Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup

I stumbled upon this blog a few months back, and have really enjoyed several of the recipes. I actually got her cookbook for Christmas too...which I'll blog about later...but yum-there are some GREAT recipes on her blog. I made this a few weeks ago when we had some friends over. It was really good...and warm...oh so warm. It's cold and rainy here today. I would love to be eating this soup tonight.

Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup, from "A Year of Slow Cooking"

1 lb. chicken (I think I used about 2 lbs.)
1 c. dried black beans (or 2 cans, drained and rinsed)
4 c. chicken broth
1 c. frozen corn
1 jar prepared salsa (16 oz) (I used homemade, instead of store bought)
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 c. sour cream (you'll stir this in at the end)
shredded cheddar cheese, cilantro, tortilla chips (all optional)


*I use dried black beans, so I soak them over night*. Drain and rinse the beans the next morning.Add the beans to the crockpot. Put in the chicken, and add both the broth and salsa. Add the corn and the cumin. Stir, but be careful not to stir the beans below. They need to stay at the bottom of the pot, closest to the heat. Cover and cook on HIGH for 9 hours. It takes awhile to get the black beans soft.

The blog says: If you'd like to thicken the broth, you can use your immersible blender to blend a bit of the beans and chicken. If you don't have one, scoop out 2 cups of the soup and carefully blend in your traditional blender. Stir the mixture back into the crockpot. *However, I did not do this.

Stir in the 1/2 cup of sour cream before serving, and garnish with shredded cheese and broken up tortilla chips.