Vegan Black Bean Soup

This is a great go-to recipe to make a bunch of and freeze in individual containers for when you want some but don't want to make any (though it's a really easy recipe). Just don't freeze the garnishes. It's pretty filling, but you can add vegan sour cream, brandy, or garnish with tomato, red onion, or corn as shown here.

Ingredients
2-15 ounce cans of black beans OR you can save money by soaking a package of black beans yourself.  I do mine in the crockpot on low heat overnight so that they are a bit softer than just soaking them in plain water.  Rinse them first, pick out any stones, then cover them with water plus about 4 inches and soak.You need about 3-4 cups of beans plus some of the liquid.  If you put the beans in a measuring cup, just add enough water to fill it per cup and that should be plenty.
1-15 ounce can of tomato puree. 
1 cup corn (canned or frozen).  Look for corn that has the Non-GMO Project label on it.  That's corn that has not been genetically mutated in the laboratory to contain antibiotics and other things that nature didn't ever intend it to have.
2 cups Vegeatable broth.  You can buy it or make it yourself.  I buy it in 4 cup boxes.
1 TBSP Chili powder.  I will admit that I use about half of this, I'm not fond to food that is too spicy.
2 Garlic cloves, minced.
2 tsp cumin powder
Black pepper to taste
1/2 onion chopped.  If they're large onions, half is fine, but if the onions aren't huge, you can put in the whole thing.
1 stalk celery, chopped.  Again, you can put 2 in if you want more substance and fiber.
1-2 carrots peeled and chopped.
1 TBSP healthy oil:  Olive, rice bran, grapeseed...I do not use Canola to cook in as it has been genetically mutated and is unstable when heated.

Saute onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in 1 TBSP healthy oil.  Add spices and bring to a boil.  Puree one of the cans of beans either with an immersion blender or in your blender or food processor.  Add all of the beans to the pot and simmer for about 15 minutes.  Add the corn, puree it a little more if you'd like with the immersion blender (or not, depends on how crunchy you want your soup).  If you need more liquid in your soup, add a bit more veggie broth or water sparingly.

Garnish with cilantro leaves, vegan sour cream, onion, tomato, or corn.  Enjoy!