Whatever I have in my Pantry - Bean Soup

This past week I've been fighting a terrible "cold" that finally took me into the doctor (for those that know me, I hardly ever go to the doctor - for myself at least.) I started antibiotics yesterday and thankfully started feeling better within a few hours - hallelujah! I celebrated by making a big pot of soup. There is nothing more comforting to me than a big pot of homemade soup, that and rice. I can eat a big bowl of rice with soy sauce and feel like I've been wrapped in a big blanket - it's a weird comfort food but it's mine! 
So, I started looking around for something that combined both soup and rice one day and happened upon this gem, a Black Bean and Wild Rice Soup. It was delicious and smoky and filling. Since falling in love with that recipe I have made many different versions. I usually tweak it to what I have available. Here is one version of it but believe me, I've made this plenty of times and change almost everything about it and it's still wonderful.

Red Kidney Bean and Rice Soup:
- 1 can tomatoes (I use petite diced because that's what I like. The original recipe does not call for tomatoes so if you don't like them, leave them out - it's still great!)
- 1 can rinsed red kidney beans (or any bean!)
- 3/4 cup rice (I like more rice in my soups but if you don't, leave it at 1/2cup. I've used wild rice mostly but was low on that last night so I used a combination of wild and jasmine rice.)
- Chicken stock (again, can be made with beef or vegetable stock!)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- Chopped carrots
- Half chopped onion
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1.5 tsp chili powder
- dash of cayenne
- S&P to taste

Add onion, carrots, garlic in soup pot with about 1T canola oil, saute.

Add spices and rice, stir until well coated. Add tomatoes, stock, and beans. Cover and simmer about 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender. Serve immediately.

Lily's bowl. She loves rice and beans! Avocado is a great compliment to this soup too :)