Cuban Black Bean Soup

This is rich and filling and black beans are said to be cancer fighters so all in all it makes a wonderful supper or warming lunch.
You will need:
2 15 oz cans of Black Beans drained and rinsed.
Mash 1/3 of them to thicken the soup. If you choose to use uncooked beans you will need to soak overnight, then increase cooking time by several hours.
Chop up one large sweet onion finely.
You will need 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, minced fine
A handfull of chopped parsley

1Tablespoon of Oregano
1 or 2 teaspoons of chile powder
2 nice bay leaves
Freshly grated black pepper to taste
1 small can of chopped MILD green chilies
4 cups or so of chicken or vegetable broth
2 limes.

Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil.
If you wish to make this a meat dish, saute some kosher sausage also.
If kosher is not a concern to you, you can use ham or pork sausage. Add about 4 sausages or about 2 cups of cooked ham.
Brown it all nicely .
Add your whole and mashed up beans and the spices and broth and simmer for about an hour or more to mingle the flavors well if the beans are canned. You will need to simmer for about 6 hours if the beans are not cooked. Cooking in a crock pot would work well in that case.
Add more broth, beans, whatever you wish as you think it is needed and more broth if the soap thickens too much. It is your soup, you make it to suit your tastes.

Serve piping hot with a squeeze of fresh lime over each bowl and a wedge of lime on the side.
If you do not add meat, then top with grated fresh cheese of your choice or a hefty dollop of sour cream.
By the way, you might use pareve sour cream with the meat.
Serve with crusty Italian style bread that you have smeared with garlic and olive oil in the following manner:

Cut a loaf of bread down the middle.
roast 2 whole garlic bulbs. you can wrap them in foil or use a clay garlic roaster.
when done you will have a paste inside each of the cloves. Scoop it out carefully.
Combine this with the smallest touch of olive oil and spread on hot bread. Delicious!
The roasted sweetens the garlic .
Enjoy.