black bean soup & drop biscuits

The other night my mom asked me what I was planning to make for dinner. She thought my idea, black bean soup, sounded fantastic too so she made it the same night. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself  considering that: 1. my mom is the best cook I know (no, seriously!) and 2. she's been cooking for quite a bit longer than I have, but all that to say...her soup turned out much better! I'm going to share her recipe instead of mine :)  (they were almost the same, but I like that hers called for more black beans, half of them pureed, and less rotel) Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients (for soup):
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 T olive oil
5 carrots, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup chopped celery (optional)
4 ears corn, kernels removed
1 orange, juiced
2 26 oz. cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz. can mild rotel tomatoes
1 vegetable bouillon cube
water
salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin

Directions (for soup):
Heat olive oil in large pot. Add onion and saute till beginning to soften. Add garlic, carrots and corn (and celery). Stir in tomatoes and orange juice. Process one 26 oz. can black beans in food processor with a little water, pulsing till chopped but not too mushy. Add all beans, vegetable bouillon, water to desired consistency and season. Cook till carrots are slightly done and soup is very hot.
*Serve garnished with mandarin orange segments, avocado slices and greek yogurt or sour cream.

I made these drop biscuits (from Cooks Illustrated) to go with our soup! They were delicious, if I do say so myself :)  

Ingredients (for biscuits):
2 c all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t sugar
3/4 t table salt
1 c  cold buttermilk (I used non-fat)
8 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus 2 T butter for brushing biscuits

Directions (for biscuits):
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Combine buttermilk and 8 Tablespoons melted butter in medium bowl, sitrring until butter forms small clumps.
Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl. Using greased 1/4 cup dry measure, scoop level amounts of batter and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Makes 12 biscuits.
Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes. Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 T of melted butter. Sprinkle with sea salt.