Name: Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 315 min
Total time: 335 min
Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups dried black beans; 4 cups vegetable broth; 1 cup diced yellow onion (1/2 medium onion); 2 teaspoons minced garlic (3 - 4 cloves); 1 teaspoon cumin powder; 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano; 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (I used Pimenton de la Vera); 1 dried chile (I used a dried chipotle chile); 2 tablespoons tomato paste; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 1 tablespoon lime juice; Quick drizzle of sriracha sauce (optional); 1/4 cup sour cream or creme fraiche; 3/4 teaspoon chipotle peppers in adobo sauce; two pinches of kosher salt; Finely chopped red onion (green onion, cilantro and/or lime wedge)

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Easy black bean soup cooked in the slow cooker! Eliminate the Chipotle Cream drizzle to veganize.

I was hit with flu this week with all its fever, muscle aches, and generally feeling like roadkill regalia. In one short week I went from feeling a little smug for how healthy I've been this season to being thankful my will is up to date.

It's hard to rally interest in cooking when you have a fever unless it's to fry an egg on your forehead while you remain in bed. And I was done well before yesterday when I dined on my third meal in a row of Lipton chicken noodle soup out of a box (reminder: I'm a wimpy vegetarian and fall into childhood comfort patterns under stress). Earlier in the week I did (marginally) better. I raided the freezer and scored a couple of jars of lentil stew which proved to be too heavy on my stomach and some toaster waffles (which were at least whole wheat with flax meal). In truth, most meals have been a variation of eggs and toast. It may be time to renew my pleas to my husband for us to buy a few chickens.

Unfortunately the flu slammed Carnivorous Maximus too, so we've got a bit of a hospital going here. And since his interest in cooking is limited at the best of times (although he does scramble a mean egg), by Sunday morning, it was time to rally. Or at least to cook something healthy and fresh. And my assigned blog this month for the Secret Recipe Club, Lynseylous, had the perfect solution.

But first at little about SRC and Lynseylous. Members of SRC are assigned another member's blog each month. We pick any recipe from that blogger’s site, make it, and write about it. Who has who is a secret until Reveal Day. It's been fun to find new vegetarian dinners that I can adjust for Carnivorous Maximus, and I love seeing which recipe on my site draws someone to the kitchen to pull on an apron.

Lynsey, the power behind the Lynseylous blog, is a recent stay-at-home mom, and totally loves it. She started her blog in 2008, and it's truly a wealthy of fabulous recipes and photos ranging from baking to cooking. I created a short list of recipes I wanted to try a couple of weeks ago, including Homemade Graham Crackers, Flourless Black Bean Brownies, and Sour Cream Muffins with Poppy Seed Streusel. I was all set to make her Chickpea Cakes with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce when I got sick. After that I was really looking for something I could throw together and go back to bed. I went back to her lovely site, and her Slow Cooker Black Bean Ragout leapt off the screen, and absolutely hit the spot. Kismet.

If you check out Lynsey's recipe and then mine, the first thing you'll notice is that hers is a ragout thick enough to spoon onto some fabulous looking garlic toasts. But I used Cassoulets USA Black Turtle Beans which are, as it happens, smaller. So much smaller, that the ragout became a soup. Next time, if I'm using the Turtle variety, I'll double up. Either way, this is one fabulous vegetarian meal.

Smoky and spicy black bean soup cooked in the slow cooker, topped with a chipotle cream drizzle.

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