Chili Bean Soup — The Soup That Tastes Like Mine Now

Caleb is three months old and has discovered his voice. Not crying — he's done plenty of that. His VOICE. He coos. He babbles. He makes sounds that are not words but are clearly attempts at communication, and he makes them at everything: at me, at Ryan, at the ceiling fan (still his favorite), at the cat-shaped rattle that Keisha sent from Norfolk. I sit on the floor with him and we 'talk.' He says 'aahhh' and I say 'aahhh' and he says 'ooooh' and I say 'ooooh' and Ryan walks in and finds us on the floor having a conversation that makes no linguistic sense but makes all the emotional sense in the world. 'You two are weird,' he says. 'We're communicating. I have a communications degree.' 'You have three semesters of a communications degree.' 'CLOSE ENOUGH.' The humor is back. For weeks after the birth, I couldn't be funny. The PPD ate the humor — ate the sharpness, the wit, the thing that makes me me. But it's coming back. Like a muscle that atrophied and is slowly rebuilding. I make jokes. I laugh at Ryan's terrible puns. I text Keisha memes at midnight. The Rachel who is funny is returning, and her arrival feels like spring. Speaking of spring: Dad called. 'The seedlings are started. Tomatoes for Caleb.' 'Dad, Caleb is three months old. He can't eat tomatoes.' 'By summer he'll be six months. Six-month-olds can eat puréed vegetables. Your mother looked it up.' My father is growing tomatoes for a baby who can't eat solid food yet. My mother researched when babies can eat purée. These people. I made Mom's beef and barley soup — the September recipe that I'm making in February because comfort food follows no calendar. The barley is plump, the beef is tender, the broth is dark and warming. Ryan ate a bowl and said, 'This is your mom's?' 'It's mine. From her recipe.' 'It tastes like yours.' It tastes like MINE. Not Mom's. Mine. Different but recognizable. A spinoff. A variation on a theme. The humor is back. The baby talks. The soup tastes like mine. Spring is coming.

Mom’s beef and barley is a September recipe — dark broth, plump grains, the kind of thing that feels like a sweater from the inside — and I made it in February anyway, because Caleb was sleeping and Ryan was home and I needed something that required standing at the stove and stirring. This chili bean soup is what lives in that same drawer of my brain: beef, beans, a broth that goes deep and stays there. I’ve made it enough times now that it’s stopped being Mom’s and started being mine — different seasonings, a little more heat, the bay leaf she always skipped. A spinoff. That’s the whole point, isn’t it.

Chili Bean Soup

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef (or beef stew meat, cut into 1/2-inch cubes)
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
• 1 can (15 oz) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, with juices
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 cup water
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Optional toppings: shredded cheddar, sour cream, sliced green onions, crackers

Instructions

1. Brown the beef. Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook, breaking it apart if using ground beef (or browning on all sides if using stew meat), until no pink remains, about 6–8 minutes. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Remove beef with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving drippings in the pot.
2. Soften the aromatics. Reduce heat to medium. Add the diced onion, celery, and carrots to the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent and the vegetables begin to soften, about 5–6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
3. Build the base. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, letting it caramelize slightly against the bottom of the pot. Add the chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, and oregano, stirring to coat the vegetables evenly.
4. Add the liquids and beans. Return the browned beef to the pot. Pour in the beef broth, water, and diced tomatoes with their juices. Add both cans of beans and the bay leaf. Stir everything together and bring to a boil.
5. Simmer low and slow. Reduce heat to low, partially cover the pot, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the broth has deepened in color and the vegetables are completely tender. Taste and adjust salt, pepper, and chili powder as needed.
6. Finish and serve. Remove the bay leaf. Ladle into bowls and add your preferred toppings. The soup keeps well refrigerated for up to 4 days and improves overnight as the flavors develop.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 340 | Protein: 24g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 32g | Fiber: 9g | Sodium: 720mg