Soup’s so easy, and hearty, and it’s getting to be that time of year when easy and hearty are pretty much how I eat. (In summer, it still has to be easy, which explains the many feta and mushroom pizzas and salad sandwiches that I consume from May to September) Anyway, I decided that I was in the mood for black bean soup this week. Given that I 1) get home at 7:30 and 2) am epically lazy, it was going to have to be in the crockpot. So I searched for crockpot specific recipes – there are a lot, but none of them were calling to me.

Which is, naturally, when we wing it. What I came up with below:

Black Bean Soup

1 Spanish onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

6 slices of thick-cut bacon, cut into 1″ pieces with kitchen scissors

3-15 oz cans of black beans, drained

2-14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes with green chiles

2 C chicken stock

3 T chili powder

2 T cumin

Fry bacon in skillet, then add chopped onions, peppers, and jalapeno, and cook in bacon fat until soft. When you’re about a minute from done, toss in the garlic. Drain.

Add bacon and vegetables to crock pot and top with black beans, tomatoes, chicken stock and spices. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

And that’s it. This is why I love my crockpot more than any other appliance, ever, people. Dinner in it is almost always this easy.