Vegetarian Poblano & White Bean Chili

You need:
-1 bag dry great northern beans (these need to be soaked for at least 2 hours, or overnight)
-1 onion, finely chopped
-1 poblano pepper, chopped
-1 red bell pepper, chopped
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-3 tablespoons olive oil
-1 package white chili seasoning (i used mccormick's white chicken chili seasoning)
-1 carton (32 oz) vegetable stock
***my additions that were non-vegetarian included adding extra chicken bouillon powder and ham base/bouillon (probably about 2 tablespoons of each)


Directions:
1. Soak beans for 2 hours or more under water, drain, and reserve about 1.5 cup for pureeing, which will thicken your soup base
2. Sautee onion, poblano & red peppers, and garlic in olive oil. Add white chicken seasoning, and continue to sautee until all veggies are soft
3. Drain beans and add to crockpot. Add veg stock and sauteed veggies. Cook in crockpot on high for about 3-4 hours until reaches a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook several hours (I cooked mine from 9 pm until I went to bed, and cooked on low overnight...until 12:00 when I woke up the next day)
4. At any point while soup is cooking in the crock pot, bring the 1 cup of beans to a boil in a separate pot until they are softened. Once they have cooled, pour out most of the water in the pot and puree until smooth with an immersion blender. Add to soup in crockpot.

Guac Style Black Bean Salad

You need:
-1 can black beans, drained (use 1/2 cup per serving)
-fresh cloves of garlic, chopped (1 clove per serving)
-1 container cherry (or any small) tomatoes (about 4-5 cut in half per serving)
-avocado (1/2 avocado cubed, per serving)
-1 lime (1 big squeeze of juice per serving)
-1 jalapeno (as much or as little depending on how much heat you want - I used about 1/4 of the jalapeno per serving)
-fresh cilantro (about 1-2 tablespoons per serving)
-salt

Directions:
1. Heat 1/2 cup black beans in microwave for 30 seconds
2. Chop all ingredients and mix together in a bowl.
3. Sprinkle with salt, cilantro, and fresh squeeze of lime. Add black beans to bowl and mix.