Mexican Bean Soup

 ~~~~California Intermission, Check back Monday for more California~~~~

I know I have been slacking on the family recipe book project, but I declare now...I am back in action! Although I may still not finish by December, I am going to give it my best try to finish it in less than a year (January 25th 2011). I am planning a family/friends dessert party to tackle some of the dessert recipes and a friends Italian night to get through some of my Italian recipes. Here is the breakdown:

About 12 weeks left
Recipes Left: 54
Dessert Party: 14
Italian night: 5

So that leaves 35 other recipes which is about 3 a week. I need some help eating all of these!

So for your reading pleasure... a recipe book cooking experience story:

Cloudy...check. Cold...check. Soup recipe...check! What better time than now to make a soup. My mom gave me this recipe and it is only 1 weight watchers point/cup! For those of you who are unfamiliar with WW, 1 point is about 50 calories.
So I stopped at the grocery store and went straight to the canned and Mexican aisle. I am getting good at this! Instead of grabbing the cheapest item, I tried to be more eco/heath conscious when making my decisions. I got vegetarian refried beans, no salt added black beans, and organic chicken broth from free-range chickens. Although other items (i.e. the frozen dinner) kind of ruined my streak, I felt good enough about my choices. I searched and searched the frozen dinner aisle but was not able to find a 'Smart Ones' fiesta chicken dinner...easy fix, insert 'other low calorie frozen fiesta chicken dinner'. On my way to get some cheese I was not able to walk by the Egg Nog without picking one up. Horray for Nog! Cheers!

This recipe cannot be any easier! Well it was a little difficult because of my tools. Normal people would open the cans/packages and dump it into a crock pot and then relax until done. Me, of course, had to make it more difficult. I have a great crock-pot and can opener still packed up from my move. Don't you think I could have just gone downstairs and opened the box and brought them up? No, no....I would rather put it on the stove where I felt the need to attend to and use a broken can opener. Instead of easily sliding around the can, I had to poke hole after hole around the rim until it opened (4 cans). Why you ask...why the madness? You know that moment when you say, "this won't be that bad" and it is kind of difficult but you keep going because maybe, just maybe, you will get the hang of it? Then you reach that moment of, "I should go get the dang stuff from the basement". Then you irrationally decide that you have already put so much work into the process and there is no use in quitting now (even though quitting halfway through and unpacking things would have still taken less time).

But in the end....excellent soup that has quite a kick to it. Since I have whined to no end...I will unpack a few things tonight, just for you :)

Mexican Bean Soup
• 1 can non-fat refried beans
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can Rotel diced tomatoes (spicy)
• 1 can diced green chiles
• 2 cans non-fat chicken broth
• 1 Smart Ones Fiesta Chicken dinner
• 2 cups frozen corn
Dump all into a crock pot. Can add an extra bit of uncooked rice. 1 weight watchers point/cup. Can add chips to bottom, cheese and sour cream to top, but points go up. (yea, duh! I added the extras, I can't resist the cheese)