Most of the time, I like using canned black beans for speed. But there’s a smokier flavor to cooking from dried, so I made this soup. Mostly hands free, but takes a long time.

  • 1.5 cup dried black beans, rinsed, picked over.

 Dump it in a bowl filled with water to soak overnight. Rinse, and drain and then dump it in a crockpot with 6 cups of water. Cover and cook on high for 6-8 hours or until beans are tender.

 Once tender add:

  • 2 cups chopped onion
  • 1 (15 oz) can italian or mexican stewed tomato
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1/3 tsp thyme
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 3 vegetable stock cubes
  • salt to taste

 Cook another hour. Puree with hand blender and serve. Garnish with whatever is handy. Minced cilantro is esp good.

I had it for lunch with salad on the side.