Black Bean Soup

The dear husband is fervently planning his tailgating schedule. This can only mean one thing: Razorback football season is upon us. Well, almost upon us. In the middle of these sweltering days (and me with an 11 ounce internal heat pack) I'm looking forward to crisp mornings, fires in the fireplace, leaves changing colors (as they do best in the Ozarks), and even Razorback football. I love fall foods, too, and I wanted to share my favorite recipe: black bean soup, which has been just slightly modified from my momma's version. Don't be fooled; this soup is not messing around. It's hearty and filling, and totally worthy of being whipped up, even while we're still in the middle of summer.

Black Bean Soup
one or two cups chopped celery*
one or two cups chopped carrots*
one or two cups chopped white onion*
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro*
1 (10 ounce) can Ro-tel
4 (15 ounce) cans Ranch Style brand black beans
2 tablespoons butter
* I buy a package of celery, a package of carrots, one big onion, and a bunch of cilantro. I chop them all up and use all of the celery, carrots, and onion, and about half of the cilantro.

1. In a large pot, melt butter. Add celery, carrots, and onion; cook 15-20 minutes, until tender.
2. Add Ro-tel, beans, and cilantro (don't drain any of the cans); heat to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer at least 30 minutes, up to a couple of hours, stirring occasionally.
Serve with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, cornbread, corn chips, or whatever.
Makes 6 to 8 servings, and is great left over.

Enjoy! And go Hogs!

Oh! And this is exciting - we found out today we're having a boy! So P will have a little brother to torment this winter. She's very excited. She saw the DVD of the ultrasound (scary - all ultrasound pictures make the babies look like Skeletor - or maybe my kids just look like Skeletor), and she pointed and squealed and laughed.

Also, a few people have asked me why I'm blogging under my maiden name. It's just because my Etsy shop is under that name, and that's because my e-mail is "melshort," and that's because I've had this e-mail since I was Mel Short. So it just sort of happened; it's not an intentional pen name or anything.