Black Bean Pumpkin Soup

I’ve got good and bad news. The bad news: I really wanted a Coke Zero but the machine was sold out. The good news: the machine converted my hodge-podge collection of dimes and nickels into two quarters and two dimes.

Let me take a minute, though, and profess my workday love for Coke Zero. I hate artificial sweeteners. The make me want to gag most of the time. (See Coffee). But I heart Coke Zero for some reason. I blame my dad.

At lunch a month or so ago he was sharing his nutrition “wisdom” at lunch (i.e. what he heard on the TV news) on how supposedly the fake sugar in diet sodas (whatever that big long p-word is on the can) might kill you. And I said I thought Coke Zero had Splenda in it. So, to prove to him that I’m all-knowing I bought a can.

I was wrong. It totally had the p-word on the can. Oops. But now I was stuck with the diet soda that I didn’t really plan on drinking. Not one to waste my hard-earned 70 cents(!) I drank it. And it wasn’t bad. It actually kind of tasted like Coke. Plus, it only kind of had an aftertaste. I might die from it someday, but it’s a chance I’m willing to take.

So now when I’m an afternoon slump and need just a little caffeine boost I reach for the Coke Zero. Well, not yesterday anyway. Because, you know, it was sold out.

I didn't even work out like I had planned. I was just draaaaaging. Instead, I spent time with my family and ate a veggie omelet from Bob Evans with steamed veggies on the side. And a slice of pumpkin bread. Overall, I made fairly good choices, though, I probably should have skipped the pumpkin bread.

When I got home, I made this Black Bean Pumpkin Soup I saw on Smitten Kitchen. I love the photography on this blog. Everything looks delicious, and I was particularly excited to make this because for the second week in a row the grocery store only had the gigantor cans of pumpkin. Good thing I love pumpkin.

I made half the recipe and froze a couple of servings for later because I never know when I’m not going to be in the mood to cook. Each cup and a half (or so) serving figures out to 6 points if you cut out half of the butter the recipe calls for. For those counting calories, it's about 347 calories as run through NutritionData.com.

It's for lunch today, but I took a bite last night just to taste it. The soup was satisfying, spicy, creamy — everything I was looking on a chilly evening.