Black bean soup. Or stew, maybe.

I made this for dinner last night, and although I'm sure it's nothing original, it certainly was delish!

Cover two cups dried black beans with eight cups water. Soak overnight. (Alternatively, you can bring this to a boil, let it boil for two minutes, then remove from heat and let it sit for an hour.) Drain the soak water, add six cups fresh water and begin cooking beans over low heat.

In the meantime, sauté two seeded, chopped jalapeño peppers and one chopped onion in a tablespoon of olive oil. Add to the beans along with two (or more, if you like) teaspoons dried cumin, one teaspoon crushed red pepper and a teaspoon of salt. Simmer until beans are tender – about three hours.

During the last hour of cooking add two tomatoes, chopped, and the kernels from two ears of fresh corn. You also can add a couple sausages, sliced, if you like a meaty stew/soup, but I wouldn't have missed them if I'd left them out.

This amount should easily serve four to six, unless you live with my husband. I have a small – less than two cups – amount left for my lunch today. Yum!