or link to your favourite menu plans or recipes. I'd love to read them!