Black Bean Soup

Confession: I ate 3 Klondike bars on Sunday. Confession 2: I may have eaten 2 on Monday also. We are now out of Klondike bars.

After eating all of my delicious ice cream, the weather has cooled down and it has started to feel like fall. I love fall, so this is a welcome feeling to me. To welcome in the new fall weather, I decided to make soup, delicious, hearty, black bean soup. It was a quick meal, and went perfect with my leftover bread(in the form of a grilled cheese), and a nice pumpkin beer. I suggest making this immediately if you too are hoping to welcome in the fall weather.

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups Black beans*
2 cups veggie broth
1 tablespoon oil
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt**

1: In a large stock pot, heat oil. Add onion, garlic, pepper, and spices to heated oil and cook about 5 minutes, until pepper and onion are softened.
2: Add beans and broth, mix well, and simmer for about 10 minutes, uncovered.
3: Stir and cover. Simmer about 10-15 more minutes, until beans are soft.
4: Using and immersion blender, or a regular blender, blend soup to preferred consistency. Serve, topped with cheese, sour cream, or other garnish.

*I cook dried beans, rather than using cans, but 2 1/2 cups would be about 1 1/2 cans, in general.
**If using canned beans, salt can be ommitted, since the canned beans will contain salt.