Welcome to my BLOG!

 I'm Gabby, and this is my blog. 

I decided to write a food and travel blog because they are my biggest passions. I recently returned from about 13 months overseas (mostly in Europe and Israel) where I did everything I could to be around food. I volunteered on farms, in kitchens, and homestays where the lifestyle was often based around cooking and food production. I also ate every single thing that interested me and wasn't ridiculously expensive. 

I made a lot of amazing friends from lots of countries during my travels, and I made sure to "interview" all of them about their favorite foods and cultural dishes. I learned a lot! 

Now it's time for it to all come together. Hence, this blog. I intend to recreate things I tried, learn to make things I heard about from my friends, cook recipes I collected while overseas, and of course, try new things and be creative in my kitchen!

I hope I can make lots of interesting and delicious recipes for other people like me, who love to see the world through their tastebuds!

That said, let's get started! Incidentally, this recipe has nothing to do with the places I've traveled. I just love making this soup. I made it up, sort of by accident a few years back and it's perfect for a cold day when you can't really be bothered to go shopping (such as  it was yesterday here in Boston). It can easily be made with canned black beans, and dried chile powder can be used instead of the fresh.  I always keep overripe bananas in my freezer, so that helps too! (In this case, the more ripe the banana, the better the final product)

                                                             Black Bean Banana Soup

Ingredients

*1 tablespoon oil (I used a blend of peanut and grapeseed for this particular recipe, but go for what you have on hand)

*2 carrots, diced

*2 onions, diced

*2 cloves garlic, minced 

*2 ribs of celery, diced

*1 chile pepper, diced (use more if you want it more spicy and less if you want it less! No two chiles are the same, I always take a little taste before throwing it on the stove)

*3 bananas, diced

*30 oz. cooked black beans, rinsed

*1 litre vegetable stock or broth
*A few avocado chunks, to garnish
*Lime wedges, to serve

Preparation

In a large pot, heat oil. Add carrots, onion, garlic and celery. Let them sweat out for a bit, stirring occasionally, so they become aromatic and soft, but not brown. Add your desired amount of chile pepper and let that soften up for a bit. 

Once everything is soft, add the bananas! Give it a stir occasionally, but you don't need to stand over it. After a few minutes, it will smell amazing and you will know the bananas are heated through. That's when you can add the black beans. Stir it all to incorporate, and then add half of the vegetable broth. 

Use a hand mixer to blend it all together (or use a blender in batches), and let it thicken a little bit.  Add the rest of the broth. 

Season liberally with salt and pepper.
Serve with lime wedges to squeeze over, and avocado chunks on top. (I love avocado with anything remotely spicy....) 

(PS: As an afterthought, I also grated some manchego cheese on top of it, and I imagine queso fresco would go nicely as well...)

Enjoy!