Pumpkin-Black Bean Soup

This is a great fall soup - even my carnivore boyfriend loved it. The only modifications I made were to add a little kosher salt, and also serve chopped cilantro along with the condiments.

This soup was excellent. One of my supper club mates made it for our supper club this month and I've since made it at home and served it to several of my friends - a hit all around! The flavor was a little blah, so I added 1T freshly ground cumin, 1T of chili powder and 1T of ground red pepper to spice it up. Delicious! I've learned from other soup recipes that it's best to use an immersion blender while pureeing versus a blender since I've had the hot soup crack my glass blender before. Not fun to clean up! :)

This recipe is not only healthy, seasonal, and incredibly tasty, but it has been a favorite of all of our guests over the years, even those who don't like meatless meals. I generally make this for our Halloween dinner: it's fast and easy, fits the season, and is easy to eat in between answering the door to eager trick-or-treaters. Personally, I think the pumpkinseed kernels are not optional: they make the dish! Queso fresco, however, can easily be replaced with plain feta cheese, if you can't find it locally. We have a source, but it's out-of-the-way, so when we can't make it that far, I just use feta, and it tastes just as good.

WOW! This soup is great, easy and tasty. I used pureed pumpkin from my patch. I also used red wine vinegar, my own canned tomatoes and added one can of chopped tomato. I did add chopped italian kale from my garden.I like my soups with a little texture and color. I didnt add the cheese or chopped onion...it was great without it but it would be fine adding those extra ingredients.

This is a very tasty soup. I read that it was a bit bland so I punched up the spices a bit. I added 2 teaspoons of cumin and 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder. I also used sour cream instead of queso fresco. Just add a dollop of sour cream at the end and mix in. It was still mild but definitely had some flavor. If you are looking for a pumpkin-y tasting soup, this isn't it. The pumpkin is very, very, very subtle. But it would definitely be a different soup without the pumpkin. The soup is super easy to make and fast. I will definitely be making this one again. My husband, who hates bland food, thought this was mild but still had enough spice.