Mexican Black Bean Soup with Sausage Recipe

Mexican Black Bean Soup with Sausage
It’s been a roller coaster of spring-like temperatures and freezing, regular February temperatures around here the last few weeks. That plus the lovely no six diet (no: dairy, wheat,eggs, fish, soy or peanuts) diet I’m on to help baby A’s digestive issues means we’ve had to get very creative with dinners. Luckily for me, J has taken the changes to our culinary repertoire in stride and has come up with a lot of alternatives to our favorite dishes. He found this lovely one from Food and Wine magazine.  Since I was baby A wrangling, I only got a picture of the finished product.

Mexican Black Bean Soup with Sausage Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium white or yellow onion finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons garlic cloves very finely chopped (we used about 3of minced garlic, but we like garlic a lot)
  • 1 teaspoon canned chipotle chile seeded and finely chopped (since we didn't have this on hand, we used 1ground chipotle)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • Two 15-ounce cans black beans drained
  • 3 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth
  • 3/4 pound smoky cooked sausage such as andouille or kielbasa, thinly sliced (we just went with two andouille)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice plus wedges for garnish
  • 2 tablespoons very finely chopped cilantro
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • Sour cream for serving we left this out because it's dairy

Instructions
 

  • In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil until shimmering.
  • Add the onion and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until softened, about 3 minutes.
  • Add the garlic and the chipotle or ground chipotle, cumin and oregano and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
  • Add the black beans and chicken stock and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes.
  • Using a potato masher, coarsely crush some of the beans (we skipped this step).
  • Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over high heat.
  • Add the sausage and cook until browned, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
  • Add the sausage to the beans.
  • Then add the lime juice and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Simmer the soup for 2 minutes to allow the flavors to blend, or longer if you'd like!
  • Ladle the soup into bowls and serve, passing the sour cream and lime wedges separately.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

My opinion:
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this ended up being very filling and just the right amount of heat to warm me from the inside. It’s absolutely a soup we will add to the rotation, even once we (hopefully!) can start adding the no items back to my diet.

Homemade Stuffed Poblanos

Or homemade chile rellenos. A new grocery store opened in our town and it is amazing. I’ve described it as if Trader Joes and Whole Foods had a baby. The produce is fantastic. When I stopped by opening day, the poblanos were some of the best I’ve seen since leaving Texas. So I roasted them and we had them for dinner.

Homemade Stuffed Poblanos

Ingredients
  

  • 1 in can whole tomatoespuree; or if you prefer fresh 5-7 large Roma tomatoes, 28 ounces
  • 1 jalapeno chile; (ribs and seeds removed for less heat) minced
  • 1 large or 2 small yellow or white onions; chopped
  • 3 tablespoons minced garlic
  • coarse salt and ground pepper to taste
  • 1 pound can black beans; rinsed and drained or about 1ground beef 19 ounces, we used 80/20 ground beef because it was also on sale at the new grocery store
  • 4 ounces shredded pepper Jack cheese
  • 1/4 block of Velveeta Queso Blanco cheese cubed (we had some left over from making Mag Mud at home)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 4 large poblano chiles; halved lengthwise ribs and seeds removed, stems left intact
  • 1-2 tablespoons oil (vegetable olive, whatever you have on hand)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 425.
  • In a blender or food processor, combine tomatoes in puree, jalapeno, half the onions, and 2 whole garlic cloves; puree.
  • Season with salt to taste.
  • Pour sauce into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; set aside.
  • Add a little oil to the skillet and sauté the onions, garlic and cumin.
  • If using ground beef, brown the beef in the same skillet with the garlic and onions, if you want, add some of the salsa.  
  • Add half the poblano in the salsa covered baking dish. 
  • Dividing evenly, spoon the onions and beef into the poblano half.
  • Sprinkle poblanos with the shredded pepper jack cheese.
  • If room add, the other poblano half with the inside in the salsa (so the skin side is up). (Since there wasn't room in our dish, I just added them where there was room.)
  • Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes.
  • Remove from oven.
  • Add the Velveeta cubes and cover with the other poblano half. Note: you'll want to use a fork or other utensil, the poblano tops will be hot.
  • Return to the 425 degree oven for 20 more minutes or until the salsa is slightly thickened and the poblano half on top is starting to brown. 
  • Let cool 10 minutes.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

My Opinion:
The poblanos that were on top of the salsa roasted up quite nicely adding a sweet char to the pepper. Next time, I’ll roast the entire poblano before adding the filling. Other than that, the only other addition is to smother the entire stuffed poblano in Mag Mud for extra creaminess.

Homemade Mag Mud

In honor of tailgate season (and Mizzou’s first SEC game against Georgia!) I wanted to share one of our most favorite tailgate dips, Mag Mud.

In Austin, Texas, is the most amazing restaurant, Magnolia Cafe. My very, very dear friend B insisted (it didn’t take much!) we go there whenever I visited her and it was always packed and always delicious. Regardless of time of day or night, B and I always started with their famed Mag Mud. It’s surprisingly easy and if you make it in a crock pot, last well through a long tailgate.

Ingredients:
1-2 cans black beans, drained (or if you prefer to soak your beans, feel free to do that instead just make sure they’re ready to go)
1 package Velveeta Queso Blanco, cut into squares
1 can Rotel, drained (we used medium, but go with the level of spice you want)
2 avocados, sliced
1 cup pico de gallo (store bought is fine!)

Directions:
Put the black beans in the bottom of the crock put. Turn crock pot to high. Wait about 20 minutes and add the cubed Velveeta. Stir. Let Velveeta melt (about 15 to 20 minutes). Stir. Add the drained Rotel. Stir. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips by topping cheese with avocado slices and pico.
*Note: The time depends on your crock pot. Ours has three levels, keep warm (low), Low (medium) and high. If your dip is a bit too runny (or slides right off the chips!), you can thicken it by adding shredded Mexican Blend cheese. We used about a half cup.

My opinion:
The original Mag Mud is layered, this one isn’t. Other than that, I can’t think of a single thing wrong with it. So good!