Bean Soup

In 2003 I bought a book full of recipes designed to help people get that 5 to 9 servings of vegetables a day that you're supposed to have. It floated around for a while, and I finally made some thing from it today. I modified the recipe, too, and it smells delicious!

Here it is, with my modifications.

1 tablespoon olive oil
whatever, i just drizzled it in
1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
I had half of an onion, and I used that. I think it was less than a cup. Whatev, I didn't feel like chopping up a new one.
1 medium carrot, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
I chopped up baby carrots until I was bored.
1 medium rib celery, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
No celery here. I skipped this part. Too bad, too; I always have celery on hand that I'm stressing about finishing up.
2 cloves garlic, minced
I used the jarred stuff... WAY easier! And I think I put well over 2 cloves worth of minced garlic in it.
6 cups cooked black beans OR 3 cans (15-19 oz.) rinsed and drained
I forgot to rinse and drain.
1 can (14 1/2 oz.) whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped
I only had crushed tomatoes, which is basically tomato sauce, so I'm going to have smoother soup. Drat.
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
If you're a vegetarian, you could use vegetable broth, which would make this vegan, if you made sure that you got broth without eggs in it.
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus leaves for garnish
I just threw in the entire bunch that I bought, because I thought, "What am I going to do with the leftovers?" The only other thing I can think of to do with cilantro is gazpacho soup, and there are rules against gazpacho in December. Also, I did not "chop", I put it through the food processor because, come on.
2 TBS. tomato paste
I think I put more in, and I still have a large amount left over. I have no idea what to do with it.
1 TBS. fresh lime juice
No lime juice, and I couldn't find it in the store, and I didn't want to bother asking anyone. I used lemon.
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/8 cayenne pepper
I did more, but only because i wanted to do an Emeril and go "BAM!" I'm eating it now, and crying, meaning Rob is going to love it.
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sour cream
No sour cream here.

In a large sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes or until the carrot is soft.
In a food processor, puree the vegetable mixture until smooth. Return the pureed vegetables to the pot; stir in two-thirds of the black beans, the tomatoes plus their juice, the chicken broth, cilantro, tomato paste, lime juice, cumin, cayenne, and black pepper.
In a small bowl, mash the remaining black beans with a fork (I threw them into the already dirty food processor for half a second) and add to the soup. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until thickened.
Serve with 1 tablespoon of sour cream and a few cilantro leaves.

It's pretty good. Very Mexican, so i threw corn chips in there. I also could have added some canned or frozen corn kernels, too.