Black Bean and Pumpkin Soup

Our beloved and colorful Canadian Fall seems to be coming to an end.  My early morning runs are darker and colder.  The kids are off to school in their winter coats and toques (that’s Canadian for hats – hehe).  And the trees are bare.

That can only mean one thing (my kids will tell you it means Santa is coming), soup season has arrived!

I find soup so easy to make – it’s almost impossible to mess it up, and it’s a fabulous way to get an assortment of nutrients into you and your loved ones.  If you have a superb blender, you can puree a batch of soup a matter of seconds. I like to do this when my soup is full of ingredients my kids might normally avoid.

This seasonal recipe for Black Bean and Pumpkin Soup is simple, nutritious, and everyone will love it.  It’s a stick to your ribs kind of soup.  Pumpkin is a perfect Fall vegetable since the colder weather also indicates the arrival of cold and flu season.  Pumpkin is high in Vitamin A – an antioxidant that supports our immune systems.  I’ve been adding more pumpkin to our diets since September, and knock on wood, everyone’s healthy as can be.

Black Bean and Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup coconut oil or olive oil
• ¾ cup chopped sweet onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 ½ tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 – 19 ounce cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup canned tomatoes, chopped
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 14 ounces of pumpkin puree
• pinch of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

 Instructions

1.  In a heavy pot melt coconut oil and cook onion and garlic until soft.
2.  Add cumin and stir to combine.
3.  Stir in black beans and tomatoes.
4.  Stir in broth and pumpkin puree until combined.
5.  Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes.
6.  Taste and season with cinnamon, sea salt and black pepper.
7.  Puree in a blender (or with an immersion blender) until soup reaches desired consistency.
8.  Serve.

Yield: About 8 bowls of soup

What’s in your favorite bowl of soup?