Black Bean Soup

From Babble blog:

Vegan Black Bean Soup

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

canola or olive oil, for cooking
1 large purple onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 16 oz package dried black beans (or 2 cups)
1 Tbsp. chipotle chiles en adobo (optional – it gives a nice smoky taste, but you could sub chili powder)
7 cups hot water
juice of a lime
1-2 tsp. coarse sea salt (it seems like a lot, but it needs it)
sour cream/yogurt (or vegan sour cream/yogurt) for serving, if you like

Heat a drizzle of oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery and pepper and sauté until soft and starting to brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cumin and cook for another minute. Transfer mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker. Add beans, chipotle chiles and water; cover and cook on low heat for about 5 hours (this will vary – hers took 3).

Add the salt and lime juice and stir well (you don’t want to cook the beans with the salt – they tend to get grainy that way) – scoop out about half of the soup and transfer to a blender; puree until smooth. (Alternatively, stick in a hand-held immersion blender and puree a bit right in the slow cooker.) You want it to be half smooth, half chunky. Serve hot, or cool down and refrigerate for a day or two to allow the flavors to improve, then reheat. Serve topped with sour cream, if you like. Makes lots-6-10 servings, depending on appetites.

Crockpot Carne Asada Meat

AUTHENTIC CROCKPOT CARNE ASADA MEAT

I've nursed a mad craving for authentic taco meat ever since visiting a hole-in-the-wall cantina in SoCal this summer. The family and I scooted ourselves tightly under round metal tables, bowing our heads over corn tortillas dripping with tender, savory meat. Gosh sakes, those tacos were good. Good enough to make me think about them twice a day and four times on Friday nights. Good enough to send me scouring the internet for truly authentic tasting carne asada meat. Good enough to get me tossing all of those found recipes away, trying to hone in on the ideal recipe all by my lonesome. Here is the first recipe I've concocted thus far to make the cut. It's not quite taqueria perfect, but it's pretty darned close. (And so, so ridiculously delicious).

ingredients:

1 (3-5 pound) cut of cheap beef
flap, london broil, flank or roast all work beautifully
1/2 cup limeade
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup oil
1 onion
4-5 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno
2 tablespoons Knorr Mexican beef boullion (granulated)
1 (7 ounce) can Embasa Salsa Verde Green
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder

directions:

Early in the morning, place your meat in a large crockpot. In a blender, combine limeade, vinegar, oil, onion, clovers, jalapeno, boullion, salsa, cumin, and chili powder. Blend until well pureed. Pour the sauce over your meat, making sure it's well coated (the meat doesn't have to be entirely submerged, just nicely coated with the sauce). Cover crockpot with a lid, and cook all day on low heat. After allowing the meat to cook 8-10 hours, shred the meat, then return it to the crockpot. Stir it in the pan juices and allow it to continue cooking until it's ready to be served. Spoon over corn tortillas, top with grated cheese, homemade salsa or pico de gallo, and sour cream. Es Muy Bien!

Coconut Banana Bread

COCONUT BANANA BREAD

A rich, hearty loaf of quick bread, laden with coconut and full of not-too-sweet flavor. To bump up the health value and coconut flavor of my bread, I used coconut oil, which I highly recommend. It's such a tasty substitute for butter, and has all sorts of proposed health value. The fact you could take a hot tub in it and lick it off your fingers is just icing on the cake. Or in this cake, toasted coconut on top of the banana bread.

ingredients:

3 eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2 very ripe bananas
3/4 cup organic sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
7 ounces shredded coconut, less 1/2 cup
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon cardamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon coconut extract (optional)

directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, cream together the eggs, melted coconut oil, bananas, and sugar. Add the baking powder, salt, flour, coconut, coconut milk, and cardamom. Mix just until well combined.

Pour into a large loaf pan, two medium loaf pans, 6 small loaf pans, or 12 mini loaf pans which have been coated with nonstick baking spray with flour.

Combine the remaining half cup of coconut, mix it with a teaspoon or so of sugar, then sprinkle on top of your batter before baking. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour (large loaf pan), 35-40 minutes (medium loaf pan), 25-30 minutes (small loaf pan), 18-20 minutes (mini loaf pans). Remove, cool, slather with strawberry jam and enjoy.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

from  http://www.cheekykitchen.com/2010/12/loaded-baked-potato-soup.html blog

LOADED BAKED POTATO SOUP

Potato soup is nice. But, loaded baked potato soup is wickedly delicious. This basic white potato soup is creamy and delicious, the perfect base for some kickin' toppings: salty bacon, cool sour cream, sharp cheddar cheese, crunchy green onions. The recipe makes enough to feed 6-8 adults, but the recipe is quite easy to double, if you plan to make it for a party. Since I whipped up a batch of this soup to use up some of our Christmas ham leftovers, I included ham in the soup, but the soup is perfectly divine without the ham. Just know it's a scrumptious option.

ingredients:

4 stalks celery, finely diced
1 large onion, very well chopped
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
32 ounces cups chicken broth
4-6 cups whole milk
2 cup chopped ham (optional)
6 baked potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
Toppings: bacon bits, sharp cheddar cheese, sour cream, chopped scallions

directions:

In a large pot, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium high heat and saute the celery and onion until they are quite soft, about 4-6 minutes. Add the remaining butter to the pot. Once melted, whisk in the flour to make a thick roux, then turn the heat to medium and slowly whisk in the chicken broth, taking care to whisk out any chunky, floury pieces. Stir in the milk (four cups of milk, if you'd like a thicker soup, and more if you'd like your soup texture to be thinner).
Stir in the ham & baked potato pieces (Note: if you don't have baked potatoes lying around the house, you can either cook them until tender in the microwave--just clean them thoroughly, pierce them with a fork, and zap 'em for approx. 15 minutes--or peel & boil them in a pot of salted water until soft & tender. Either way works!) Salt & pepper to taste. If you're like us, you'll probably want a good amount of salt & pepper to really flavor that soup!
Serve with your favorite baked potato toppings. Enjoy!