It’s a new year. It’s a NEW YEAR!!! Yes, I’m so excited about it! I’ve been mostly absent from my blog the last few weeks for a variety of reasons, but mainly because of a very special occasion – a wedding!! (No, not me! I’ve been married for almost 15 years now! Whew!) But a very special sister-in-law of mine decided to get married here in the northwest just after the new year. That meant a WHOLE lot of family and company coming in from all over the world (literally) to stay near or on the farm which includes the home of yours truly. 😉 It was a totally crazy and amazing time and I’m SO glad the happy couple is happily married! The days leading up to the wedding included huge dumps of snow, combined with drastic warming of temperatures, baking of 35 pies, cooking of tons of lasagna, hosting a bachelorette party…and the groom falling off a 20 foot roof while shoveling snow and fracturing two discs in his spine! And yes, he did stand and walk at his wedding!!!!
So all of that doesn’t really affect you, my reader, a ton, except that (I just wanted to share a bit of my life with you) and while I haven’t done a lot of posting lately, I sure have done a LOT of cooking! And I’ve got several new favorite recipes to share with you….starting with Vegan Black Bean Soup! We may have started a new year but I know none of us are finding our schedules empty, so this is a very healthy and super fast recipe. The simplicity is going to blow your mind – and your taste buds!
(If you don’t have an instant pot, don’t panic. This would totally work in a slow cooker or on the stove-top. The instant pot just really speeds up the process and if you use other methods, you may need to adjust the liquid to bean ratio some. Leave me questions in the comments if you’re not sure and I’ll try to help you figure it out.) Here is a picture of the instant pot I have and love!! This is an affiliate link, so if you clicked through to buy it I’d make a little at no extra cost to you.
First off, this may be a total no-brainer, but soak your beans!! Minimum 4 hours, or just do it overnight! It wasn’t very long ago that I learned that first soaking and then rinsing legumes is absolutely vital to their ability to digest in your body. Soaking them rids the skin of irritating non-nutrients as well decreasing their gas-causing attributes ;-). The rinsing is important too! I used to just soak and then cook in the soaking water! Oops! Gotta rinse off the unwanted stuff, then start with fresh cooking water or in our case, vegetable broth! Beans are really a powerhouse food super full of nutrition – soaking just helps unlock their capabilities even further!
All bean health facts set aside, I’ve just really been craving a simple, flavorful bowl of bean soup. This totally hit the spot for me, while keeping the prep work to an absolute minimum. I wasn’t sure how my small fan club would respond tho, ’cause these beans aren’t what I’d call spicy but definitely on the flavorful side of the spectrum. The little tasters gave rave reviews! They loved them, begged for more…and then when lunch came around and I tried to get pics of them eating them…well…here’s what I got. The eye…and then the tongue!! Dreams of cute smiling toddler eating yummy healthy beans goes out the window…. 😉 Oh well… Real life here people. The real deal.
She really did like the beans, I promise! For lunch today this little gal wouldn’t touch her sandwich. Just wanted to eat beans from my bowl. Yeah, you know how that works! lol.
Happy new year and happy soup making my dears! Blessings!
Vegan Black Bean Soup (Instant Pot)
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Dry Black Beans 1 lb. package or about 2 1/4 C.
- 1 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 C. Finely Diced Onion
- 5 cloves minced garlic
- 2 tsp. Cumin
- 1 tsp. Chili powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 32oz. Vegetable Broth
- 1 10oz. can Rotel Original
- 1 T. Fresh Lemon Juice
Instructions
- First, pour your beans in a large bowl and soak them in approx. 10 cups water for at least 4 hours or overnight. Once soaking is completed rinse the beans well and set aside.
- Turn on your instant pot to saute’ setting. Add the olive oil, onions and seasonings and saute for a few moments stirring frequently. Add the minced garlic for about a minute. Pour your veggie broth in before the garlic has a chance to begin browning and add can of rotel and soaked/rinsed beans.
- Close your instant pot, make sure vent is set to closed, and set your instant pot to cook manual HIGH pressure for 17 minutes. Let pressure release naturally for about 10 minutes, and then release the rest manually.
- Take a cup or two of the beans out and mash with a fork, returning them to the pot with the rest. Add a tablespoon of fresh lemon or lime juice to kick it up a notch and serve with vegan sour cream and chips or crusty bread! Yummm!!!
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