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!