Spicy Mexican Black Bean Soup

Poor, poor Hannah cannot have spicy foods. Let me tell you why she cannot have spicy foods.

Every year, the siblings go Christmas shopping. It was a tradition (sadly it won't be this year because of our allergies) to eat lunch at Taco Bell. Our favorite part?-seeing how many of the "fire" sauces we could gulp down without drinking anything. We were pretty good at it too, and by the time we were done, our mouths and throats were burning. But, hey, we liked and we had a lot of fun. It was even funny to see other people's faces as we grabbed handfuls and handfuls of hot sauce packets after we ordered.

Our family loves spicy. My second oldest sister was the first to introduce us to real spicy food, and we have been addicted ever since. Valentino sauce and Sriracha are must-haves in our house.

But anyway, Hannah started feeling a burning in her ears whenever she ate anything spicy. We started having to leave out any spicy ingredient when we made meals. Finally she found out that at Taco Bell, she must have sneezed or something like that while eating hot sauce. Therefore, it probably ended up in her ear canalt. Like I said, poor Hannah!

She is a little better now, but we still have to leave out most of our hot spices. So, unfortunately she can not have this soup I made.

Bonus: My parents loved this soup!

I got this recipe of of glutenfreegoddess's blog, but a made some tiny changes to it-

Spicy Mexican Black Bean Soup:

2 T extra virgin olive oil

1 medium diced sweet onion

4 minced garlic cloves

1 to 2 T gf chipotle chile, seeded and chopped, or roasted chile

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

2 15 oz cans black beans, drained

3 c gf chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth

3/4 lb smoky cooked sausage (andouille, kielbasa, etc.)

3 T fresh lime juice

1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 - 1/4 tsp pepper

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. When it is shimmering add the onion and cook until it is soft, about 3 minutes. Add garlic, chile, cumin, and oregano. Stir until the mixture is fragrant, about 2 minutes. Mash the black beans (you don't have to if you don't want to) in a separate bowl. Combine with the chicken stock and add to saucepan. Simmer, partially covered, for about 15 minutes. Heat sausage over a skillet until brown. Add to beans. Stir in lime juice, cilantro, salt, and pepper. Garnish with sour cream, avocado, lime wedges, cilantro, hot sauce, etc.