This serves, I think we can safely say, two or three people as a meal and perhaps more if it's just appetizer soup.
You will need:
-a can of pinto beans
-a bunch of garlic, both fresh and powdered. (I used half a head!)
-half an onion
-2 cups vegetable broth
-cumin
-thyme
-3-4 tablespoons of lemon juice.
-some olive oil.
Chop up your garlic (make it a little chunky) and dice up your onion. I usually hold back some of the onion so that I can have a nice raw onion garnish at the end; this is up to you. Start off your garlic and onion simmering in some olive oil on medium-low.
Shake garlic POWDER onto this--yes, this soup hails from Garlic Town. Be as copious as you like. Also shake a generous amount of cumin on there, and a pinch or two of thyme.
Let these things get a little tender and then add your beans, which you needn't bother to drain since we are, after all, making soup. Also throw in your lemon juice here. Cover it and stir it and let it simmer for a while. Feel free to add some more garlic and cumin if the spirit moves you (it always moves me).
Get your broth going now -- whether in the microwave or on the stove. Personally, I favor Knorr's Vegetarian Vegetable bullion.
When the broth is brothy and ready, pour it in. Keep uncovered and let the soup simmer/boil a bit more--there is no real science to this, just that soup gets better as it gets simmery. I take as much time as I need to clean up and butter some bread, and then I usually get impatient and decide soup is served. Soup's easy: ss long as it's hot, it's ready, but you can't oversimmer either.
There's your story! I rocked this out with a buttered ciabatta roll today, which was both delicious and unpronounceable. I recommend it!