Recipe: Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

This is a tasty soup that is similar to chili but lighter. Perfect for summer? Absolutely.

I call it tortilla soup, though I don’t usually put tortillas in it, because I don’t like soggy tortilla bits in my soup. The recipe started out as a legit tortilla soup, so I still call it that. And hey: if you like soggy tortilla bits in your soup, then have at it. It’s made for it.

Also, it says vegetarian in the title, but the only thing making it not vegan is that I garnish it with cheese and sour cream. Omit those or use vegan substitutes, and you’ve got yourself a tasty vegan soup, too!

For the meatatarians you can throw in a cup of shredded chicken, if you so choose.

The recipe as written is not very spicy- you can adjust the amount of jalapeno or other hot pepper to your taste.

tortilla soup

Ingredients

  • 2 TB olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 bell pepper, diced
  • 1 jalapeno, diced
  • 6 0z mushrooms, diced
  • 1 medium sweet potato, diced
  • 15 oz can black beans
  • 32 oz can Dei Fratelli seasoned diced tomatoes
  • 4 cups vegetable broth (I use BTB- mushroom or vegetable)
  • 1 dried guajillo pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1.5 cups corn (I prefer fresh- 2 cobs should do, but canned works when it’s not in season)
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
  • Optional Garnish: tortilla chips, cheese (I love Queso Chihuahua or mexican Quesadilla cheese- check the fancy cheese section of your supermarket), sour cream, diced avocado

Directions

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add the garlic, onion, cumin, coriander, chili powder, and salt and saute for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
  2. Add the bell pepper, jalapeno (I recommend wearing gloves when handling the jalapeno), and mushrooms.  Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Add the sweet potato, black beans, tomatoes, and broth and stir to combine.
  4. Add the guajillo and bay leaf. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until the veggies are tender, about 20-30 minutes.
  5. Remove the guajillo and bay leaf. Add the corn, cilantro, and lime juice.
  6. Serve with cheese, sour cream, avocado, and tortilla chips. Oh, and cornbread. Gotta have cornbread.

Recipe: Vegetarian Potato Leek Soup

My own personal food pyramid would consist of soup, cheese, and chocolate. Imagine my horror when I first met Mr. Smarmy, and he declared that he didn’t like soup. HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE SOUP?!

I knew what I had to do. Through a series of mind control experiments, I have turned him into a monster whose insatiable hunger for soup is rivaled only by my own.

One of his favorites is potato leek soup – although, in fairness, it seems like he says whatever soup we are currently eating is his favorite. But! This is of particular importance because even after his initial concessions that Okay, he likes SOME soups, he was vehemently opposed to any sort of potato soup.

potato_leek_soup_recipe

I can’t blame him for changing his mind. This is a damn good soup. Velvety, creamy, leeky. If you’ve never had leeks, this is a perfect leek starter kit. They’re kind of onion-y, but it’s like they took all of the eye-burning meanness out of an onion and just left the tasty flavor.

The recipe says “vegetarian”. But of course, if you’re not a vegetarian, you can use chicken broth and throw in some bacon fat and even bacon itself. But having made this recipe before and after becoming a “mostly-vegetarian”, I can’t tell the difference. It’s just as good vegetated.Read more…

Recipe: Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips

Have you had Xochitl tortilla chips? They are evil. They ruined all other tortilla chips for me, as no other chip could ever hope to compare.

At least, I thought no other chip would ever compare. But then I made my own. And better yet, instead of frying them, I baked them.

And I am here to promise you that these chips are better than any other chip I’ve ever had, except maybe fresh chips in a good Mexican Restaurant.

Ingredients

  • oil of your choice, preferably in a spray can
  • corn tortillas
  • salt
  • other seasonings (optional)
    chili powder, taco seasoning, powdered cheese, herbs, lime juice, cilantro, cinnamon and sugar! etc. etc. etc.

 Read more…

Recipe: Homemade English Muffins

When I posted about making English muffins on Facebook, a lot of English friends were intrigued, since  it’s logical to assume that they wouldn’t call them English muffins in England. Apparently, our muffins (think blueberry or lemon poppyseed) have now taken over across the pond, so to distinguish, these are now known as “original muffins” in supermarkets in the UK.

Now you know!

Moving on. Why am I making English muffins?, you might ask.  But I’d ask, “WHY NOT?!”

Baked goods are always better fresh, so it’s reasonable to expect that homemade English muffins would kick the arse (hehe) of a store bought one. They do.

And second, the “fancier” baked goods are really kind of expensive – and by fancy I mean anything other than that sliced squishy stuff they call “bread”, which bears no resemblance to the fresh baked variety, and thus isn’t really comparable. So we’re getting gourmet baked goods at a fraction of the cost of store bought? SIGN ME UP.

(In case you’re wondering, the GOOD store bought English muffin go for about $3 for SIX. Holy mother of rip-offs! It might have cost me $3 in ingredients to make THIRTY EIGHT homemade muffins. Booyah!)

Read more…