I decided to make a soup that my mom saw made on TV by Rachael Ray.  She calls it Black Bean Stoup.  It turned out deliciously, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I like it.  I normally am easily bored by bean soups since they tend to be on the bland and boring side, but this is very flavorful, involves some of my favorite spices, and has plenty of other ingrediants to compliment the mild flavor of the beans.  It goes well with cornbread and I recommend a glass of cold water with lime and frozen raspberries (mashed with your spoon) to go with.  If you do dairy, sour cream would be delightful as a topper to this soup as would colby-jack cheese (or pepper-jack if you prefer).

Ingrediants:
- 2 T. extra-virgin olive oil (canola or vegetable oil will also work, but olive oil is better for you)
- 1 large dried bay leaf (fresh if you have them)
- 1 small can mild seeded and chopped chiles (get spicy if you like spicy)
- 3 ribs of celery chopped
- 1 T of roasted garlic (fresh is better, but I never use it all before it goes bad, so I use the stuff that comes in a jar)
- 1 large onion chopped (I used a Walla Walla sweet, but any kind of onion will do--use your favorite)
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and chopped
- 1 greed bell pepper seeded and chopped
- 3 (15 oz.) cans of black beans
- 1 (15 oz.) can of dark red kidney beans
- 2 T ground cumin
- 2 T coriander (I used a palmful for both of these)
- 2 (16 oz.) cans of chicken broth (use vegetable stock if you prefer to side with the chicken)
- 1 (15 oz.) can of diced tomatoes
- lime juice

Directions:
Heat a large soup pan with the olive oil in it to about a medium heat.  Don't get it too hot, or the olive oil will burn and that doesn't taste so great.  Saute the onions, celery, garlic, and bell peppers until the onions are somewhat transparent and the celery and peppers look a tad bit softer than normal.  This should take around 10 minutes, give or take.  There's a lot of vegetable matter to cook, so be patient.  Just remember to stir occasionally and don't let the veggies burn.

Add the rest of the ingrediants (except for the lime juice) to the pan and bring to a boil.  Allow to simmer for at least a half an hour.  If you're so inclined, this would be good time to bake some corn bread to go with.  Right before serving add the lime juice to taste.  I added about half a cup, but then put more in the bowl that I was eating.  Make sure to taste it so as not to allow it to get too lime-y for you.  Also, salt and pepper to taste (the broth probably has some salt in it, as do the tomatoes, so be a bit stingy with the salt shaker until you've tasted it after cooking for awhile).

This freezes pretty darn well, and would make great leftovers for in the winter.  It's a filling soup, and can stand alone quite nicely.  If you want to change it up a bit to make the leftovers a bit different than the original meal, Rachael Ray suggests adding rice and/or sausage to it.  (I personally would skip the sausage, but could see how that could be a tasty option.)