Black Bean and Vegetable Soup, Rye Bread Toast with Tomato Sauce (No Added Fat)

My daughter makes soup in her Kindergarten class each Tuesday. On the way home from school, we stopped at the store and I suggested an idea that she liked, that of her helping to make a soup. We bought ingredients that she would like in the soup. I hadn't thought of a mixed vegetable black bean soup, but that is what she wanted, and she helped me to make it happen!

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry black beans
• 1 cup water
• 2 vegan bouillon cubes
• 2 1/2  cups cabbage shredded to 1 1/2" x 1/4" strips
• 1/2 cup broccoli stalk cut into 1/4" cubes
• 1 carrot cut into 3/8" slices and then halved
• 1/2 cup onion cut to a 3/8" dice
• 1 cup bell pepper cut to approx. 1/4" x 1" slices
• 1 garlic, finely (1/8" or so) diced
• 1T ginger, diced to 1/4" or so pieces
• 5 cups water (I used boiling water to quicken the cooking)
• 1/8 t each: turmeric, mustard seed
• 1/4t lemon pepper
• 1/2 t oregano
• 1 packed cup baby spinach leaves
• 3/4 t salt

Process

1. I didn't know that we would be cooking black beans today; I would have soaked them but instead just cooked them longer. I put the (unsoaked) black beans in the Instant Pot pressure cooker along with the cup of water and bouillon cube and cooked on high pressure for 40m. I used just one bouillon cube and later decided to include a second one for more flavor - one can just add both at this point.
2. When I was ready to continue after the 40m of pressure cooking, I gently let out remaining pressure and opened the pot.
3. I mixed in the second bouillon cube, cabbage, broccoli stalk cubes, carrot, onion, bell pepper, garlic, ginger, 5 cups of water, turmeric, mustard seed, lemon pepper, and oregano, and cooked for another 2 minutes.
4. When I was ready to serve, I gently let out the remaining pressure, and mixed in the spinach and salt.
5. I let the soup sit for a minute or two to allow the spinach to cook down a bit in the heat, and then served.

I also served some rye bread toast, with tomato sauce, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast.

Results

We all enjoyed dinner! I was so glad that my daughter was okay with the ginger, which she usually isn't.

Ideas for the future

Potato would have been great in this soup, but my daughter didn't want potato.