I made this heavenly toasty soup earlier in the week in my way too dusty slow cooker. I need to brush it off and use it more often, it’s just too luxurious to come home to a house that smells deceivingly like a laborious meal. The slow cooker meal feels almost magical, and I get giddy just thinking about it – when I walk into my home after work and after three trips from the car, with two hungry and exhausted kids, 3 ravenous animals, and my hangry self. The very last thing I want to do on a weeknight is cook dinner – we’ve been surviving on multiple days of leftovers and frozen vegetables for the past 6 months. My toddler has been known to say, “Mommy, we been having this last night.” True. Eat it or go hungry kiddo, sorry. Hence the sudden drop in healthy meals on this blog.
I cooked up the rest of my dried pinto beans earlier in the week for a random Monday night of nachos. Leave it to the Bon Apetit Instagram feed to fuel that hankering. So I had this heaping container of beans and no idea how to use them all, and so this soup was made. I really do love this image of the beans, by the way, it makes me want to paint it on a 13 foot canvas. My problem with the blog is this – I love to cook, I love baking, and I cannot turn off my artist eye. So, often, I halt everything and capture the image, even if it is a container of glossy, slimy, and borderline gross container of pinto beans. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard my toddler say to me, “Mommy, what are you taking a picture of?”
The base of this soup consists of three ways of tomatoes – canned by yours truly, paste, and fresh – and vegetable broth. This soup is a vegetarian recipe and could easily be made vegan. Check out the recipe below.
My only other news is that we are slowly but surely organizing our lives in Iowa. Funny how a move and a baby can throw your whole world into chaos. 😉 I love my new Ikea Magnetic Knife Strips but am still dreaming up ways to beautify gut my kitchen.
This kitchen speaks to my orange-loving soul!
Southwestern Pinto Soup with Cornbread Dumplings
Saute´ until soft:
1/2 yellow onion, diced and 3 cloves of garlic, minced.
Combine with onion mixture in slow cooker:
2 cups cooked pinto beans, 1 can diced tomatoes, 2 cups vegetable broth, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 6 oz. can tomato paste, 2 chopped fresh tomatoes.
Cook on high for 5 hours or low for 7 hours.
30 minutes before serving, mix up dumplings. In a small bowl combine:
2 tablespoons of water, 1 egg (to make vegan, swap egg for 1 tablespoon ground flax-seed with 3 tablespoons water), and 8 tablespoons corn flour.
Drop spoonfuls of batter into hot soup, cover and let cook 30 more minutes.
Serve with sprinkling of cheese and splash of lime juice.
Bluebird Hill Art 