Blizzard Food: Spicy Chicken & Black Bean Soup

Sometimes in the kitchen I like to make things up as I go- and soup is no exception. I found two soup recipes that I wanted to try, but didn't have the complete ingredient list for either of them. To add to tonight's supper challenge, Steve is a rather picky soup eater.

I decided to take the essentials of my found recipes, mix them together, and make the rest up as I went along. This method doesn't always work out as well as I hope, but after Steve ate one spoonful of this concoction I knew that Heather's Spicy Chicken and Black Bean Soup had made its way from his stomach straight to his heart xoxoxoxo. We have a winner! Grace and Leah loved it, too.

Here's the slow-cooker recipe I came up with:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces

2 cans Cuban-style black beans, you can find them here

1 can sweet corn

1/2 cup chopped green, red, and/or yellow peppers, mine were frozen

2 large cloves garlic, minced

16 oz. salsa

2 tsp. cayenne or chili seasoning

2 tsp. cumin

16 oz. chicken broth

1 1/2- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup sour cream

2 Tbsp. flour

1/4 cup milk

Add the first 9 ingredients to your slow cooker. Give it a stir, cover, and set on "low".

Go about your day feeling like a superwoman since dinner is essentially done.

An hour or so before serving, stir in the cheese. Combine the sour cream, flour, and milk (I added the flour and milk to the sour cream container, which was almost empty, then snapped the lid back on and gave it a good shake). Stir the flour mixture into the soup, then continue to cook with the lid off to thicken.

Serve with chopped cilantro and green onions. I think that a healthier version, made without the flour mixture or the cheese, would still be delicious.

But we like the cheese.