Smoky Black Bean Soup

No matter how many pictures I click, it's fairly difficult to make black bean soup look attractive. :p
My suggestion is to serve it in your favorite bowls or mugs and garnish it with whatever seems appropriate. Once your family or guests taste it they'll forget all about how it looked before they began eating it. ;) I garnished with grated cheddar, scallions and cilantro. Sour cream and/or diced avocado (or ripe tomatoes) would be very good, too. This time instead of my usual black bean soup I chose this one, and tweaked it just a little bit.
It was delicious! I actually like this soup better the next day, but it tasted very good right after preparing it.
You can cook your own black beans, or do as the recipe suggests and just get your can opener out, and the soup can be on the table in about 40 minutes.


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These are the changes I made to the recipe:
> Reduced the bacon to 6 strips (my bacon was extra thick cut)
> Used only 3 cans of black beans (because that's what I had on hand)
> Omitted Chili Powder and added a scant tablespoon of homemade taco seasoning  (I usually always have this in the pantry, it's so inexpensive to make, and it tastes better, too.)
> Skipped the ketchup and added a tablespoon of agave nectar and a tablespoon of tomato paste instead.
> Tossed a bay leaf in while ingredients were simmering.
> When the soup was finished simmering I stirred in about 1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar. (Adds a nice bright note to the beans)
If you add cooked rice to the soup (with a little extra chicken broth), voila! You have a complete protein. The original recipe over on Food Network has received over 300 Five-star reviews (so you may just want to go with that one.)
However, my tweaked version was declared a winner here,  so I'll definitely keep it in my rotation.
If you give it a try I don't think you'll be disappointed, and it tastes so good on a cold winter day (or evening!)
Thank you for stopping in today friends.
Blessings to you and your loved ones.
~mari  . . . xo