*Black* 3 Bean Soup
Beans truly are magical - and not just for the gas. Beans are loaded with fiber and protein and typically contain zero fat! Of course, the dollop of sour cream that I put on top adds a trivial amount of fat, but I’m willing to overlook that.
For this trip around the kitchen, I decided to make my own version of a 3-bean soup. I put emphasis on the “Black” because it’s my favorite of all beans - and not just because I love my people. “Black beans may also help reduce the spike in blood sugar that occurs after eating a meal, which may help reduce the risk of diabetes and weight gain (Healthline).” As “Black” folks, we are predisposed to such things as diabetes, weight gain, and heart disease, so anything I can do to help mitigate that, I’m all for it.
Black beans are also chocked full of Folate, Magnesium, Iron, and Thiamine. Unless conscious of it, our beautiful black bodies can easily become deficient in many of these (and other) minerals, especially magnesium. I’m not a doctor and I don’t have a background in anything medical, but I would encourage you to read up on the importance of Magnesium in your diet.
I love following recipes, but sometimes, I also like to wing it. So on this edition of Chopped kitchen, we throw caution to the wind and have a little fun with colors.
The base for any great soup, in fact, any great meal contains onions, garlic, and peppers. To make it fun, I used red, yellow and green bell peppers. However, this is completely up to you.
*Black* 3 Bean Soup Recipe
Ingredients
6 cups of water
2 lb bag of black beans
2 cans Red Kidney beans (with liquid)
2 cans White Cannellini beans (with liquid)
1 large yellow onion - chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic - chopped
1 large green bell pepper - chopped
1/2 red bell pepper - chopped
1/2 yellow bell pepper - chopped
2 Maggi cubes
1 packet of goya sazon seasoning
1 tbsp Olive Oil
Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions:
Prep dried beans. This includes sorting them and soaking them (if you want). Sorting dried beans is necessary to remove any pebbles or hard objects. I also soaked my beans overnight in about 6-8 cups of water. We (hubby and I) decided to “brine” them so we added salt and onion powder to taste. I’m not sure if this had any effect on the output.
Prep your veggies. Chop your onion, garlic, peppers and any other veggies you want to add - I considered adding mushrooms and carrots. Set aside.
In a large stock pot, add olive oil and saute veggies until tender.
Drain black beans and rinse extra salt from brine and then add to the pot along with canned beans, water, and maggi cubes, sazon seasoning packet, and other seasonings.
Bring soup to a roaring boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.
Let simmer for 4-hours or until desired tenderness.
Garnish with your choice of sour cream, tomatoes, cilantro or any other delicious, colorful toppings.
Enjoy!
Tip: You can also prepare this in a crockpot or a pressure cooker. Just adjust the cooking times.
