Quote Originally Posted by mtbdarby View Post
Lisa, I'm gonna make your black bean soup tomorrow for after tubing (and before margaritas!). I've never used cilantro before **gasp** and bought a bunch of fresh stuff. I only got 2 cans of beans since there's just 2 of us. How much cilantro should I put in there? I assume you chop it up first? Thanks!
Are the cans the larger Progresso bean cans? Otherwise if they are "regular" sized cans you might want to downsize some of the other ingredients because it's not going to be a very big soup with only 2 little cans of beans, unless those are the slightly larger Progresso brand cans.

I would chop up about a good fistful of cilantro and throw it in with the soup when you start cooking. (Cut off and discard the thicker stems) That cilantro is going to add it's flavor over the hours of cooking, but it won't be pretty and green at the end, it'll just be sort of cooked in and not noticable. So at the last 30 minutes or so I would throw in another 1/2 cup or so of chopped cilantro so it will be pretty and green in the soup. If you like the cilantro taste, then top the soup with a dollop of sour cream and a bit more chopped cilantro. If not, then a bit of chopped raw onion and sour cream is good on top.

If you've never had cilantro before- you might want to tast it first and decide if you want to use a slightly smaller amount the first time. We have grown to love it and can never put "too much" in.
Let us know how it comes out!

Knot- I love that about crockpot cooking- most of the time you can put whatever veggies you have on hand in there with a bit of liquid and maybe some meat if you have it and somehow it "usually" comes out great 6-8 hours later.