Black Bean Pumpkin Soup

THE RECIPE

Ready in 45 minutes

Makes 9 cups

Ingredients

3 (15 oz) cans of black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (16 oz) can diced tomatoes

1/4 c butter

1 1/4 c chopped onion (Since I don't reuse onions and I don't want to waste it, I just used an entire large onion)

4 cloves, garlic, chopped (I used 2 tsp minced garlic, because it's what we had)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

4 c beef broth (I might try beef stock next time for an even savorier soup)

1 (15 oz) pumpkin puree (make sure it's not pumpkin pie filling, but pure pumpkin)

1/2 lb cubed cooked ham 

3 T sherry vinegar (I used 2T balsamic vinegar because, again, it's what we had)

*I also added a can of corn

Directions

1. Puree 2 cans of the black beans and the can of tomatoes until smooth.  Set aside. 

Kinda gross looking, I know, but it doesn't taste gross!

2. Melt butter in soup pot over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic, salt and pepper.  Cook and stir until onion is soft.

This is what melted butter looks like. :)

3.  Stir in the bean puree, remaining can of beans, beef broth, pumpkin puree, and sherry vinegar.  Mix until well blended, then simmer for about 25 minutes or until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon (mine never reached this consistency even though I simmered for about 10 minutes longer).

4. Stir in the ham, and heat thoroughly.  

5. I served it with sour cream.

It's not a pretty soup, that's for sure, but it sure is tasty! 

THE VERDICT

We both really liked this soup.  It was easy to make and was very tasty.  Neither of us really tasted the pumpkin, but we liked it nonetheless. It was very savory and the sour cream really complimented this dish well.  It's a hearty soup, but not too heavy.  Joseph said he really liked the onions in it.  I think that a number of other vegetables would have gone great in the soup as well.  We hope you enjoy it!  We sure did!

You can find the original recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-black-bean-soup/detail.aspx

And, as a bonus, a picture of my other loves: my husband and baby. 

Let us know if you try this soup!  What did you like? What didn't you like?  What did you change?