What a treat this turned out to be! In an effort to stay motivated and still put hot, satisfying meals on the table, I have decided to turn one meal a week into a soup meal. They are usually the easiest things to throw together and after they simmer for awhile, they leave you feeling warm and full and are a perfect food as the nights get colder. What's not to love?
I started my new weekly project / journey with this soup: Beef and Black Bean Soup.
It required a whole bunch of stuff I had already stocked in my kitchen so that was a win right there! The beauty of a quick soup like this is that the slicing and dicing of veggies requires zero perfection. Any way you want to chop this stuff - it is going to work. So as I browned the ground beef, I chopped the vegetables and they were both ready at the same time. That's the way to roll!
It was an onion, a few carrots, a few stalks of celery, I cheated and used jarred minced garlic to speed things up even more. You'll notice in my picture I used chicken stock; the original recipe called for chicken broth, but if I were to make it again, I would absolutely use beef stock and twice what they recommended - so the recipe here includes those changes.
It all went into the crockpot on high for an hour, then switched to low for 4-5 more. You're really just trying to soften the vegetables at this point. Mine was rolling pretty good, so I moved along after 4 hours on low.
I used instant rice, but feel free to cook up any rice you like. It would be awesome with Texmati or even Long Grain and Wild rice. After the 4 hours, just add your rice and beans and heat through, maybe another hour. Fallon told me three times during her first bowl that it was "really good." For her second bowl, I suggested she add cheddar cheese and chopped chives, which she did and said it was still very good. She ate two full bowls, and for the kid who eats everything I cook, but in small quantities, I was impressed.
I also am a sucker for decent amounts of salt in my soup, so after I tried it, I added a teaspoon of au jus starter I picked up from the store to boost the salt and the beef flavor. I think it blended well.
I think if you wanted it to have a more Mexican kick, you could easily double the chili powder and cumin and dollop it with sour cream. You may even add in a little taco seasoning if you'd like. We enjoyed the more basic beef flavor on this so I was happy with the way it came out.
So try the Beef and Black Bean Soup recipe and then come back and let me know what you think!
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