Tag: black beans

Easy Black Bean Soup

I love cooler weather, partly because I love soup and stews and cooler weather makes it more ‘acceptable’ to cook soups and stews more often. I would, honestly, eat soups year round – but, they do taste better when there is a little nip in the air.

For black bean soup, you could certainly start with dried black beans – but, this is a recipe for a quick and easy black bean soup. That said, I used canned black beans (the picture shows 3 cans, but I actually used 4). Along with the black beans, I added in some carrots, onion, celery and a jalapeno. As far as seasonings, I kept it simple – just cumin and salt. I diced all the vegetables pretty small.

I actually used 4 cans of black beans

In a large pot, I warmed a bit of olive oil. To that, I added in the chopped vegetables and seasonings.

I allowed the vegetables to cook until the vegetables started to soften.

Finally, I added in the black beans and beef stock.

I also remembered that I had a jar of roasted red peppers in the refrigerator (it was about 3/4 full). I drained them and threw that in.

Since I chopped the vegetables pretty small, it doesn’t take long to cook this soup – but, it is good to let it simmer long enough for all the flavors to meld. I would say let it simmer for at least 30 minutes.

This soup is great on it’s own – but, you can add any variety of toppings if you like. I topped mine with a little bit of sour cream.

Also – this recipe is super easy to make vegetarian – just use vegetable stock, in place of the beef stock!

Easy Black Bean Soup

2 carrots, chopped small
1 stalk of celery, chopped small
1/2 onion, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced small
1 tbsp minced garlic
4 cans black beans, undrained
6-8 oz roasted red peppers
1 carton (4 cups) beef stock (or vegetable stock, if you want it to be vegetarian)
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil

  • Prep vegetables
  • In large pot, add olive oil and heat
  • Add in onion, garlic, celery, carrots and jalapeno
  • Add in seasonings and stir through
  • Add in the stock, black beans and roasted red peppers, bring to boil
  • Once boil is achieved, cover and reduce heat.
  • Let simmer for at least 30 minutes

Soup can be served with various toppings: sour cream, cheese, avocado or chips

by Michelle

Mexican Casserole (Taco bake?! What should I call this, really?)

This dish was a huge hit! It will definitely go into our regular rotation.

It really started as a result of having lean ground beef in the refrigerator and a package of corn tortillas, which I accidentally bought (thinking I grabbed flour). What a happy, happy surprise! It was loved by all!!

As already noted, it has lean ground beef, corn tortillas, black beans (which I always have on hand!), corn and tomatoes (and the requisite onions and garlic). Luckily, I had a packet of taco seasoning in the pantry (otherwise, you could certainly use chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper that you have on hand – or whatever combination of those spices you like!).

I started by rough chopping the onions and then I cooked the onions and garlic, in a small amount of oil in a hot skillet.

After the onions were translucent, I added in the ground beef and cooked until browned. Then, added in the taco seasoning.

The next step was to add in the corn, black beans, tomatoes, etc. I did hold off on adding the jalapenos, as I wanted to taste the meat mixture first to determine how much to add. Spoiler alert – I added the whole can.

Once everything was well mixed, I allowed it to simmer for 15-20 minutes.

This gave me plenty of time to grate the cheese and pre-heat the oven.

Then I started putting the casserole together – starting with a layer of tortillas. I ended up with 3 layers of tortillas – but, you can do as many layers as you like (next time I make this, I intend to add more of the tortillas, I only used 4 per layer as I prepared this today).

Once all the layers are in (end with the meat mixture on top), top with the grated cheese and put in the oven (400 degrees) for 20-25 minutes. I did turn the broiler on briefly, at the end, to get a little bit of browning on the top.

I topped it with a little bit of sour cream – and it was DELICIOUS! I definitely went back for seconds!

Mexican Casserole

2 lbs lean ground beef
1 can black beans (drained)
1 can corn (drained)
1 large can diced tomatoes (drained)
1 small can tomato paste
1 packet taco seasoning
1 tbsp garlic
1 onion (chopped)
Small corn tortillas (number will depend on size of casserole dish)
1 tsp oil
1 – 1 1/2 cups grated cheese (depends on size of casserole dish)
Salt to taste
1 can jalapeno peppers (optional)
Sour cream for garnish

  • Chop onion
  • Add oil, onion and garlic to hot skillet – cook until onion is translucent
  • Add in ground beef, cook until browned
  • Add taco seasoning and mix completely
  • Add tomatoes, tomato paste, b lack beans and corn, mix well
  • Add salt, as needed, after tasting mixture
  • If desired, add jalapenos (I used a 11 oz can of picked jalapenos with carrots and onions by San Marcos) and mix well
  • Simmer mixture for 15-20 minutes
  • Start with a layer of corn tortillas in the bottom of an oven safe dish
  • Alternate with the meat mixture, until all meat mixture is one – ending with meat mixture on top. For my casserole, this was 3 layers of corn tortillas.
  • Top with cheese and bake @ 400 degrees – for 30 minutes
by Michelle