This soup is amazing! I just had two bowls and I'm looking forward to making it again. Here are my suggestions: Buy ready to go black beans. Soaking them and then putting them in the crock pot really isn't worth the time and added effort. Instead of lentils I added a can of kidney beans (just had them in the pantry). I didn't add the .28oz of tomatoes because my crockpot is too small. So instead I added a bit of ketchup, mustard and syrup. I also only put 4 cloves of garlic since garlic likes me a little too much! I served with corn bread and a little sour cream on top. Yummy!

This was a lovely, filling soup. I added extra garlic and spices, which is more to our tastes. I also used red peppers, and extra beans. Perfect with buttered sourdough bread or cornbread.

I adore this recipe! It is filling, warm, and full of excellent flavors. It is pretty spicy, so I like to tone it down with a dollop of sour cream and sometimes jack or cheddar cheese. My husband and I dislike lentils so I double the amount of rice. This soup also freezes well and keeps in the refridgerator for days. If you don't plan on using it all the first sitting, however, I suggest cooking the rice separately and adding it when you reheat the soup so it doesn't get soggy. It's a bit of extra effort but well worth it for the quality leftovers.

i dont have a blender, so i couldnt do this last step, which (after sticking it in the fridge overnight)makes it a delicious dip! 2 meals in one!

Does not freeze well.

I will never make this again. The lentils just muck it up and the whole thing was too much work for the results.

I served this thick soup over baked potatoes with sour cream and some cheddar cheese. Delicious!

We've gotten hooked on this and make it all the time. Great spicing! Only quibble: I've found that cooking for about 8 hours (overnight) is required to make the beans tender.

This soup is fabulous!! I make is often and have shared it with many who also love it. I use 2 29oz canned black beans to speed up the process. Also I only use 1 tbl chili powder and substitue 1 sm can green chili's for the jalapeno. We garnish with avacado's and sour cream. It's a regular at our house.

It tasted like the filling of a stuffed green pepper. Also the ground pepper over powered the whole thing.

Simple to make and delicious to eat, I followed the recipe step by step and am most pleased with it.

This recipe is a lot of work for what you get. I was not impressed but it was edible.

This bean soup was really good.

The first time I made this it was for a work potluck. I got a ton of compliments. I change a few things though. I don't use either the jalapeno or the green peppers, I use less than half the salt, and for convenience I use dried, chopped onions. If you use uncooked regular rice, the rice will take far longer than 20 minutes to cook. 20 minutes might be long enough for quick rice or you could use rice that had already been cooked. I've heard that cooking the rice separately before adding it to a soup helps keep it from turning into mush. Oh and I don't always bother to puree the soup. It's great either way.

I wanted to give this 5 stars for flavor, but it was just such a hassle to make. Next time I'll either do the whole thing on the stove or maybe just toss it all in the crock pot on low all day and see how it goes. Anyway, I doubled the carrots, celery, and lentils, halved the onion, garlic, and cumin, and omitted the rice (it was a time issue). I added a bit of cilantro, and I squeezed a fresh lime into the pot at the end. I served it with some sliced avocado. I pureed most of the black beans in the blender towards the end of cooking, which helped their still-firm texture. I found that my beans needed a lot more cooking on the stovetop before they were ready for the crock pot, and even then they never got as soft as they should have. With a little adapting, this soup was really tasty- but as I said, if I can't find a way to make it easier, I'll be going back to my good old standards. (hint: Black Bean and Salsa Soup from this site is absolutely amazing and far easier.)