Active Life Cooking

Quick and Tasty Soup for a Light Lunch!

On Thursday, I left work just before lunch in order to get a lot of housework done and get a nap (i.e. attempt to catch up on sleep) after my week on the rig. I had already eaten a piece of the decadent Vegan Mocha Cake I made the evening before, plus way too much butter icing when icing the cake, so I needed a quick, healthy, and easy lunch to make that day…black bean soup would just do the trick!I absolutely love black beans! They are probably one of the most versatile and healthy legumes. Also, they tend to compliment my favorite cuisine-type, Mexican. We had recently purchased an immersion blender, which I hadn’t had the opportunity to try out yet. I decided that a quick black bean soup sounded like it would hit the spot…good amount of protein and good amount of fiber, perfect for what I was going for after a morning of unhealthy indulgence!

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of Black Beans (I used Goya), drained and rinsed
• 1 can diced tomatoes (preferably plain, w/o basil or other seasonings), drained
• 1/4 of a diced onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and deveined + diced (less if you don’t want it too spicy)
• splash of olive oil (or canola oil)
• shredded cheese (optional, garnish)
• yogurt or sour cream (optional, garnish)
• cilantro (optional, garnish)
• avocado (optional, garnish)

Directions:

Prepare veggies, by dicing/mincing. Place non-stick pan on burner over medium heat, add a touch of olive oil (~1 tsp) and sautee onion for a minute until ever so slightly translucent. Add garlic and jalapeno and saute until garlic is fragrant.

Place all ingredients into a deep dish saucepan and mix with immersion blender until smooth (alternately, use a blender or food processor). Heat soup on stove until warm. Serve with your favorite shredded cheese and other garnishes, as desired.

I garnished mine with what I had around, reduced-fat Monterrey jack cheese and fat free Greek yogurt (Fage brand, yum!).

Delicious and makes a lot of leftovers for future lunches!

Makes 6 (1 cup) servings…

Nutrition (w/o garnish):

• 123 cal
• 1 g fat
• 26 g carb
• 8 g fiber
• 9 g protein

Such a great nutritional breakdown, you can’t really beat it