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I love this soup year-round. It's hearty and tasty, easy to make, and goes so well with avocado toast! It's loaded with chunky vegetables, stewed until tender, and finished with lime and cilantro to freshen it up. Once you have the spices in your cupboard, it's a low-cost, plant-based meal that goes far.

This is one of those great pantry ingredient recipes, as I find all I usually have to go shopping for is the fresh cilantro and lime. To start, dice your mirepoix, onions, carrot and celery, the same size. Doing this will help your soup to cook evenly. Your carrots take the longest to cook, and they are what you'll taste to judge doneness; you want them to be tender, but not mush. The salt in this recipe comes from the sundried tomatoes. You can use either dried or packed in oil sundried tomatoes.

When the soup has finished simmering, it's blended briefly to thicken it up. You can also leave it as is, and it will still taste great! For some added texture, I love serving this soup garnished with crushed tortilla chips.

Mexican Black Bean Soup

Serves 2 to 4

1 teaspoon oil

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced carrot

1 cup diced celery

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/4 cup diced sundried tomatoes (about 6 to 8)

410 mL (13.9 fl oz) can black beans, drained

398 mL (13.5 fl oz) diced canned tomatoes

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 cups water or vegetable stock

1/2 cup corn

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon Lime juice

1. In a large pot, over medium heat, heat oil, onion, carrot, celery, garlic and sundried tomatoes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to soften, about 5 minutes.

2. Add black beans, diced tomatoes, cumin, coriander and cinnamon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid from the tomatoes has evaporated and the mixture is starting to stick to the bottom of the pan, about 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Add 4 cups of water or stock. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally until the carrots are tender but not mush, about 30 minutes.

4. Remove the soup from heat. Using a hand blender, give the soup a few pulses to thicken it up. Stir in corn, cilantro and lime juice. Adjust seasoning and lime juice to taste.

Tasty tips

--If you don't have a hand blender, you can use a potato masher, blender or food processor to blend the soup.

--I've added no "heat" to this recipe, but feel free to spice it up with a canned chipotle pepper or a sliced jalapeno pepper.

--Serve with grilled bread, rice or tortilla chips.

(Kary Osmond is a Canadian recipe developer and former television host of the popular daytime cooking show "Best Recipes Ever." Her easy recipes include helpful tips to guide you along the way, and her love of plant-based cooking offers healthy alternatives to some of your favorite dishes. Learn more at www.karyosmond.com.)