Mariner's Black Bean Soup - Reloaded

It seems to be the year of cancer in my family. If you know us, then you know that my Honey was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in September. She had her thyroid removed surgically in October, and is scheduled for follow-up treatment with iodine-131 (radioactive) later on this month.

In preparation for the iodine-131 treatments, she has had to go on a low-iodine diet for a couple of weeks. That plays hell with our normal eating habits, and she has a particular liking for my  Black Bean Soup, which is just loaded with stuff that probably contains iodine. Because of that, I decided to come up with a low-iodine version.

Like the original, this recipe is for cooking in a 2 quart electric crock pot, and there are only a few modifications in the list of ingredients.

Ingredients:

½ lb dry black beans
1 cup cut Okra, fresh or frozen
½ cup whole kernel corn, fresh or frozen
1 cup diced tomato, fresh
1 cup frozen pepper stir fry
4-5 oz. lean fresh pork (no additives!)
1 tbs chives
1 tsp dry garlic granules
1½ tsp iodine-free Kosher salt
¼ tsp cilantro powder
½ tsp cayenne powder
water to fill

Directions:

You'll notice that the sliced pepper-jack cheese is conspicuous in its absence. That's because dairy products are verboten on this diet!

Prepare the dry beans as you would for my other recipe: i.e., carefully clean them. Wash the beans in plain water until the water you pour off runs clear and soak them overnight in fresh water twice or three times the depth of the dry beans alone.

The next morning, pour off the soak-water, and gently wash and drain the beans repeatedly, until the water runs clear. Drain the beans through a mesh sieve, and put the drained beans in your 2 quart crock pot.

Reduce the volume of the frozen ingredients individually, by defrosting in a microwave oven. Use the highest defrost setting, and estimate the weight for each of the frozen ingredients at ½ lb. (Yeah, I know it's high, but it works!). If you are using fresh okra, do it anyway. Defrosting frozen corn won't significantly reduce its volume, but do it for consistency - it helps reduce the cooking time.

Add all the remaining ingredients except water (note the injunction against using pork which has added ingredients!), and stir to distribute components evenly. Add enough water to fill the pot and turn it on. Let it cook (covered) all day, stirring frequently.

There will be some differences in flavor, due principally to the lack of smoke flavor from the original meat ingredients. Hot sauce usually adds more than just cayenne to dishes as well, so that also impacts the ultimate flavor of the soup. All in all, though, it turned out pretty well.

Happy eating, you iodophobes! (May also be of benefit to others with restricted diets!)

Mariner