It's been raining cats and dogs in San Francisco, so a hearty soup was called for. We wanted to make something vegetarian that we could make a lot of and freeze. We love our Rancho Gordo heirloom black beans, so when we found Rick Bayless's recipe for black bean soup, we got right to work. We adapted it to make it vegetarian and we didn't even miss the meat!

This black bean soup is flavorful and full of winter vegetables. It'sis delicious with the spices of the chipotle chilies in adobo. We doubled the recipe and now our freezer is full of soup for a quick weeknight dinner. Use a slow cooker like this or this to brown our veggies and finish it all in the slow cooker to make it a one pot meal. What are your favorite soups and slow cooker recipes?