Black bean soup

I'm always on the look out for good meals that don't require meat, but provide protein. It's hard to find good bean recipes that aren't blah! I came across a soup last week that looked good. I tweaked it a little bit, using dry beans instead of canned, my own stock and adjusting ingredients based on what I had on hand. Here is what I came up with. It was very good.

Black Bean Salsa Soup

1 bag black beans

1/2 stick butter

3 carrots, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

11 or so cups of chicken stock (I made mine, but you could use about 2-3 cartons of good quality store bought stock)

2 - 14.5 oz. diced tomatoes

1/2 cup sherry or cooking sherry

3 cloves minced garlic

2 tsp. ground cumin

3 tsp. chili powder, more if you prefer.

Salt to taste

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

Soak beans the night before. About 2 hours before starting soup, simmer beans on stove until tender. 

Melt butter in large pot. Stir in carrots, onion and garlic and cook 15 minutes. Pour in chicken stock. Mix in diced tomatoes, sherry and black beans. Season with cumin, chili powder and salt. Bring to boil and reduce heat to low, and simmer about 20 minutes. Mix in cilantro for last few minutes of cooking. 

I served it with shredded cheese and sour cream.