Since people have asked:
My oldest brother introduced me to the cookbook "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman, and it is now a well used part of our kitchen life. (Followed up with How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, another good purchase). It is thanks to him and his recipes that Kiddo gets her weekly fix of black bean soup.
This is how I cook it, which is slightly modified from his directions, but given his proclaimed cooking style, I think he would encourage that.
I cook a pound of dry beans by 1) putting the beans and water about an inch above the beans in a pot to boil, 2) turning off the heat as soon as it boils 3) let it sit for two hours 4) rinsing the beans, 5) adding new water about two inches above the beans 6) simmering the beans for 1 1/2 hours. If you are at home all day, this is really easy. If not, find 3 - 4 cans black beans, and drain them.
Once the beans are ready, I finely chop a small onion (cause I'm not a huge onion fan, my husband uses more) and saute the onion, 1 Tbsp of garlic, 1 Tbsp chili powder, and 1 Tbsp. cumin in the bottom of a soup pot. Once the onions are cooked, I add 1 can beef broth, and the beans. Then I use our immersion blender to blend about half the beans, leaving the other half whole. You can also use a potato masher. (It's valuable to do this step before the beans and broth get hot!) Then I add between 1/2 - 1 more can of beef broth (or the equivalent amount of water) and a fair dose of pepper and salt. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the juice of a lime (about 1/4 cup I'd guess, we use the bottled lime juice), cook a little more. Serve with a garnish of sour cream.
This makes a pretty thick soup. You could thin it by adding more broth, or mashing fewer beans. It feed the three of us for one dinner, plus two lunches for Kiddo and me, without any sides. My husband cooks with the aid of a recipe, but tends to feel things out. I used to be a total slave to the recipe, but have found with some things (like this soup) I play it more by ear. That means it isn't consistently excellent (for example this last time there was a serious lack of salt) but that I don't have to look up the recipe, which makes my life (and my limited counter space) a little easier.
