{"id":849,"date":"2011-01-27T20:41:53","date_gmt":"2011-01-28T01:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theleangreenbean.com\/?p=849"},"modified":"2016-09-29T14:06:47","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T18:06:47","slug":"reader-request-black-bean-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theleangreenbean.com\/reader-request-black-bean-soup\/","title":{"rendered":"Reader Request: Black Bean Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let me start by saying that I don’t like black bean soup. In fact, until last year, I couldn’t even eat black beans themselves. Over the past year, I’ve gotten better at adding them to things and I even kinda like them in my salsa.<\/p>\n

Let me also say that the hubby loves black bean soup. Especially from Panera. So when some family friends put in a request for “healthy black bean soup”, I decided I would give it a try.<\/p>\n

I started by scouring the internet for recipes. And let me tell you, there are a lot out there. Just for kicks, I looked up the nutrition facts for Panera’s black bean soup. 1,590 mg of sodium per serving. That was all the motivation I needed.<\/p>\n

Being that I’m unfamiliar with black bean soup, let me tell you what I do know about it:
\n-the broth is black
\n-there doesn’t appear to be anything in it but black beans<\/p>\n

However, all of the recipes I looked at involved onions, celery and red pepper. So I started with that. Except I left out the celery, for the sake of the hubby. Me being the genius that I am, I didn’t exactly read through the directions of all the recipes I was looking at. I was more focused on the ingredients. So I decided since I didn’t recall seeing any of these ingredients in black bean soup before, it must mean they were chopped up very small.<\/p>\n

SO, I spent an inordinate amount of time chopping up my onion, red pepper and garlic into veeeeeery time pieces.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After sauteing them for a while, I added the chicken broth, some cumin and some cayenne pepper and half a can of black beans:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was about this time that I realized why I’d never seen anything besides black beans in black bean soup. BECAUSE YOU PUREE IT! DUH. Had I read the directions a bit earlier, I might have caught onto this fact. But not to worry- I stayed cool as a cucumber, grabbed my immersion blender and proceeded. Messily, I might add. There wasn’t a lot of stuff in the pot at this point and it was very splatter-y…but I managed.<\/p>\n

Finally, I added the rest of the black beans. To cut back on the sodium, I choose low-sodium black beans. I opted to drain and rinse one can, and use the liquid in the second. You could use the liquid from both, or do what I did, or you could use one can with liquid and another cans worth of beans from your freezer. DECISIONS, DECISIONS, my friends.<\/p>\n

To thicken the soup even more, I mixed some cornstarch and water, poured it in and let it simmer. I also added some lemon juice.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The result? Not bad, but per the hubby…it needs a little work.<\/p>\n

To kick it up a notch, here are some suggestions:<\/p>\n

-double the amount of cumin and cayenne pepper.
\n-add some sweet potatoes at the very beginning and puree them up with the first ingredients<\/p>\n

Bottom line: If you’re used to Panera’s black bean soup, your system might be in for a little shock with this low-sodium version. But with a little doctoring and a extra spices, this version can taste just as good \ud83d\ude42 And you’ll be better for it!<\/p>\n

\n

[print_this]<\/p>\n

Black Bean Soup<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ingredients:
\nolive oil
\n\u00bd a medium onion, diced
\n1\/4 red bell pepper, diced
\n3 garlic cloves, minced
\n1 1\/2 cup low sodium broth
\n2 cans low-sodium black beans
\n1 teaspoon ground cumin
\n\u00bd teaspoon cayenne pepper
\n1 \u00bd Tbsp cornstarch
\n1 \u00bd Tbsp water
\njuice of \u00bd a lemon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Directions:
\n-Heat olive oil in a pan. Add onions, garlic and red peppers and saut\u00e9 until soft.
\n<\/strong> -Add broth and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
\n-Add half a can of beans (drained and rinsed) and spices. Simmer for another 5 minutes.
\n-Using an immersion blender (or a regular blender), puree until well blended.
\n-Add the rest of the beans, including the liquid from the second can.
\n-Mix the cornstarch and water together and add to the soup, along with the lemon juice.
\n-Simmer until thickened, 5-10 minutes longer.
\n-Garnish with non-fat Greek yogurt and cilantro if desired.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[\/print_this]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So tell me, what’s your favorite way to make black bean soup healthy?<\/p>\n

Enjoy!
\n–Lindsay–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let me start by saying that I don’t like black bean soup. In fact, until last year, I couldn’t even eat black beans themselves. Over the past year, I’ve gotten better at adding them to things and I even kinda like them in my salsa. Let me also say that the hubby loves black bean […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theleangreenbean.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theleangreenbean.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theleangreenbean.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theleangreenbean.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theleangreenbean.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theleangreenbean.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theleangreenbean.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theleangreenbean.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theleangreenbean.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}