Quick Black Bean Soup and Jerk Chicken Nachos

This Black Bean Soup recipe is a great go to meal when you are looking for something quick and healthy. This recipe is a hit with the kids, even my picky eater chowed it down. Oh, and be careful about what salsa you use in the soup. I used some homemade bottled salsa and apparently it was the spicy kind because the soup was very spicy!

Tonight I paired the soup with the Jerk Chicken Nacho recipe from our church cook book. I love nachos, but have a hard time recreating restaurant style nachos, This recipe did that for me. It is awesome, and my kids who normally do not eat nachos (crazy I know) loved them. I definitely will be making it again soon.

Quick Black Bean Soup

• 1 cup jarred tomato salsa
• 2 15 1/2 oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 c chicken broth
• sour cream, salsa and lime for garnish

Heat salsa in a large sauce pans over medium heat, stirring frequently for about 5 min. Stir in beans and broth and then heat to boil. Reduce heat to low and then cover and simmer for 15 min. Use an immersion blender to blend part of the soup. If you don't have an immersion blender then go buy one, or you can cool the soup a bit and put half of it in a blender. Serve with sour cream, lime, and salsa.  Serves 4

Jerk Chicken Nachos

• 6 c tortilla chips
• 2 c cooked chicken, diced or shredded
• 2 c cheese
• 2 1/2 tbs Jamaican jerk seasoning- divided
• 1 small red pepper diced
• 1 tbs fresh cilantro
• 2 tbs lime juice divided
• 1/3 c sour cream

 Preheat oven to 400.  Arrange the tortilla chips on a baking sheet, slightly overlapping. Mix the chicken, cheese and 1 tbs of the jerk seasoning and sprinkle over chips and place in oven until the cheese is melted. Combine the red pepper, 1 tbs jerk seasoning, 1 tbs lime juice and cilantro and then set aside. Mix sour cream, 1/2 tbs jerk seasoning, and 1 tbs lime juice and set aside. When cheese has melted, remove nachos and top with red pepper mixture. To finish, spoon the sour cream mixture over the nachos (or you can put it in a zip lock bag,, and cut at the corner to drizzle over the nachos).