Black Bean Soup

Going on with my bean theme, the other day I made some tasty Black Bean Soup!
I unfortunately packed it all up and froze it before thinking to take a picture, but it looks like a standard black bean soup. Low fat, high protein, high fiber, and no cholesterol :)

Black Bean Soup
1 pound dried black beans (or about 3 normal sized cans, preferably low sodium)
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 TB olive oil
3 cups water
3 cups vegetable broth
Cumin
Oregano
Cayenne pepper
Black pepper
Thyme

If using dried black beans, soak them over night, then boil until tender.
In a pot, heat olive oil and add onion. Cook for about 3 minutes until becoming translucent. Add in peppers and garlic.
Once the vegetables are softened slightly, add beans, spices and water and broth.
Simmer.
Either using a potato masher, hand blender, food processor, or something else useful for squishing things, mash or blend some of the soup so as to mush up some of the black beans and create a thicker base.
The soup will thicken more and more as you let it simmer. Cover to reduce water loss.
Enjoy alone or topped with sour cream or chili peppers.