Black Bean Soup and Date Square

Today was not the first time I made this slow cooker soup. My friend Michelle sent me the recipe about a year ago and told me I'd love it. I put it on the menu, bought the ingredients and threw it together. Now one thing you may not know about me is that I often don't follow recipes to a tee. I like to change them up, and usually do. Sometimes unintentionally. The first time I made this soup I changed it up unintentionally. It was bad. So very bad. The recipe calls for a tablespoon of finely chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. I, carelessly, read that as a can of peppers. A can! I can't even begin to tell you the kind of spice that soup had. I could not figure out how these friends of ours could handle that kind of spice! I love spice... I really do. But that was purely painful. My poor kids ate a few bites of that soup before I told them to stop. My husband forced himself to eat almost an entire bowl that night, but couldn't handle the leftovers. I sent an email to my friend asking her if it was supposed to be that spicy. I then figured it out. I used the whole dang can of peppers. She called me up and laughed at me. A lot. I also laughed at myself. It's been almost a year now, and I finally got over the nightmare that was the spicy black bean soup. I made it again today and it was delicious. The boys gobbled it up, Rhianna almost finished her bowl, and Kyle had a second helping. Phew! It's much better when you only add 1 tablespoon of chipotle peppers. I did change it up a tiny bit as I always do, but this time they were safe changes.

Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped finely

4 cans black beans, drained and rinsed (I used 2-14oz cans and 2-19oz cans)

6 cups vegetable stock

1 red pepper, chopped

6-8 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp finely chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (for me it was 1 pepper)

3 tbsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

4 tbsp lime juice

sour cream

green onion, finely sliced

Saute onion in oil until softened.

Add the onion to the slow cooker. Then add the beans, vegetable stock, red pepper, garlic, chipotle pepper, cumin, salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Add the lime juice and mix roughly with an immersion blender. Top each bowl of soup with sour cream and green onion.

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Yesterday I mentioned that I made a date square for my Mum for Mother's Day. This was my first time making the recipe from How it all Vegan!, and I definitely approved. Yummy! I'm glad I sent most of the slice home with her, though, because today I ate 3 pieces of it. So good!

Date Square

Filling:

1 cup water

2 cups pitted dates, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

Crust:

4 cups rolled oats

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup margarine

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup water, if needed

Preheat oven to 350.

In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and add the dates and 1/2 tsp salt. Simmer until the dates are soft and will mix easily with the water. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oats, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add the margarine and oil, and stir together until well combined. If the crust is too dry, add the water (I definitely did).

Press half of the mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Spread the date mixture over top. Sprinkle with remaining crust mixture.

Cook for 25-40 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and tender. The crust will harden as it cools, so cut it into slices before it gets to difficult.