Mmmmm. If you like beans and spicy flavorings, you're going to love this one. My kids are not into spicy foods, so most of the time I steer clear of them in my kitchen. However, this soup has made its way into our regular rotation despite that because it is just so dad-gum good!

To start, you will need the following:

1 lb. dry black beans, soaked overnight

4 tsp. diced jalapeno peppers

6 c. chicken broth

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbs. chili powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

3/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. hot pepper sauce

Throw it all in your slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours before reducing the heat to low for the remaining 2 hours or until you're ready to eat. If you can't pop in at lunch to reduce the heat, just put it on low from when you first get up in the morning, and you'll have soup ready when you get in from your long, harried day. Be warned: this soup is VERY hot! Just check out all the seasonings. You can, of course, reduce the heat by reducing the chili and cayenne powder and jalapenos.

John, who had to rush up to the school to volunteer in the concession stand after work, hadn't planned to eat with us, but one whiff of this in the slow cooker when he popped in to change clothes and guess what? Yep, he was at the table with the rest of us!

Cost analysis? I just served this up with cornbread, so this is an extremely cheap meal! It made enough to feed us again, cutting the cost further. My best approximation is that tonight's meal cost me $3.25 to put together, which is about $.65 a person. Wow! Thumbs up! :)