How dumb am I?

It's a "long" week for me, as these 5 day weeks have become known to be know as in our household. So Sunday morning I didn't want to get out of bed in anticipation of the impending 5 day week. Perhaps the prospect of all those days in which I have to work in a single week drove my brain cells to strike.

So even though I had a three day weekend, I did not really do any grocery shopping nor did I actually attempt to figure out what we were going to be having for dinner this week. Not even a little bit of thought as to what we even had in our fridge. Which, for some people isn't really a big deal, but to a control freak such as myself, these things must be planned far far in advance. Actually, I don't mind those dinners where I look at the fridge and then throw a bunch of stuff together, those nights can be a little bit fun. But those are NOT fun when you get home at 7 pm and everyone is hungry and you don't even want to think about it. Have you ever seen me when I'm hungry? Not nice, not nice at all. I will take your head off.

So you're beginning to see the picture here. It's Monday, I left work at 6:30, oh wait, did I mention yet that Jeff has been feeling under the weather for the past few days? So what USUALLY happens in these situations is that we order dinner. But clearly I was not running on all my cylinders at this point in the day, so I decided that I was going to stop at the grocery store and pick up some things and make a quick dinner. But here's the dumb part, the dinner that I came up with to make? Black bean soup and salad.

Did I ever mention Jeff doesn't like soup? Yes, I believe that I have. I actually thought in a moment of weakness that he would like the black bean soup because who doesn't like soup when they are sick? Plus I was going to blend it all up and make it thick and rich and yummy. Sauce-like one might say. Yeah, so that was a no go when I called and proposed that to Jeff. Duh. And then he surprised me and said that he wanted a sandwich for dinner (have I ever mentioned that he does not like sandwiches for dinner? well he doesn't, and I always want them). So fine, that was easy enough. Except that I had this oily mess of a sandwich for lunch which leaked out of its packaging, through the bag and ALL OVER my pants (did I mention that I had a meeting with some senior management today? yes, the oily mess was on my pants at the meeting. I am so very professional). So for the first night practically ever I did not want a sandwich for dinner. But whatever, Jeff wasn't feeling well, plus it's so easy to make.

So I stopped at the grocery store, bought a bunch of stuff and headed home. It was late, the bags were heavy and by the time I got home I was hungry and SO not in the mood to cook. But I pushed through and made dinner. However, I still didn't want a sandwich and I did want black bean soup so I ended up making two dinners, and they both actually turned out really well. I wanted to make a chipotle mayo for Jeff's sandwich since it's his favorite, but we didn't have any chipotles (can I make that plural? chipotli? I don't know). So I ended throwing a bunch of stuff in the food processor and making him a delicious spread and then I threw a bunch of crap in the pot and made a delicious black bean soup.

Maybe tomorrow I can convince Jeff that leftover black bean sauce is delicious. We'll see, but I'm not keeping my fingers crossed and I'm definitely going to plan tomorrow's dinner today.

Here's the goodies:

Roasted Red Pepper Mayo

1 garlic clove
1 roasted red pepper
2 tablespoons of mayo
2 tablespoons of goat cheese (I used some flavored queso blanco or something that we got from the farmer's market, but it's pretty much goat cheese)
salt and pepper

Whiz it up in the food processor and slather on your bread.

Black Bean Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
3 garlic cloves
~ 1 teaspoon of cumin
~ 1 teaspoon of hot spanish paprika (make it the good stuff)
half of a glass milk jar of chicken broth (probably 2 cups)
1 can of black beans (with about 1/4 can reserved)
1 cooked chicken breast
salt and pepper
yogurt/sour cream, lime, avocado, cilantro, scallions for serving

Heat olive oil in dutch oven until all shimmery. Add onion, a bit of salt and cook until slightly softened. Add garlic, cumin, paprika and cook until fragrant and then add the chicken broth. Scrape the bottom of the pot, add the bean and bring up to a simmer. Let it simmer for a bit, add some salt and pepper to let all the flavors blend together (you could probably poach a chicken breast in the soup at this point if you didn't have a cooked chicken breast, which I happened to have in the fridge). Add in the beans, bring it back up to simmer and turn off. Using an immersion blender or a regular one, blend it almost all the way until it's thick and delicious. Add in the reserved beans and cooked chicken, garnish and serve! So very easy and so very good.