Ghostly Halloween Soup

2 cups dried (or four 15-ounce cans black beans)
2 quarts water for soaking beans and 2 quarts fresh water for soup (or four 15-ounce cans chicken broth)
2 large onions, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 carrots, diced
Ham, ham bone, or any other seasoning meat
2 cloves garlic
teaspoon salt
teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

for garnish:
5 carrots, cut into l/2-inch slices
6 small eggs

Pick over beans, add 2 quarts water, and soak overnight. Drain and rinse thoroughly. If you do not have time to soak the beans, rapidly bring the beans to a boil, boil for two minutes, then immediately remove from heat. Soak beans for one hour, then drain and rinse.

Add 2 quarts fresh water to the beans, then stir in the onions, celery, carrots, meat seasoning, garlic, salt, sugar, and black pepper. Simmer for two hours or cook in a crock pot (High: 5-6 hours. Low: 10-12 hours). Remove from heat and puree until desired texture is achieved. Adjust seasoning and add more liquid if soup is too thick. Keep warm while you prepare seasoning.

A shortcut: If you do not have time to slow-cook this soup, you can use four 15-ounce cans of black beans and four 15-ounce cans of chicken broth with the same seasonings. You may need to add water if the soup is too thick.

For the garnish, place carrots (five to seven medium) and eggs in a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Cook until eggs are hard-boiled, or about 10 to 15 minutes, then drain. (Depending on the size, the carrots may need to boil up to 10 minutes more.) Peel eggs. Just before serving, stir carrots into soup. Place one egg into each bowl, then ladle soup over eggs.

Serve with salad and crusty bread. Makes 6 servings