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Last night, fate threw me a surprise birthday party.  Three weeks early.

There was no cake, no streamers, no trick candles.

Just me, in my apartment.  Stress-eating cherry cordial Hershey’s kisses as I watched water seep into my kitchen through the floor that adjoins the hallway.  (Not even through the space under my kitchen door, mind you, but through the walls themselves!! What is that about?)  Hoping against hope that the problem was fixed before the water reached my bedroom because, while I love the kitchen very much, it has a tile floor, whereas my bedroom has carpeting. Ugly carpeting, mind you, but carpeting that I don’t particularly care to have ripped up any time soon (especially since the student housing people are just going to put in new ugly carpeting and not anything even remotely aesthetically pleasing).

Actually, I’ve been a bit deceiving because it wasn’t really just me.  Every inhabitant of the east side of my building, on all fifteen floors, was in attendance! Apparently a main water pipe broke in the stairwell on the fifteenth floor and that’s pretty much what caused all hell to break loose.  The higher up floors had it really bad. Like, three to four inches of water in their whole apartment bad.  I live on the fifth floor and have never been quite so grateful for that.

I am also grateful for the fact that it was the pipe for the sprinkler system that broke and not the one for sewage.  Because I have quite a serious number of pints of ice cream in my freezer and if it had been the latter, they would all be gone this morning. All six of them. Into my belly.

And for wet-vacs.  For obvious reasons.

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Um, yeah, so the powers that be and I obviously need to have a discussion about what exactly qualifies as a “party”.

But the one thing they have been getting right lately is soup.  I’ve had quite a few successes recently but by far my favorite has been this chipotle black bean soup with avocado cream.  It carries quite a bit of heat, which is perfect to accompany this frigid weather we’ve been having, with that plop of avocado cream on top having a much appreciated cooling effect.

Unfortunately, I had finished off the batch last week because it would have been ideal for stress-slurping last night.  Lesson learned.

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One year ago…Pumpkin Cake with Caramel Pecan Pie Streusel
Two years ago…Pork and Black-Eyed Pea Chili, Mint Chocolate Cupcakes
Three years ago…Apple Blondies with Brown Sugar Frosting
Four years ago…Broccoli and Cheese Calzone, Collard Greens with Pine Nuts and Parmesan

Chipotle Black Bean Soup with Avocado Cream
Serves 4-5, adapted from Campbell’s Kitchen

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 large carrots, peeled and diced
  • 2 large onions, diced
  • 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced
  • 4 cup vegetable broth
  • 1 cup dried black beans, soaked overnight and cooked until tender
  • 1 small ripe avocado
  • 1/4 cup greek yogurt
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 tsp lime juice

Instructions

  1. Heat the oil in a 4 quart saucepan. Add the carrots and onions and cook until tender, stirring occasionally.  Add the peppers and cook for 1 minute.
  2. Stir the broth and the beans into the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes.
  3. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the avocado, greek yogurt, cilantro and lime juice. Pulse until smooth.  Season to taste with salt.
  4. Using an immersion blender, puree about one third of the soup. Stir and season to taste with salt and black pepper.  Serve topped with the avocado cream.

I am submitting this to Souper Sundays, hosted by Deb over at Kahakai Kitchen.

I found this recipe on the Campbell’s Kitchen site, which is full of great recipe ideas that will appeal to just about any tastes and preferences.  Not only that, but the vast majority of them are made with pantry ingredients which is perfect for those of us trying to spend a little bit less money in the new year.

Presented by Campbell’s Kitchen
As part of the DailyBuzz Food Tastemaker program, I received free coupons for Campbell’s products, including Swanson vegetable broth, which was used in this soup. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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You are reading this post on Eats Well With Others at https://joanne-eatswellwithothers.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author and or owner of Eats Well With Others. All rights reserved by Joanne Bruno.
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87 Responses to Chipotle Black Bean Soup with Avocado Cream

  1. Danielle says:

    Do I comment on the delicious soup or the sad state of student housing? I must admit, I’m not sure how to react to a soup that contains black beans, chipotle, but not sweet potato. Clearly I’m programmed to expect it by now. Way to keep me guessing!

    It sounds like you could use a little vacation from your building and winter. I know I could! Hooray for the 5th floor!

  2. Um, that is certainly not the kind of party that you deserve! I’d be hiding in a corner with a batch of cookies to deal. Or a batch of this soup.

  3. Corina says:

    Perfect for this time of year. I love the idea of the avocado cream on the top. What a shame there was none left last night!

  4. Oh dear, sorry to hear about that “party”!!!! Def not a fun kind of shindig.
    But this soup? Wonderful. I love how you added the avocado cream to take the edge off the spice! Ironically, I just did the same thing with a spicy thai peanut dish that I got out at a restaurant over the weekend… It was SO hot that I could barely eat it. But I took home the leftovers and mixed in some mashed avocado, which made it much more bearable!

