Hello and welcome to the Made in Kitchen Blog for the English portion of the site! For those of you who are new here I would like to give a brief introduction. Made in Kitchen (MiK) is a social networking site that focuses on food, recipes and related subjects. However the other main aspect of MiK is to bridge cultural gaps as well as liberate ourselves of our language barriers in order to allow people from all over the world to share and learn from each other. We all have a similar interest here, food!
As a part of a social networking site, we appreciate and encourage you to join in on the fun by sharing and participating. This can be done by signing up for the site (it’s free of course!) and start by adding your own recipes accompanied by videos/photos, checking out the other recipes already submitted and commenting, or visiting the wall and chatting with others.
The other great option is to come back here to the blog portion of the site for daily updates on food related trends, ideas, news, recipes and other food related topics.
Now to kick off our first post with a recipe. Not just any recipe but a healthy and hearty recipe for those who are feeling the cold weather and needing something to warm them up!
Serves 7
Time required 90 minutes
Difficulty level 1
Cost of ingredients 10 USD
Hearty Black Bean and Veggie Soup
- 3 cans Black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 zucchini, sliced in rounds then quartered
- 3 ears of corn (about 2 cans drained)
- 2 bell peppers, deseeded and chopped
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- ½ lb lean ground beef
- ½ lb lean ground pork
- 2 bay leaves
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Using a large soup pot turn the stove on to medium low heat and add about 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the red onion and garlic to the pot to soften before browning the beef and pork.
Add in the black beans and approx. 10 cups of water, salt and pepper to taste and the bay leaves.
If you are using fresh corn, take off the husk and silk. Take a bowl and set the pointed end in the bowl and using a relatively sharp knife cut the kernels off the cob and set them to the side with the zucchini and bell peppers.
Allow the soup to cook for at least an hour on low. Taste the broth to make sure it’s seasoned enough before adding in the zucchini, bell pepper, and corn a few minutes before you’re ready to serve. If you enjoy your veggies softer, then allow them to cook longer in the soup.
This can be made vegetarian by omitting the meat or substitute your meat for ground turkey/chicken to make it even more healthy. Also if you can’t get zucchini you like I’d suggest using perhaps sweet potatoes (even more hearty but still healthy) or a winter squash of your choice! Although if you do substitute your zucchini, take into account that both sweet potatoes and winter squash need a bit more cooking!
Looking forward to all your comments and getting to know everyone in this community!
13. February 2010 at 9:00 pm
Hi, I applaud your blog for informing people, very interesting article, keep up it coming