Slow Cooker Black Bean and Rice Soup

The idea of writing a post about what I’m feeding my kids these days has been swirling around in my brain for the past few months, until I realized it’d be about a paragraph long. Right now, at 4 and 1 year old (eek! HOLD ME!) they eat what we eat!

When Ben and I started introducing table food to Lincoln, we went at a snail’s pace. To be fair, we’d just found out he had a dairy allergy, my nephew was diagnosed with severe food allergies around the same time, plus I’d just been slapped with a Celiac Disease diagnosis, so we were looking at food very differently than ever before. That said, we were cautious about how and when we introduced new foods to him. Plus we were first time parents. Hello – we had no idea what we were doing!

This time around, we’ve been throwing EVERYTHING Cam’s way and it’s been a blast. The kid is a garbage disposal! Since he doesn’t have any food allergies that we know of he mostly eats what we eat, including the Slow Cooker Black Bean and Rice Soup I’ve made about 10 times in the past two months. He (and we!) are obsessed.

This is the second recipe I’m sharing in partnership with Mrs. Grimes beans, which originated in Grimes, IA in 1902. (Be sure to try the Fiesta Pork, Bean and Green Chili Chili I made using their chili beans – sooo good!) Mrs. Grimes beans are available at Hy-Vee, Fareway and select Walmart stores. Click here for a digital coupon. This time I’m featuring their black beans as the star of my hearty yet healthy Slow Cooker Black Bean and Rice Soup.

Mrs. Grimes Black Beans, peppers, onions, garlic, salsa, chicken broth, and dried herbs and spices are added to a slow cooker then simmered until the vegetables are tender. To finish up, half the soup is blended until thick and creamy then stirred back into the soup with cooked white rice to create a delicious dish that feels stick to your ribs, but is low-fat, crazy-healthy, and gluten-free of course.

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Like I always say, if a baby will eat it you know you’ve got a winner, and both boys happily chow down on this soup any time I serve it for supper. The leftovers get better and better so the boys and I eat bowls of it for lunch at least a couple days afterwards.

I like to cool Lincoln and Cameron’s bowls down by stirring in guacamole, which not only bumps up the good-fat content for their growing bodies and brains, but keeps them full until the next meal. HAHAHA what am I saying we all know children never stop eating. Anyway, I load Ben’s and my bowls up with lots of sour cream, chopped avocado, and plenty of fresh cilantro.

Ready to dig in?

This is one of those “dump (almost) all the ingredients into a slow cooker then push on” kind of recipes. Yes! To a 6-quart slow cooker add 2, 15oz cans Mrs. Grimes Black Beans that have been drained and rinsed, 2 chopped bell peppers, 1 – 2 minced jalapeno peppers (1 is mild enough for Cameron to eat,) 1/2 chopped yellow onion, 3 minced garlic cloves, 1 cup salsa, 2-1/2 cups chicken broth, and herbs and spices including chili powder, cumin, salt, and dried oregano. Place a lid on top then cook for 3-4 hours on HIGH, or 5-6 hours on LOW.

When the soup has 20 minutes left to cook, simmer 3/4 cup long grain white rice in a saucepan with 1-1/4 cups chicken broth. While that’s cooking, scoop 1/2 – 1/3 of the cooked soup into a blender (might need to do this in batches, and never fill your blender more than half full with hot liquids,) then blend until very smooth. Stir both the rice and blended soup back into the slow cooker then season to taste with fresh lime juice and a little bit of salt if necessary.

The soup will thicken as it cools so let sit for 10 minutes or so before ladling into bowls and topping with goodies like chopped cilantro, avocado, and lots of sour cream. I hope you love this delicious, filling, and healthy slow cooker recipe as much as we do – enjoy!

Faribault Foods sponsored this post, and has paid me to write about its Mrs. Grimes Beans products. Samples were provided to me free of charge by Faribault Foods. The opinions expressed herein are my own and based on my own experiences.