Pretty toes and black bean soup.

With my husband working late tonight, I find myself with a few extra hours that I am used to spending in his company. I am the kind of person who gets on a kick. What ever my focus is seems to be the only thing I have any interest in doing. During pregnancy all I wanted to do was bake. I made cookies, cakes breads, pies, pastries, anything I could think of (which was plenty). But all of a sudden this is my interest. Mia is sleeping, and Kiki is being somewhat autonomous which leaves me a few minutes to begin this next post

There is no one out there to read this yet, and really it is just a glorified journal for myself and my children but I'm excited to share. I want to talk about the chicken stock I made today, and how pretty Kiki's toes look now that they are painted shiny red (mine too for that matter at her request), or about the soup now on the stove waiting to be dinner when my husband arrives home.

I know its August but I love soup. All kinds of soups, especially those that start with a good rich broth. The kind that simmers for a day or two and fill my house with the smell of rosemary and garlic.

I'm making Black bean soup tonight. Simple enough but one of Kiki's favorite things to say theses days is 'Beans!' Anything to do with beans and she gets excited. I have a bowl of dried large Lima  beans and when I am cooking she likes to move the beans between two bowls and stir them with a big wooden spoon while shouting "I MAKE BEANS!". She is my best helper.

When it comes to cooking I have never been great at specific portions of ingredients. I tend to just wing it, but I suppose if my intention is to share the things we make I need to be able to give somewhat accurate directions.

A Simple black bean soup

I started with:

one tomato
4 cloves of garlic
most of a medium sized white onion ( I had used a bit for Kiki's lunch)
a bit more then a third of a jalapeno
a lime
a pinch of dried oregano
a spoonful-ish of black pepper
some salt (more then less I suppose, but that is because I don't ever salt my stock when I make it)
1-2 cups of cooked black beans
half a cup of rice
5 or so cups of any kind of stock
olive oil
tortilla chips are a nice addition as well
and cheese would not hurt I'm sure but my littlest one's system cannot handle dairy so I have to make do with nutritional yeast.

This should make about 4 regular sized servings and enough for a toddler as well

Start out heating the olive oil in a large-ish pot over medium heat. Give the onion and tomato a pretty rough dice and add to the heated oil. Turn down to medium low cover and let cook a few minutes. When things are looking a bit translucent throw in some chopped garlic and minced jalapeno, and  cilantro (but not all of it)

Now if your life is anything like mine make sure to wash all that jalapeno off your hands before picking up the stinky baby to do a quick diaper check, and then start to read 'hop on pop' to the toddler before she gets bored and (thankfully) skips half the book for you having more fun turning the pages then hearing the story.

Once everything has simmered together a bit (about the same time your done reading 'hop on pop') and the tomato has become pretty juicy, throw in the salt, pepper and a pinch of oregano. Add the beans and then the stock. Stirring well and cover the pot.

At this point you are pretty much set. let it cook on lowish for a while and maybe 20-30 minutes before you intend to eat the soup add the rice and re-cover the pot.

Slice some limes, and make sure you still have some fresh chopped cilantro and tortilla chips.

Add the rest to your liking when its time to eat and not a moment sooner.

In the mean time change the baby that is now in fact poopy and re-read 'hop on pop'.