  5. Ick! But yay for this soup, I could use a bowl right now, it sounds amazing – I’m thinking the avocado cream makes it! Mmmm….

  6. Danielle says:

    ooh love the avocado cream idea!

  7. bellini says:

    Mmm, loving the avocado cream as well.

  8. Foodycat says:

    Beautiful soup! I hope your flat gets properly dried out soon.

  9. Yum. Simple beans soups like this are perfect during winter. I hope your building gets mopped up soon!

  10. Yum! I’ve been wondering about this soup since I saw your Instagram picture of it. It’s a great alternative to the veggie chili I’ve been making on repeat!

    PS- I hope your hallway dries soon!

  11. Amy says:

    Oh God, that’s right! Your birthday is next month. For some reason I was thinking it was in September. Um…way off.

    So, there’s definitely perks to living in a rented space…like being able to call someone to come and fix it. And then not being handed an enormous bill. Not that having water rushing toward your carpeted bedroom, whether paid for or not, is ever a welcomed scenario.

    I’ve been having a lot of good luck with soups this season, too. Last year, it was like “no” “no” and “meh” but this year so far, it’s been “yes!” and “oh ya!” and “Yum!”

    Okay, that was a lot. Clearly I got enough sleep. And perhaps I overdosed slightly on the Captain Crunch.

  12. Meep! That sounds awful! I’m pretty sure if that happened to me I would have eaten all of those pints of ice cream. 🙂

    As for this soup… I love it! Especially that dollop of avocado cream.

  13. oh man, what a rough situation. this soup sounds fab! can never have too many versions of black bean soup.

  14. Tandy says:

    I’ve been flooded and it’s not funny! Yummy soup. Wish it were cool enough to even think about making it tonight 🙂

  15. SallyBR says:

    Flooding is not fun. At all…

    but the soup is fabulous, love the avocado cream on top, nice touch!

    this actually made me think of my childhood and my dear Mom forcing me to eat black bean soup once/week, thinking that would make me grow faster. I hated that soup, silly me. As to growing tall, no luck. 😉

  16. Wow, that must have been crazy stressful. This soup looks amazing though, especially with the avocado cream!

  17. Pam says:

    No fun! Thankfully you were only on the fifth floor!

    The bean soup looks amazing and so does the avocado cream.

  18. Jessie says:

    Oh gosh, you poor girl! I hope the floors and carpets are all dry by now (and that your actual birthday is a lot more successful at being awesome than the pipes in your building!). Bummer that you didn’t have this soup around for something soothing to sip (although cherry cordials are pretty good, too). Perhaps another batch is in the works?

  19. Claudia says:

    I’m singing “Beautiful Soup.” There’s a fresh blanket of new snow and am in the mood for beautiful soup. Had my years of water in the basement. Love water but not when it crawls through ceilings and walls.

  20. Ugghh that whole water situation sounds so annoying!! When you posted the photo on instagram yesterday I figured you must love on the 1st floor – but all 15?!? Noooooo!!! I like this soup – it’s cold today!

  21. I want to just reach my finger in and take a big taste of that avo-cream floating in the bowl! MMmmm!

    The flood…omg, I am so sorry! A pipe burst at my daughter’s school 2 weeks ago and caused massive chaos. Cant even imagine it in my home. Best wishes to get life back to normal!

  22. marie says:

    What a bummer, water damage can be so destructive, hope all your belongings made it out okay. I am having company tomorrow and this soup looks great. With a ceaser salad and homemade rolls, perfect.

  23. Yikes Joanne – what a mess! So glad you didn’t get completey flooded. Is it all cleaned up and fixed as of this morning?

  24. Ugh! There is nothing good to say about that, except at least you are RENTING rather than OWNING. I feel bad for the people who lost stuff, because they likely don’t have renter’s insurance to cover the damage.

  25. You sure know how to party :/ Avocado cream is going to be happening in my kitchen later today I think!

  26. Ashley Bee says:

    I’m glad you escaped the waterlogging at least a little bit! This soup seems perfect for warming up on a chilly day 🙂

  27. I love the simple ingredients and the avocado cream. I must try that soon with some non-dairy yogurt. Gorgeous!

  28. I was wondering where the water came from when I saw you post a picture on FB. That’s terrible!

    Your soup looks amazing, I’ve just started to buy dried beans because they are so much cheaper – I haven’t used them yet, but I will to make this soup!

  29. Beth says:

    Oh, Joanne, what a horror. Hope someone looks after it quickly. In the meantime, I think I’d be stress-eating ice cream anyhow.

  30. I have been so into chipotle after writing off peppers for years! Just within the past couple weeks I’ve been falling in love with chipotle and a little more spice. This looks so GOOD.

