Sunday, July 4, 2010

Black Bean Soup with Chicken and Salsa

First of all, I would like to shout out a huge "HELLO!" to our 124 facebook "A Busy Mom's Crock Pot Cooking Adventures" Group!  Holla!!  LOL  Welcome to my blog!  To all my trusty and faithful blogspot followers, if you're on facebook, join our group and invite your friends!

Well, we had unexpected dinner guests tonight and my Black Bean Soup with Chicken and Salsa was a HUGE success!!!  My father-in-law is a terrific cook, and he LOVED my soup!  Yay!  My husband is kind of a biased audience, so it was nice to have some dinner guests for a change to taste my fare!

This soup was packed with flavor and is actually really good for you!  Best of all, this soup can really be catered to your likes and dislikes.  If you don't care for any of the ingredients below, you can omit them, or better yet, add something you really prefer in its place.  If you're vegetarian, no need for the chicken.  You can thicken the soup by blending some of the black beans in a blender and then adding it back into the soup.

Darnit all, I forgot to add the avocados I was SOOOO looking forward to adding at the end, but fear not.....tomorrow's leftovers will have avocados on top and I will savor every bite!  I'll also take a picture and post it for you too because I think it will look very pretty!  And, let's face it folks.....we eat with our eyes before our lips!

Here's what you've been waiting for:

Black Bean Soup with Chicken and Salsa

Ingredients:
4 cups Chicken Broth (I used 4 cups water and 4 Bouillon cubes because that's what I had!)
1 large or 2 small boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed (or 1 cup dried black beans soaked overnight)
1 jar salsa (I used Chi Chi's Mild, but you can use whatever kind and heat you like)
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 jalepeno pepper (whole)
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
salt and pepper to taste

For garnish: shredded cheese, sour cream, cilantro, avocado

Directions:
In the slow cooker, add all of the soup ingredients and give a quick stir.

Here's what it looks like:  











Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.
Before serving, take the chicken breast(s) out and shred.  Replace shredded chicken in the slow cooker and stir.

Serve in a bowl with a dollop of sour cream and a sprig of cilantro with shredded cheese around the outside.  If you don't forget the avocado like me, serve each bowl with a couple slices to the side of the sour cream!

ENJOY!!!!

Tips:  I put this together this morning while my little one was busy watching her morning cartoons.  She "helped" add the mushrooms and was so proud!  Feel free to omit or add any ingredients based on your tastes!  This soup didn't taste the least bit "mushroomy' so don't be afraid to add them.  Also, for more heat, chop up the jalepeno.  I have a 2 year old, so I went with mild salsa and the whole jalepeno, just for flavor.
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4 comments:

  1. Do you use frozen Chicken or fresh?

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  2. I used fresh, but frozen would work fine :)

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  3. Made this last night with an adjusted ingredient list (no mushrooms, 1 can of beans, 3.5 cups of water)and I think I'm now OBSESSED with this dish!! And I'm not even a soup person lol. Thanks so much!!

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