We are famous!

Well, in our small time blogger world we are. Today I visited one of my old favorite food blogs, Cheap Healthy Good, it's been awhile since I read it because I've been preoccupied with looking for raw food info….and I was so delighted to see us listed in their Favorites of the Week! I'm so lucky I caught that post!

In other news….Nathan has been kind of obsessed with black beans since we officially ended the 30 day experiment. He wants to eat lots of protein to build up his muscles again, because they got "small" on only raw foods. (Not). I think he also just really likes burritos. =)

Anyway on Saturday night he made a fabulous black bean soup, not raw, but vegan, and a good example of how regular food can be incorporated into an almost-raw diet. He ate the soup on its own, but I put some raw spinach, celery, and zucchini in a bowl and just covered it with a few spoonfuls of the soup. So, all the yumminess of hot food, but most of the raw benefits too.

BLACK BEAN SOUP (modified from source)

Ingredients:
- 1 pound can of black beans
- 8 cups of water
- One cup of diced carrots
- One cup of diced yellow onion
- One cup of diced celery
- One tablespoon garlic cloves
- Some olive oil for cooking the vegetables
- 3/4 TBSP cumin powder
- 1 TSP oregano
- 1 TSP ground black pepper
- 1 TSP thyme

Nathan's modified instructions:

1) Heat up some olive oil in the bottom of a big pot and gradually cook the carrots, onion and celery until the onion carmelizes. I like to cook right in the pot I'll make the soup in because the "fond" that accumulates in the pot is very flavorful and adds to the soup. If too much dark matter builds up, add a little water and loosen it with a spoon.

2) Near the end of cooking the vegetables, add a little more olive oil, get it hot, and then cook the diced garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

3) Add the black beans right from the can, the water, and all the herbs. Slowly simmer with the lid just barely open for about an hour, stirring occasionally. I notice now that I forgot to add the recommended 1/6 cup of sherry, which might have been a nice addition.

4) After an hour, take off the cover and let the soup cook down gradually to your desired consistency. Sea salt to taste.

-Kelly