  31. Michelle says:

    You know I’m pinning this, right?
    And I’m skipping your next “party!”

  32. Abby says:

    I have my spoon ready! This looks absolutely scrumptious. And like you said, at least it wasn’t the sewage, EW! haha

  33. nina says:

    Such simple ingredients and a great soup:).am pinning it:)

  34. I love how few ingredients go into this soup. It’s sounds like the perfect bowl to heat up with on cold night. sorry about the water situation. Thats a bummer!

  35. Guru Uru says:

    This is perfect to warm you up 😀

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

  36. did you say chipotle and then black bean right after? I thought so! My stomach is saying feed me! This looks like what we like to say back home in the South- Slap your mama good!

  37. Tricia says:

    Well happy early birthday! That avocado cream is calling me by name. Thanks for this great recipe!

  38. Debbie says:

    Sorry about the party but the soup looks great. Love a good bean soup. Panera had one I loved but haven’t seen it on their menu lately. Happy early birthday….better early than late!!!!

  39. Soup makes everything better. True fact. And I think I could get behind this avocado cream stuff.

  40. Stress slurping!! Girl, you crack me up with your sayings. Sorry about the pipe breaking, that sucks. Like you said though, it could have been worse like the other apartments. This soup sounds amazing as does the dollop on top!! Yum!

  41. P says:

    Aww, sorry about the water damage. Good that you are looking at the bright side of things 🙂

  42. Ugh. Sounds like a rough time. That’s not the sort of party I’d like to attend. This soup, on the other hand, is one I’d like to eat… especially with the avocado cream.

  43. Martha says:

    Have to look at the bright side – you don’t own the place so you don’t have to pay for the damage. Of course your soup sounds wonderful!

  44. Juliana says:

    I would not being enjoying this kind of “party”…but the soup looks delicious, and I love the idea of the avocado cream…a very comfort dish.
    Have a great week Joanne!

  45. Candace says:

    This soup is exactly what I need to warm me up. I have been ridiculously cold this winter. I’m so sorry you are having to go through this mess, Joanne. Being cold would have been the only thing that would have kept that ice cream out of my grasp while dealing with all that you have on your plate. I hope they surprise you and get it fixed sooner and better than you expect!

  46. sandra says:

    you remind me of a time we were renovating my father’s condo for resale and my husband decided he knew how to do plumbing. I had my toddler son with me at the time. He wasn’t walking yet and in a playpen and my husband left the apt to find someone to turn off the water for the whole complex. I innocently went to see what he’d done under the sink and when I saw the water pipes spewing water, and then touched them to try and make the tape he’d adhered tighter, only to make the tape fall off completely, causing the water to now gush out of the pipes at an alarming rate. So I grabbed a bucket and began running back and forth to the bathroom to dump the water into the tub, but the water was seeping out of the kitchen and making its way into the livingroom, which we had luckily removed the carpet from only the day before. I was crying and running as fast as I could and my toddler was crying as well. It was quite a scene.

    Your soup looks awesome. At the moment we have no heat or hot water and just looking at it makes me all warm inside.

  47. sandra says:

    And how did you get that Pinterest link onto your photo? That is really cool. I pinned this one.

  48. oh my gosh!
    woman!
    so the water did not come in?
    when i saw that photo on instagram my heart raced for you, that is an effing nightmare
    glad the ice cream is ok too.
    lol

  49. That Girl says:

    This is the worst birthday present ever!

  50. Cathleen says:

    Wow, I have had a pipe break in my house too and it was not fun times. What a disaster!
    Now this soup looks perfect after such a stressful day!

  51. Katie says:

    Oh, that sounds just awful! I’m so sorry to hear about the pipes bursting. I hope the building is stepping up to the plate and making the process easier for all of you. This soup looks like it could help you get through just about anything.

  52. Kari says:

    Oh no! Is it all okay now? What a stressful time for everyone, and frankly, everyone in the building being stressed is unlikely to help at a time like that. (Although the people higher up having it worse, that helps just a little if you’re on the 5th floor. I imagine.)

    I hope you get to recuperate with lots of this soup 🙂

  53. Ugh I saw your picture of the water on Twitter and felt so bad! Hope it all got cleaned up okay with no damage .. at least it could have been worse and you had chocolate to get you through!

  54. OohLookBel says:

    So glad your water damage wasn’t worse than it was. Make sure you have copious supplies of black bean soup (and chocolate, or whatever you need) for the next emergency!

  55. Hope the chaotic situation end soon!
    The soup looks wonderful!

  56. Love everything about this post except for your situation. You totally nailed the water explosion thing as I have lived thru enough sticky-concrete leaky day during my college dorm days to feel your pipes bursting-transition pain. I’m a longtime fan of Black Bean too.
    Definitely ready for a new lentil soup recipe, so this helps. As always, the pictures are lovely too. Thanks!

