Tired Feet and Black Beans

Today was my second day of summer school and boy am I tired.  Now, I have it good; I know this.  I work a max of 5 hours a day 4 days a week (for the summer anyway), and I just had over a month off.  HOWEVER, when I teach, it's exhausting.  It is emotionally tiring "entertaining" students for 2.4 hours with math.  I say entertaining because that's what I feel like I have to do sometimes to keep them on task.  Today for example, I was using some of my best "make them laugh at me" material; their eyes were totally glazed over, not listening anymore.  What the kids don't realize is that I'm just as tired as they are if not more.  I know it's hard to pay attention and try to absorb all the information beyond 30 minutes let alone 2 hours, so try teaching it for that long.

Ok, now I sound like I'm whining.  I love my job, and I'm a little burnt out.  I've taught 20 to 21 hours a semester for at least the past 5 semesters.  These extra classes have made for some nice extra money, but I have paid for it in the end.  I'm really looking forward to going part-time in the fall.  I hope that the change of pace will get me fired up again.

With my tired feet and empty stomach, I decided to make some soup this afternoon for dinner.  I made an easy black bean soup.  It's nice and creamy without any cream, so it's healthy too!  The trick is to blend up some of the beans and leave the others whole.  For those that are interested, here's the recipe:

Spicy Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

cooking spray

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

45 oz canned black beans, undrained, divided (three 15 oz cans)

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

1 tsp ground cumin (though I like to add a little more)

14 1/2 oz chicken or vegetable broth

10 oz canned tomatoes with green chilies, such as Rotel Tomatoes

Instructions

--Coat bottom of a large stockpot with cooking spray.  Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are soft but not brown, about 5 minutes.

--Place one can of beans in blender; add sauteed onion mixture, red pepper flakes, and cumin.  Cover and blend on high until smooth, about 30 seconds.  Pour mixture back into stockpot.

--Place second can of beans and broth in blender and puree until smooth; add to stockpot.

--Stir in third can of beans (do not puree first) and tomatoes and green chilies into stockpot.  Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.  

Originally the recipe had a can of corn in it too, so that's why the pictures has corn in the soup but I didn't have corn as an ingredient.  I left out the corn because I didn't have any the first time I made it, so I just never added it in since then.  Also, I don't add the entire 14 1/2 oz of chicken broth.  It made the soup a little too thin for me the first go round, so I cut it down to 12 oz.  If you like a really thick soup, add less broth and let it simmer and set for more than 20 to 25 minutes.

With all that said, I'm spent.  What a long day.  Tomorrow is my Friday, so hopefully it will be better.