Recipe of the Week! Black Bean and Ham Soup!

I have not done these in a LONG time, I also have not been cooking very often, so not a ton of new recipes either. Last night though, we decided not to go see Freddy Kruger in Nightmare on Elm Street, but we went for a really long walk, came back and threw together this soup. The boy got me this pot for my birthday (mine is the red color), which I love, and it works wonderful for making a soup like this.

I like to kinda cook the Sandra Lee way and take something that is a good base and make it my own. I started with sauteing 1 C. celery chopped and 1 C. carrots chopped in 1 T. butter. I added 1 C. chopped ham, 2 cans of black beans and then a good base, Trader Joe's Latin Black Bean Soup with garlic, sea salt and chipotle. 

I cooked this until heated through, let it simmer a while and then served it up. We garnished it with diced tomatoes, chopped fresh onion, sour cream and for me, a healthy dose of cilantro. This would have been great with some avocado as well. The boy loves soups, so this will be another great one to add to our repertoire!

I definitely do not take enough time for myself. This week I have walked every night so far and it feels great. The boy and I went for a walk Monday night, Tuesday I was able to walk to my JLM committee meeting, and last night we walked about 2.25 miles. The weather has been awesome this week too. I was due to walk with a friend around the lake tonight, but the weather is looking dicey, so what I may do is a couple of laps around the floor in the building I am in. Three laps is a mile, so that shouldn't be too hard. I know I probably won't get it in tomorrow. We have 40 people coming over tomorrow night for the wine event. I am thinking about working a half day from home tomorrow to get things ready and set up for that (maybe even swing by and see if my green lamps are there!). 

The boy and I also have made a lot of decisions this week. I am moving in with him at the end of May until we can find "our" house. We missed the one we had a bid in on last week, there were four offers and ours came in second. Really bummed too because it was the perfect house for us, had everything on our list that we wanted, and a ton to still fix up. I am sure something else will come up, but until then, we will save a ton of money by me moving into his place. It is going to be so hard, I can't even tell you, but I know it is the right decision as well. SO, I have to get a storage unit and we have to start moving things slowly while also making room for me at his place. My mom said that I am definitely going to have to keep my sense of humor throughout this process, which is very true. SO, need to squeeze some last things in at my house while we can. His house is just not really set up for entertaining, which I love to do and will miss. We are planning on having our parents over for Mother's Day and doing a brunch. We have the wine event tomorrow night, and I am thinking one more dinner party in there somewhere.

You cannot even imagine the ta-da lists I have. . . .better get back to it. Hope you are having a great day!