Saturday, May 18, 2013

Spicy Tortilla Soup with Fresh Greens and Avocado

spicy tortilla soup with fresh greens and avocado
I made this batch with black beans and
cut my tortillas in strips before I baked them.

Seems kind of crazy to be making soup on May 17 but when I left work yesterday it was snowing, it snowed all night and it's snowing now. To me, that is soup weather.

My new kitchen love is Pacific Organic Soup Starters, specifically the Tortilla Soup Base. It is so incredibly tasty I do not add any spices – at all. I just saute some chopped onion and garlic, add the soup base, the rest of the ingredients and cook for 10 minutes or so. This stuff is amazing. I figured it had to be super high in fat and sodium so I finally looked on the nutrition panel and was shocked to see only 15 calories per serving and 290 mg of sodium. Oh, and ZERO fat. Another great feature is it's NOT in a can so you don't have to worry about BPA.

If you're unlucky enough to be where it's snowing make it today. If you're hot and sweaty just pick up a container of the soup base and save it for the next rainy day.

Pacific Organic Soup Starters Tortilla soup base
Here's my recipe but you can mix and match to your heart's content.

Ingredients
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 32 oz. container of Pacific Tortilla Soup Base
1 can or 1-1/2 cups cooked pinto or black beans
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
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fresh greens or spinach, roughly chopped
1/2 zucchini, chopped
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Toppings
chopped avocado
thinly sliced or crushed baked tortilla strips

Directions
Saute onion and garlic in large pot until limp. Add soup base, beans, and corn and bring to a boil and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Blend with an immersion blender to thicken a bit. Add chopped greens and zucchini and cook until greens are limp.

Serve in bowl topped with avocado and tortillas.

Tortilla soup with black beans

I made this batch with pinto beans and just crushed my baked tortillas on top. I didn't have any avocado but it was still super delicious.

snow season extended with snow on May 18, 2013 Anchorage, Alaska

This is the view from my porch on May 18, 2013 and the reason why I am making soup instead of ice cream.