Green Tabasco Black Bean Soup and Sofrito Recipe

I was lucky enough to stumble on a great blog, Kalyn's Kitchen a while back and finally got around to making her spicy vegan black bean soup recipe I was blown away by how delicious it was. I am not usually a big fan of beans without rice or stuffed into a soft taco. It was so good! And the best part is it's relatively low cal. I modified the version a little to accommodate the ingredients I had on hand. Slow Cooker Black beans were used in place of canned to remove some of the sodium. The soup is not spicy in my opinion and my children did not feel it was spicy either. They loved it, as did I!
Check out this Cool Bean Converter Chart

Spicy Black Bean Soup

60 oz (3 cans)  Cooked Black Beans, drained *
15 oz (1 can) Cooked Black Beans, undrained (puree in food processor or blender)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
 1 med onion, or red onion, chopped
1/2 cup sofrito ** (found in Spanish section of store)
1 Tbsp minced dried garlic
1 Tbsp Cumin
1 tsp dried cilantro, or 1/2 cup fresh cilantro chopped
1 Tbsp Mexican oregano
1 packet Goya Sazon con Azafran (can be found in Spanish section)
28 oz Chicken Stock, or vegetable broth (2 cans)
1 Cup Water (add more if needed)
1 Tbsp Green Tabasco sauce (more if you like it spicier)

In a heavy duty soup pot, heat olive oil. Sauté onions about 10 minutes or until golden. Add in sofrito and sauté for a few minutes. Stir in cumin, oregano, and Sazon. Allow seasonings to roast for a minute or so. Add broth, beans, pureed beans, minced garlic, dried cilantro, water, and 1-2 Tbsp Tabasco sauce. Simmer for 45 minutes. Taste. Add salt if needed.

**To make sofrito: place 1 tomato, 4 large cloves garlic, 1 onion, 1 green bell pepper, about 1 cup of fresh cilantro, in food processor, or Vitamix commercial blender. Process until pureed.
Freeze sofrito in muffin tins. Once frozen, pop out each portion and place them together in a large gallon freezer bag; Label and date the bag. To use: Remove frozen and throw in pan, or use frozen in soups to add more flavor.