Crock pot creation: Black Bean soup

It is finally cold. I finally want to cook. And I am finally home for quite a little stretch. I am trying to figure out after being so busy how to make our lives a bit easier. In comes the crock pot. I think that is I can use this little wonder device once a week Jordan and I can both have a relaxing night with little dinner prep mid-week. While I was home last week I looked at my mom's crock pot cookbook. She has the Fix-It and Forget-It original book. I think the concept is people from all over send in recipes for the book. I hope they test them out before publishing. As I started this recipe and check in half through the cooking time I was a bit worried. I wasn't quite sure what the final result would be. It ended up not being the black bean soup I had in mind but what did come out was quite delicious and earned the seal of approval from Jordan. That makes it a winner for me.

Black Bean Soup
From Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook

Ingredients

3 carrots, sliced thin

2 celery ribs, sliced thin

4 garlic cloves, minced

20 oz canned black beans

2 cups chicken broth

10 oz crushed tomatoes

1 1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce

We added a fresh habanero pepper as well. We like things HOT HOT HOT!

Jordan helped chop up all of the carrots, celery and garlic the night before.

In the morning you throw all of the ingredients into the crock pot and cook for 9 hours on low. At noon I checked out how things were cooking. I like my black bean soup thick. This was just not doing it for me so I added another can of beans.

The end results. I think it would be good partially blended as well. We had it with leftover rice, chips and avocado. The soup was topped with a dollop of sour cream.

It was yummy and perfect for a cool, rainy night. We thought next time it would be good with shredded beef or chicken. We have plenty of leftovers and I am so happy with how successful the first recipe came out.