More Soup Please!

Since it's been quite cool around here these days, it just seems like soup weather. Reading on Facebook that so many friends were pulling out their crockpots to make soup gave me the incentive to play around with an old favorite. I've used the usual bean recipe but tweaked it with what happened to be in the fridge. Take heed and use up what you have lying around and you'll find all kinds of great combinations you wouldn't have tried before. Leeks and black beans? Yup. Kale and pine nuts? Yup. Just give it a try. I will admit I've made some real stinkers in the past, but that's the price you pay, Dear Chef, for experimenting. The majority of the time you come up with a winner.

Leek and Bean Soup
2 leeks, cleaned and sliced
3 carrots, sliced
1 red pepper (or 5-6 small, sweet red peppers)
3 cans black beans, drained
1 can pinto beans, drained
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 cups veggie broth
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup frozen corn

1. Saute leeks, carrots and peppers until soft-about 10 minutes.
2. Pour the rest of the ingredients (except corn) into the crockpot and turn on high.
3. Pour veggies into crock pot, mix and cover.
4. Cook for 3 hours on high or 5 hours on medium.
5. Remove about 1.5 cups of the soup and set aside. Take an immersion blender and smooth out the rest of the soup in the pot.
6. Add retained soup and corn back to crockpot and stir. Wait about 5 minutes for corn to warm up.
7. At this point, add salt and taste. Adding salt while cooking beans can make them tough, so wait until the end to add it.
7. Serve with shredded cheese (optional) and tortilla chips. This soup comes out so thick, we use the tortilla chips and scoop it up like a dip. Hmmm, there's an idea.

You may recognize this as the soup we usually add Taco Bell taco sauce into. Today, I decided to go without and add my own spices. It came out with a great texture and just enough bite without making it too spicy. Feel free to add tabasco or more hot sauce if you want. I prefer to make it mild to start with.

Enjoy!