Meatless Monday: Black Bean Soup and Pita Chips

So tonight was my last crazy Monday for awhile. My darling girl has dance rehearsal from 5-6 and then basketball from 6-7. My husband helps coach the basketball team so we all go to the park together. Before I left the house I put a one pound bag (sorted and rinsed) of black beans into the pressure cooker. I added a half an onion (chopped) several baby carrots, and some chopped celery, 1 bay leaf and teaspoon of cumin and a 1 teaspoon of chili powder. I put it on high pressure for 30 minutes. My pressure cooker is a self contained unit which turns off after the allotted time and allows the pressure to come down naturally (best for beans) and then switches to a "keep warm" setting. So when we walked in the soup was almost ready to go.

I added about 1/4 C of tomato salsa to the soup, about 1 1/2 C of frozen corn niblets, and a few dashes of worcestershire sauce. I stirred and tasted and realized I had forgotten to add salt. I never cook beans with salt because they can make the beans tough and not cook properly. Once salted this soup can be served with a garnish of sour cream, cheese or scallions or any mixture of those three things. We also had some pita chips. Light and yummy, it was a good dinner for a busy night!

Crab Corn Chowder and Beer Bread

We are having some friends over for dinner and I am so excited! Today's recipe was adapted from a book called "Salsa Cooking" by Marjie Lambert. My husband has had this cookbook since before we met and this is our favorite recipe from it, but this is how we have made it over the years, not as it appears in the book.


1 onion, chopped
butter or olive oil
1 qt. of chicken broth
3 C of salsa (favorite fresh variety)
1-2 C of frozen kernel corn
1/2 red bell pepper
1 C half and half
1/2 tsp salt
white pepper to taste
1 C sour cream (or plain greek yogurt)
1 lb fresh cooked crab meat
cilantro and green onions for garnish


Melt some butter or heat some olive oil in a stock pot, sautee the chopped onion. While onion is sweating put a rimmed baking sheet under the broiler and roast the corn and the half of a red bell pepper. Check vegetables often and when red bell pepper becomes blistered and blackened remove from under broiler, place in a container with a lid and close it up for 5-10 minutes, then remove most of skin, chop and add to onions in the pan. Continue cooking corn until brown spots begin to appear. Add salsa to onions, add corn and stir, add chicken broth and bring all to a boil for 1 minute. Then let soup simmer for 20 minutes with a lid on, slightly ajar. Add half and half, sour cream, crabmeat and stir together to heat, but do not boil as you can curdle the dairy. Serve in bowls garnished with cilantro (or parsley of cilantro is unavailable) and chopped green onions. Serve with beer bread, cornbread, tortillas, or chips.

I use the Farmgirl Fare beer bread recipe and it is a good one! I had to modify it today because I was down to my last 2 1/2 C of whole wheat flour and I had no all purpose to speak of, so I subbed in some bread flour. I also added 1 C of 4 cheese Mexican blend shredded cheese to the mix. It smells WONDERFUL in here.

And last but not least my husband prepared Alton Brown's Frozen Blueberry Pie for our guests today and that is baking up right now. I hope you all have a nice Sunday with your friends and family.