Tag: easy soup

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

Hearty Beef Stew

When it starts to get cooler, it’s really hard to beat a good stew. And, beef stew is one of our favorites. It’s warm, filling and feeds a lot – what’s not to love about it?! OH, and it is super easy to make!

I started by chopping my vegetables. Since it was going in a stew, I just rough chopped everything.

The cooking started with, as so many things that I love do, a little bit of olive oil, the onions I chopped and garlic. I cooked the onions and garlic until they started to get soft.

Then I added in the stew meat and browned it – adding in the seasonings, when it started to get browned.

Finally, I added in 4 cups – or one carton – of beef stock, the can of crushed tomatoes and the vegetables.

I let it come to a boil and then reduced the heat and covered the stew.

** Side note, the recipe is written up to indicate that you should, after lowering the heat cook it for about an hour (which is what I would normally do) – however, tonight, my daughter had volleyball and I was getting the dinner ready prior to leaving for the match, so I deviated slightly. I brought it up to a boil and then simmered for about 30 minutes or so. I had preheated my oven to 450 degrees. When I had to leave, I put the dutch oven (lid on) in the oven, turned off the oven and let it continue to cook in the oven. While this isn’t necessary for this recipe, and isn’t even how I would normally do it, I do mention it in case it is helpful to someone! The Le Creuset dutch oven is so well insulated, that this works perfectly – and kept the beef stew nice and warm for the time that we were away from the house. It was nice to be able to come home, only needing to thicken the stew before eating!

When we got home, I removed the dutch oven from the oven and returned it to the stove, as I wanted to add a quick slurry (just a couple tablespoons of corn starch mixed with about 1/2 cup or so of cold water) to the stew to thicken it a bit. To help it thicken, I brought it back up to a boil prior to adding in the slurry. Point of note – even after being in the oven, which wasn’t on – but, had been preheated to 450 degrees, for a couple hours – the stew was still pretty hot and was up to a boil in a matter of about 2 minutes.

We were hungry and we were cold – we enjoyed our beef stew about 10 – 15 minutes after adding the slurry! Super easy – super filling – super delicious – super perfect for this busy evening.

Hearty Beef Stew

2.5 – 3 lbs stew meat
5 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
6-8 red potatoes, diced
1 large can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
4 cups beef stock
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
3/4 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp Umami seasoning

  • Chop vegetables
  • In a large dutch oven, add olive oil and then onions and garlic, cook until soft
  • Add in stew meat and brown, add in seasonings
  • Add in tomatoes and beef stock, bring to a boil – then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for approximately 1 hour (timing may vary depending on the size you cut your veggies)
  • Just before serving, bring back up to a boil – and add in a slurry of cold water and corn starch to thicken

by Michelle

Chicken Noodle Soup (stew??)

It is still 90+ degrees where I live, but I love soup – so, despite the heat tonight – it was a chicken noodle soup night. It started as soup – but, ended up pretty thick, so maybe it is more of a stew. Regardless – it was delicious!!

I started out with chicken, which I cooked in my instant pot (from frozen). PERFECTION! I decided to use both chicken breasts and thighs. I cooked them on the poultry setting, for 30 minutes, with 1 cup of chicken stock.

The truly brilliant thing about this chicken is how I shredded it. I’m not saying that I am brilliant (I saw this somewhere else), I’m saying that it worked brilliantly! Literally, less than a minute and 2 chicken breasts and 3 chicken thighs – perfectly shredded. How was is shredded, you ask?? With a hand mixer, in the instant pot!

From now, to the end of time, when I need shredded chicken – it will be cooked in the instant pot and shredded with a hand mixer!

I set the chicken aside and got busy getting my veggies (carrots, celery and onion) ready to go in my dutch oven. I just sliced and chopped the veggies to similar size and it was ready to go!

I added a small amount of oil in my dutch oven and cooked the veggies a little bit before I added the chicken broth. Only for maybe 5 minutes or so – just to seal in a little bit of flavor in the veggies!

Then I added my broth – brought the pot up to boil and cooked the vegetables for about 10 minutes. Next, I added in the shredded chicken, with any broth that was in the instant pot and brought it back up to a boil.

The final step was to add the noodles and allow them to cook through. For the pasta I used, that was about 8 minutes.

The only thing left was to enjoy this delicious soup!!

Chicken Noodle Soup approx time to make recipe, including prep: 1.5 hours

Shredded Chicken (see instructions below)
5-6 carrots, chopped
4-5 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 onion, diced
8 cups of chicken broth
1 lb of pasta
1 tbsp garlic
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt to taste

Shredded chicken
1 cup of chicken broth
2 frozen chicken breasts
3 frozen chicken thighs
Instant pot
** Add all items to instant pot and cook on poultry setting for 30 minutes. Quick release once instant pot finishes and shred with hand mixer

  • Chop vegetables
  • Add oil and vegetables to large pot or dutch oven – cook for about 5 minutes.
  • Add broth to pot, along with the seasonings, bring to boil and cook for 10 minutes.
  • Add shredded chicken to pot and bring back up to a boil
  • Add pasta and cook until pasta is done
by Michelle