Black Bean and Kale Soup

Well, this blog is a new experiment to document an attempt at a healthy, gluten-free, vegetarian/vegan, sustainable, and purpose-driven lifestyle. Mainly I do this through my purchases and cooking. Therefore, I will post recipes and maybe the occasional homemade beauty product...maybe an occasional ramble. We'll see how it goes. This first recipe is black bean and kale crock pot soup, which was perfect for this cold and rainy day.

Black Bean and Kale Crock Pot Soup

*Note: I made this with a small crock pot, so you can double the recipe for an average size

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups of organic vegetable broth
• 1.5 cups of water
• 1/4 of an onion (cut into large chunks)
• 1/2 pound of dried black beans
• 1 large bell pepper chopped up (or 3 small bell peppers)
• 1  jalapeno chopped up
• 1 cup of white rice (basmatti is preferred, but anything works)
• Chili powder to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp of minced garlic
• 3 sticks of kale, torn or chopped
• A few dried basil leaves
• 1/2 tsp of dried oregano

What to do

It's simple. Dump everything into your crock pot and make sure it is mixed well, add the spices, salt, etc. Then turn it on low for 5 to 6 hours (what I did was low for 3 hours and high for 1 hour but the beans were still crunchy). When it's ready, serve it up and slice a good amount of avocado to put in each bowl

After you're done make sure you don't waste the leftovers. Give them to your neighbor, put them in the fridge/freezer...anything. You can save a lot of money and effort by not wasting things.