Spinach, Squash, and Black Bean Soup

Ok. So, I know I already posted once today, but it was lunchtime and I was hungry... so it was back to the Vitamix. Babe had just woken up from his nap, and I'll be honest, I had been waiting for him to get up, scheming about what deliciousness I could make with the food in my kitchen...

1:30pm. He's finally up. I pop open the fridge and find Dave has used up all the heavy whipping cream. And I had used the rest of the milk for gluten free pancakes for breakfast (they were sooooooo good!!! Made the batter in the Vitamix too btw.) But yeah. Unfortunately, no dairy products to be had for soup-deliciousness.

Not to be deterred, I pulled out the squash I cooked yesterday in the crock pot and went to search the pantry to see what kind of canned goodness I could toss into the Vitamix. Honestly it's a bit picked over, but I came up with a can of black beans and corn. Further fridge-raiding brought up some fresh spinach and queso fresco. Now for the liquids. Since we had no dairy left to use, I decided to use chicken bouillon and grabbed some cumin for spice.

I'm horrible at measuring, but here's a rough estimation of what all was tossed in...

Spinach, Squash, and Black Bean Soup 

3 or 4 cups mystery squash (best we can determine it is buttercup squash, already cooked)
a bit of frozen onion and peppers (got a mixed bag from Aldi, maybe 1/2 a cup?)
couple handfuls of fresh spinach, steamed quickly on the stove with a bit of water
2 cups of water & 2 chicken bouillon cubes (or chicken stock/broth if you have it)
couple dashes of cumin
a pinch of fresh thyme (not sure if it even made a difference)
splash of heavy cream (all that I had)
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of corn, drained
Queso Fresco

I started with the squash in the mixer with the chicken bouillon, and turned that onto high. got it so it was moving and tossed in the onion and peppers. While the squash was heating ( did you know the Vitamix can heat whatever you're making through friction!?! Totally bad ass.) I tossed the spinach in a skillet with a spot of water and got it cooking down. A few minutes later I turned down the mixer, added in the spinach, 1/3 of the can of black beans, a bit of corn, and the cumin. Tossed it back on high, and blended the ingredients until super smooth, then turned it back down again. Quick taste test, tossed in more beans and a bit more squash and it was pretty good, just needing a pinch of salt. Dave liked it as it was, so he got his out and I dished some for the Babe, but I wanted to have a bit more body to it so I tossed in some more corn and the rest of the beans. Gave it a quick bit of blending, and called it good. Was still pretty smooth, haven't totally gotten the hang of keeping the ingredients chunky, but it was delicious!

To top it all off, we put the queso fresco on top. I put some more corn on mine too. Perfect.


Of all the meals I've made for Babe, this one he had seconds! And not little seconds, but decent sized portions! I even gave him some with the queso fresco on top and he was so excited waving his arms around and hands going in circles. It was awesome seeing him so excited.

Although he definitely needed a bath afterward.