Black bean and guacamole

For the sixth day of the cleanse, I started with a fruit smoothie (see Jan 1 post for more info) for breakfast and had hummus and fresh vegetables and rice cakes (I prefer the lundberg brown rice unsalted rice cakes) from last night's supper for lunch. Tonight for supper, I started with a red leaf lettuce salad and then had black bean soup with guacamole (see picture to the left).

Here is the recipe for the black bean soup:

1 tbsp olive oil, 1 onion, chopped, 2 garlic cloves, minced, 1 celery stalk, chopped, 2 carrots, chopped, 1/2 medium zucchini, chopped, 1 portobello mushroom, chopped, 3 cups water/vegetable stock, 2 cups cooked black beans, 1 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp dried oregano, 3/4 tsp sea salt, 1/2 cup black kale, chopped

In a soup pot, heat olive oil and add onion and garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Then add celery, carrots, zucchini, portobello mushrooms , chili powder, oregano, sea salt and saute for another 5 minutes. Then add water/vegetable stock and cooked black beans (to prepare black beans, 1 cup of black beans was soaked in water for 4 hours, then rinsed, fresh water added, brought to a boil, reduced to slightly lower heat for 60 minutes, drained and rinsed - this resulted in 2 cups of cooked black beans), bring to a boil, reduce to simmer for 2o minutes. Remove from heat and puree soup (using a hand blender is easiest, but using a regular blender is fine as well), add black kale, dish up, and add 1 tbsp of guacamole per bowl (see recipe below) and enjoy!

Here is the recipe for the guacamole:

2 ripe avocados, mashed, 1 clove garlic, minced, 2 tbsp lime juice, freshly squeezed, 1/8 tsp cumin, 1/8 tsp red chili flakes, 1/8 tsp sea salt, 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped, 1 green onion, chopped

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and add 1 tbsp to each bowl of black bean soup.

This was a warming and hearty meal for a winter's night supper!