Black Bean Soup

I am not a huge fan of soup... never have been.  However, I really love the black bean soup served at Panera Bread.  It is just so good!  So, I have been wanting to make my own black bean soup for quite some time now. I recently found a recipe from my beloved Pioneer Woman.

I made this recipe on Sunday and I must say that it is quite good.  I will most likely add more spiciness to it the next time that I make it.

I think that you should try it out!  
(Recipe is taken straight from the Pioneer Woman's website)

Photo by: The Pioneer Woman

• 1 pound Dried Black Beans
• 4 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 2 cups Water
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Diced
• 1 whole Red Bell Pepper, Seeded And Diced
• 1 whole Green Bell Pepper, Seeded And Diced
• 1 whole Yellow Bell Pepper, Seeded And Diced
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt (more To Taste)
• 1-1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoon Cumin

• FIXINS
• Sour Cream
• Avocado, diced
• Cilantro Leaves
• Lime Wedges
• Corn Tortillas Cut Into Strips

Preparation Instructions

Place the beans in a bowl or pot, cover with cold water, and allow to soak overnight *OR* add beans to a medium pot and cover with hot water. Bring to a boil, then boil for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and allow the beans to sit for 1 hour. Drain the beans and rinse them with cold water.

In a medium pot, add beans, chicken stock, water, onions, and bell peppers. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. At that time, add salt, chili powder, and cumin and stir. Cover and continue simmering for another 30 minutes to 1 hour, until the liquid level is to your liking (anywhere from very thick to a thinner soup is fine!)

Taste for seasoning and add more of what it needs. Serve soup in a bowl with sour cream, extra diced bell pepper, avocado, cilantro, tortilla strips, and a lime wedge.

If you would like to print this out from the Pioneer Woman, herself,  go here.

An Excerpt

As I was cleaning my apartment today, I came across an excerpt from 'Black Boy'.  I had forgotten completely that I had taken the time to write this down.

I think this excerpt is important, because it still applies to our nation today.  Whether you are Black, Asian, Hispanic, Latino, Gay, Straight, or even White... this applies to you, because we are all getting so used to finding faults in others and then using that against them.  By doing so we create a space, a great distance between us and others.  We lose out on connections.  We miss out on many great opportunities that would be there, if we could just look beyond a skin color or sexual orientation.

So, here is to making new friends, and forging the path of love... no matter who you are, what you look like, or what your sexual preferences are.

An excerpt from 'Black Boy' by Richard Wright

"... As I, in memory, think back now upon those girls and their lives I feel that for White America to understand the significance of the problem of the Negro will take a bigger and tougher America than any we have yet known.  I feel that America's past is too shallow, her national character too superficially optimistic, her morality too suffused with color hate for her to accomplish so vast and complex a task.  Culturally the Negro represents a paradox:  Though he is an organic part of the nation, he is excluded by the entire tide and direction of American culture.  Frankly, it is felt right to exclude him, and it is felt to be wrong to admit him freely.  Therefore if, within the confines of its present culture, the nation ever seeks to purge itself of its color hate, it will find itself at war with itself, convulsed by a spasm of emotional and moral confusion.  If the nation ever finds itself examining its real relation to the Negro, it will find itself doing infinitely more than that; for the anti-Negro attitude of whites represents but a tiny part- though a symbolically significant one- of the moral attitude of the nation.  Our too-young and too-new America, lusty because it is lonely, aggressive because it is afraid, insists upon seeing the world in terms of good and bad, the holy and the evil, the high and the low, the white and the black; our America is frightened of fact, of history, of processes, of necessity.  It hugs the easy way of damning those whom it cannot understand, of excluding those who look different, and it saves its conscience with a self-draped cloak of righteousness.  Am I damning my native land? No; for I, too, share these faults of character! And I really do not think that America, adolescent and cocksure, a stranger to suffering and travail, an enemy of passion and sacrifice, is ready to probe into its most fundamental beliefs."

Can't we all just get along?  I feel like we should have figured this out by now, I mean it is 2014 after all!  But, it isn't just fashion trends that come back throughout the years.  Unfortunately, our lack of understanding is also something that comes back, over and over.  Hopefully, we will find a way to embrace others for who they are sooner, rather than later.

Hello, Gregory Alan Isakov !!

I honestly have no idea, how I have lived my life up to this point, without knowing of Gregory Alan Isakov!


His sound is so great.  I love him and I just found him today.  I already have plans of buying his albums on vinyl, because I think that that fits his voice better.


Some great songs:


The Stable Song

Big Black Car

Honey, It's Alright

Dandelion Wine


Who am I kidding?  All of his songs are great!  I've been listening to him all day long.  Now, don't you hesitate, give him a listen!!






I don't own this song, just sharing a new found joy in the music world!

Aloe Blacc - Revisited

I wrote about Aloe Blacc in August of 2012 and just over the summer, he was blowing up with his song, 'Wake Me Up', with Avicii.  I am still a big fan, and so, I thought I would share one of his newer songs:  The Man.  My mom likes Aloe Blacc as well, now, but she keeps on calling him L.L. Brown. Ha ha.






A song that I love:

I Need a Dollar:  I like this version, because I love classical music and art!


The Song that is getting him noticed:

Wake Me Up with Avicii

Wake Me Up- Acoustic

Lucius- Wildewoman

This is one of my new favorites!  I discovered Lucius on NPR Music- Tiny Desk Concerts.  I loved their sound so much, that I purchased their album straight away.  It is fantastic in every way.

Check them out!

Lucius' Facebook Page

Lucius Website

NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

This is Lucius.  Photo by Peter Larson.

This is their album, 'Wildewoman'.  You can find it here.

You want to own this, I promise!