Mexican Night

This night I made black bean soup, homemade tortilla chips, guacamole and corn bread for when I brought the soup for lunch.

I made this soup a long time ago, so my memory may be a bit hazy, but here goes. It's essentially the recipe off the back of the Progresso black beans, but w/ some changes. I'd made it once before and found it to be a bit too salty, this time it was a bit bland. Maybe next time... Also, I prefer a thicker soup and this is still a little runny for my liking. As for the recipe, I'm not a big follower. I always make adaptations and as a result will not be very specific. I think it best to play around and find out what works best for you.

I diced up a large onion, some celery and carrots and sauteed them for abt 5 minutes w/ chili powder and cumin. You then add 2 cans of black beans and something random like 4 cans or 52 ounces of chicken/vege stock. Last time I stuck to this and I blame it both for the saltiness and the runniness, so this time, I believe I added the beans in their liquid, instead of rinsed and drained, and one cup of stock and one cup of water. It was still a bit runny, but definetly less salty.

Then you take 2 cans of drained, rinsed beans and blend them with a jar-ish of salsa. Last time I used up my jalepenos and their juice and that added a nice kick. This time I needed to add additional liquid to get everything moving. Then you mix this mixture into the soup, which thickens it up a bit. I like that this soup has blended beans and chunky beans and vege, I guess I just want the overall soup a bit thicker. I'll need to continue to play w/ water content...

Next, I used my new favorite kitchen gadget to make some delicious guacamole. I love this gadget cuz it is a salad spinner, egg separator and hand spun food processor all in one. It's amazing! I think guacamole is one of the best things ever, but I'm pretty much a purist and don't like to add much to the avocado. I generally use red onion, garlic, salt, lime juice, cilantro and maybe tomato. No sour cream ever, it just cuts the flavor. I also prefer it a bit chunky, that's why I use this gadget and not the infamous Magic Bullet.

For tortilla chips, I just rip flour tortillas and place on a sprayed baking sheet. I generally make a spice mix that has salt, chili powder, cumin, paprika and pepper. I then pinch this over the tortillas. I bake them for abt 8 minutes at about 400 degrees.

Here's the finished meal. I garnish the soup either with scallions or a Mexican cheese mix (seen here). This meal was complimented by a glass of Spanish sangria that I brought back from my most recent European vacation...