Sargent WB's Black Bean Soup

A patient brought me in some of his homemade black bean soup this week. It was very tasty (I only thought it could have used a little salt....GASP... the dietitian uses salt!) so I wanted to pass it along to everyone! They make a big pot of it so that it can be frozen and thawed as necessary over a few weeks.

Beans:
1 pound dried black beans - place in 4 quarts hot water with 2 tablespoons of koster salt, then boil for 2 minutes, let beans soak for 8-24hours

Veggies:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Seasoning:
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 teaspoon dried cumin (I think you could use up to 1 tablespoon if you prefer that flavor)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
32oz vegetable broth + 1 cup water
2 limes, cut into wedges

1. Once you have soaked the beans, drain and rinse them, set aside.
2. In the pressure cooker on medium heat, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil an add the ingredients under the 'veggie' and 'seasoning' sections. Saute for about 5 minutes until the veggies are soft.
3. Add beans and broth to the pressure cooker and stir to combine. Bring the cooker up to high on 'manual' and cook for 15 minutes.
4. Turn off heat and let the pressure come down naturally about 15 minutes more.
5. If you want a thicker soup, you can use a hand blender (immersion/stick blender) right in the pot to  do so or you can blend up half of the soup (2 cups a time) in the regular blender and then mix back in until you have the desired thickness.
5. Service with lime wedges to sprinkle juice over soup.

ENJOY!!