Black Bean and Sweet Potato Soup: A favorite at RH

Today’s soup is one that I make a lot and have served many times at Retreat House.  I am wanting to find new recipes, but that takes time and energy, something that feels in short supply right now.  I didn’t realize just how hard it was to try new recipes until a friend gave me a free week with Purple Carrot – a plant based meal delivery service.  Everything I needed for three meals – all ingredients and recipes -  was delivered in one box. My box arrived the Wednesday before I was going to spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday cooking 8 meals for 10-12 people.  Even though I was given every thing I needed, I realized that preparing something new, something I had to think about, was going to take more energy and effort that I was capable of doing at that time.  I was overwhelmed at the thought of figuring out one more thing even with the meal delivery service’s efforts to simply it for me.  So I took the ingredients from the box that I could use in my weekend cooking and the rest either got thrown away because it went bad or still sits in my fridge.  I have a can of beans in my fridge because it was too much energy to even open the packaging that grouped everything by meal.   Learning new things can be hard, especially when you are already at full capacity.My high school age daughter takes this soup every day in her lunch.  She recently told me she keeps thinking she will get tired of it, but she doesn’t.  I have had many people ask for the recipe, so that is why I made it today.  It is easy to prepare and I could combine making this for my daughter with cooking for Retreat House.  It also would provide me with an opportunity to share the recipe.  The recipe comes from the cookbook “One Dish Vegan.”  I bought the book because when I went plant based and had to learn a new way of cooking – I needed it to be as simple as possible and yummy too.  We have enough demands on our energy in life, cooking healthy harm free food should not be one of them.  Enjoy!Black Bean and Sweet Potato Soup1 onion3 cloves garlic2 large Japanese sweet potatoes1 15.5 oz cans black beans (do not drain and rinse)1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with chilies, undrained (this is where I use the 365 brand – petite diced tomatoes with jalapeno and cilantro)1 tsp ground cumin½ tsp smoked paprika4 cups vegetable brothsalt and pepper to taste6 cups kale, chopped and stemmed (I leave this out only because my daughter doesn’t like it)Chop onion and sauté in soup pot in 1-2 Tbs of broth.  Add garlic.  Stir in pealed and chopped sweet potatoes, beans and tomatoes and their juices, cumin, smoked paprika, broth, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, then simmer and cook until sweet potatoes are tender.  Add kale and cook for 5-10 more minutes.Enjoy!Deanna Hollas