Barb's Favorite Black Bean Soup Recipe

It's both nutritious and delicious.
Serves four as a meal. Prepare in about 45 minutes, including cooking time..

I adapted this recipe from one found in Reader's Digest Great Recipes for Good Health. and I like it better because of the added nutrients and the extra boost in flavor from the tomatoes. I also preferred to change the spices and herbs to suit my taste buds. I have to admit that I rarely measure ingredients, but did this time for the sake of anyone trying to follow my directions. I made the soup this week because I had a cold, and there is no soup I like better when I'm sick.

A word about the pictured ingredients. I normally use canned Swanson chicken broth, not the boxed, but I didn't have the Swanson's handy and I had this at hand. If the garlic looks strange, it was. My husband brought it home because someone had too much, and I had never "unwrapped" it before. I assumed it was normal garlic, and when I peeled away the skin to get a clove, I saw the monster you see in the front row of ingredients on the left that looks like a lemon. Turns out it had little juice and I had to chop it like an onion. I would have gotten more garlic flavor out of two cloves of ordinary garlic such as I normally use.

Here are the ingredients I recommend you use:

1 T. olive oil
1 large yellow onion (I used two smaller ones this time)
2 cloves garlic, minced, but I often add more when I'm sick
1 T. thyme, dried
1 1/2 T. oregano, dried
About 3 cups, cooked or canned. black beans, drained
About 3 cups chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes (or about 2 cups with juice) or about 3 cups fresh tomatoes, diced.

You might want to add more herbs, spices, or garlic to taste.