Black bean soup with lemon balm

My super sweet sister in law gave me a bag of dried lemon balm from her herb garden. Its proper latin name is melissa officinalis. It is a lemony smelling herb that is a member of the mint family. Dried lemon balm makes a great tea that can help with digestion, fighting viruses and is very calming. However instead of making a tea, I decided to incorporate it into a soup. While trying to decide which soup to make, I remembered that while living in Phoenix, I tried an amazing Persian lentil soup with ginseng. So, last night, I decided to make a variation on that recipe with my newly acquired lemon balm and a can of organic black beans. I bet this recipe would work well with mint or ginseng.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 stalks of celery washed and diced
• 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 large onion, peeled and diced
• 3-4 tablespoons of dried lemon balm with stems/twigs removed
• 1 can of organic black beans
• 1 handful of brown rice
• 2 tablespoons of braggs amino acids
• olive oil
• cumin
• salt
• pepper
• 3-4 cups of water

Directions:

1. Saute the onion in olive oil in a medium sized soup pot until it becomes translucent
2. Add lemon balm and cumin and continue to saute until the onions begin to brown
3. Add braggs amino acid, carrots and celery and continue to saute until the celery is soft
4. Add water, cover with a lid and let simmer until the water begins to boil
5. Add black beans and rice and let simmer on low heat until the rice is soft
6. Add salt and pepper
7. Puree with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender
8. Adjust salt and enjoy!