Meggan – I think your family will really like this soup.  And you
too Leah!  This recipe serves four.  I doubled it for the
Young Adults luncheon today and it made quite a bit.  I think it’s
from Martha Stewart – Kristen found it.

4 tsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced (or smushed in a garlic press)

2 tsp ground cumin

1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chiles

2 cans (15 oz each) black beans, drained and rinsed (or if you’re Meggan, you’ll cook them yourself)

2 cans (14.5 oz each) diced tomatoes

3/4 tsp salt

2 C water

1 package (10 oz) frozen corn

cilantro, chopped

Heat the oil and saute the onion until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add
the cumin and garlic and saute a couple more minutes.  Dump in
everything else except cilantro and corn.  Bring to a boil and
then simmer until it thickens a little bit, about 20 minutes.
Take out about 2 C of the mixture and puree it in a blender or food
processor.  CAUTION – when you
try to puree something hot, if there’s too much in the blender, it will
squirt out all over the kitchen walls. (Not that that I would know from
personal experience or anything!)  So just blend a little bit at a
time and be careful!  Add this back to the soup and add the
corn too.  Bring soup back to a boil.  Take off heat and add
however much cilantro you want (the original recipe doesn’t call for it
but I think cilantro makes it better).  Serve with grated Monterey
Jack and sour cream.

Enjoy!  It’s really not spicy.  Next time I might add a
little cayenne pepper to jazz it up but it’s really good this way
too.  And…it freezes well so it’s a good way to add to the
freezer stockpile.  (This leftover comment may apply to you, Leah,
more than Meggan.)