foodography...and 100th post!

So…I have a habit of sometimes taking pictures of the foods I’m eating. Then I never do anything with them. I’ve decided it’s time to take advantage of my food photos in a blog. (Sadly, I also realized this is my 100th post...I say "sadly" because I wish it was of slightly more substance!)

I made a soup a few nights ago, with the aid of a few recipes but mostly what was in my head. I need a little guidance on how to prepare everything. What resulted was a spicy black bean soup. It’s probably going to need some tweaking, mainly in the spice department, and it’s probably going to need to be thinned out with some broth or water (if you’re cheap, like me). It was pretty delicious, and I ended up freezing the leftovers in half-cup portions. I'll list the recipe at the bottom, if anyone is interested. The stats are pretty decent, esp considering I added no fat or anything, other than the 2 tbsp of veggie oil to sauté with. And that’s divided amongst 5.5 cups.

Here, I sautéed the bell pepper, onion, and garlic.


This was followed by the addition of Rotel, corn, and black beans. Then there's an inset shot.



And voila! The finished product, topped with 2% cheese, reduced-fat sour cream and some green onion. (Pssst…there’s brown rice under there, too.)


I had this with a grilled cheese, made with reduced-calorie wheat bread and fat-free cheese. It was YUMMY.

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can no-salt-added corn, drained
2 cans black beans
1 can Rotel
2 tbsp cumin (or to taste)
2 tsp chili powder (or to taste)
optional: sour cream, cheese, green onion


Directions
Using a large pot or dutch oven, saute bell pepper, onion, and garlic in vegetable oil until tender, about 5 minutes. Add corn (drained), Rotel and black beans. Season with chili powder and cumin, to taste. Bring to a boil, then bring temp back down to low to simmer and let flavors blend, about 15 minutes. In small batches (about three cups each), puree soup in blender (or use an immersion blender in pot). Serve hot, topped with sour cream, cheese, and green onions if you like (not in nutrition). My recipe made 5.5 cups of soup, it may vary. The info is for a 1/2 c serving. I didn't use any broth or water to thin it out during cooking, though, and you might want to do that. I've been adding a little water after cooking to stretch out the amount; it does very little to the flavor.

Number of Servings: 11

Nutrition Data