  57. Big Dude says:

    The words black bean and chipotle really caught my attention and with the inclusion of cilantro, it looks and sounds delicious – a must try.

  58. Hotly Spiced says:

    The soup looks great but happy birthday! I do hope you had lots more celebrations xx

  59. Yikes! That sounds so frustrating! At least it hadn’t seeped to your bedroom yet… And thank goodness for soup, yeah? This looks really hearty and extremely delicious, cheap, and easy to make. Everything I like in a soup. And that avocado cream? Hellz. Yes.

  60. this soup is stunning! I’ve just added to my favorites menu and i can’t wait to taste it – love the lime juice and the cilantro!
    Mary x

  61. ugh, that is aweful. but avocado cream is like the light at the end of the tunnel, right? hope there isn’t too much damage at your place!

  62. Dining Alone says:

    The avocado cream sounds amazing, minus the cilantro because I am one of those cilantro haters 🙂

  63. Lisa says:

    That stew with avocado cream looks AMAZING. Saving this recipe for when I stop doing the dairy-free thing.

  64. daphne says:

    I love how you make sure it is a little chunky! Love the avocado cream too.

  65. Reeni Pisano says:

    So sorry to hear about the water! I hope everything’s back to normal now. Love this soup! Black beans, chipotle and avocado? I am so there.

  66. Ugh, I can’t even imagine having to watch water seep in through the walls like that – it’s insanity! Hope they got it all cleaned up for you in short order! As for the soup, I’m slowly learning to enjoy beans more and I’m almost positive I can get behind this combination of flavors 🙂

  67. Christine says:

    Water can be so insidious and the origin of the “leak” so difficult to locate. I hope they treat the walls with big fans, heat and whatever else is needed to reduce any occurrence of mold! I’ve experienced pipe bursts and so on, down to a pinhole leak under the house I’m currently living in. Took the landlord 6 weeks to figure out where the water was coming from and why the hardwood floor was warping across the width of the house. Hope all’s dried out.

  68. Glad you’re okay!

    Oh and this soup – yeah, definitely can get on board with this!

  69. grace says:

    if i could eat just one soup for the rest of my days, it’d be black bean. those around me might not appreciate it, but what can ya do? 🙂

  70. The soup looks like perfection. I’m putting it on my menu plan for next week!

  71. Laura says:

    THIS is the kind of dish I am missing most right now, with this dumb infection. Looks wonderful.

    I had flooding while in law school and yeah it is no fun. Be happy that as a renter someone else has to come in and fix it all. 🙂 And then come here and gripe as much as you want–don’t blame you!

  72. tigerfish says:

    That avocado cream really brings the black bean soup up many levels! The additional creaminess, tang (from the yogurt and lime) and punch of freshness from the cilantro – woo lah lah!

  73. Johanna GGG says:

    that is so my sort of soup – well maybe a bit less heat but the beans, the flavour, the avocado cream – please send me a bowl next time you make it!!!
    (I know, I know I have to make it myself)

    And what a palaver with your kitchen – hope it is fixed soon or that you make more soup soon for stress slurping

  74. sandra says:

    So wait, was it your birthday??? Happy Birthday!!

  75. Natalie says:

    I’m making chili fries with black bean chili and sweet potato fries this weekend..and kind of thinking i need to work the avocado crema into it too!

  76. Chris says:

    Water from fire suppression systems makes the best soups ever! 😉

    I love this soup, black bean soups rock.

  77. I would be stuffing chocolate in my mouth if that happened to me as well. We had a flood in our basement due to a freak storm one time. Wall to wall carpeting was not a good look.
    I love black bean soup and love your simple ingredients. Hope all is well!

  78. The soup look delicious but I really want to lick off all of that avocado cream. 😉 Thanks for sharing it with Souper Sundays.

  79. Happy early birthday to you, lady! Gosh, that avocado cream sounds FANTASTIC.

  80. Roz P. says:

    I want some of this soup NOW! Love, love, LOVE black bean soup! Another chipotle addition in your recipes that I’ve read thus far tonight (after my last night class) . . . I’m speaking your language girl!

  81. Elizabeth says:

    I’ve been on such a soup kick lately – I definitely need to make this.

  82. […] One year ago…Chipotle Black Bean Soup with Avocado Cream […]

  83. Julia says:

    This is the absolute best black bean soup I have ever made! Thanks for this fabulous recipe. I served it to guests the first time I made it and everyone loved it. The pot was licked clean–and I doubled the recipe. I did half Greek yogurt and half sour cream in the avocado mix. I’m a sour cream lover, so I liked the added taste. But wow, this recipe is a blue ribbon winner in my book. Thanks.

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