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.

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.

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.

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

Wow Beans (Refried Pinto Beans)

Refried beans are a pretty pedestrian thing to make. I make my own for bean burritos to keep in the freezer. I've been reading a lot about umami, known as the fifth taste. The other four are sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. Umami imparts a more "delicious" and "savory" taste to food. There are certain ingredients you can add to a recipe to add to the "umami." I decided to apply those principals to my refried beans. Really, the beans I usually make are rather bland even with the spices and salsa I add. Wow! What a difference a bit of tamari and umeboshi vinegar made to my beans. I sat down and ate a small bowl, scooping the beans with some baked tortillas. No salsa, no nothing. It was really that good! I also like to add kombu to the beans while I cook them. It's said to reduce the "flatulence" factor and it does have some nutritional value. Something to keep in mind if beans make you toot!

Ingredients
1 cups dry pinto beans, picked over and soaked overnight
1 piece of kombu
1 TB olive oil
1/4 cup red onion, sliced and chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
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3/4 tsp cumin
1/2 sp garlic powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
3/4 tsp Summit Spice Susitna Chili Blend or your favorite chili powder blend
1/2 tsp cilantro, dried
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1/4 cup good beer, I used Sleigher Double Alt Ale, a rich dark beer
1 TB tamari* (Japanese soy sauce)
1 TB umeboshi plum vinegar*
1/2 tsp salt, to taste

Directions
Drain and rinse beans, place in pot and cover with water. Add kombu and cook for 1-2 hours until beans are well done. Drain cooking water and reserve a bit if you prefer not to use beer. In medium size saucepan, heat about 1 TB olive oil and saute onions for several minutes. Add garlic and saute a bit more until everything starts to get a bit brown around the edges. Add dry spices and saute for a minute. Deglaze pan with beer or reserved cooking water. Add the drained beans. Mash the beans and cook down a bit. Add tamari, vinegar, and salt. Taste and adjust salt if necessary.

*The tamari and umeboshi vinegar contribute to umami flavors so try not to omit.

Spicy Vegan Chili with pintos and veggies

This chili has no tofu or TVP. What there IS, is lots of spices and vegetables and a few beans. This is more spicy than “hot.” If you want to dial it down a bit, just use 1/2 of the fresh jalapeno and cut the chili powder quantity in half.

Ingredients
1 TB olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2-3 carrots, sliced
1 fresh jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
3 large mushrooms, chopped
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1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 TB chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
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1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 14 oz can of pinto beans
2 TB tomato paste

Directions
Heat olive oil in large pot. Add onion and saute a couple minutes, add celery, carrots, minced garlic and saute until onions are getting translucent. Add jalapeno, bell pepper and mushrooms and cook until mushrooms start to extrude moisture. Add spices and stir for a minute or two. Add rest of ingredients and cook until vegetables are just al dente.

Garnish with vegan sour cream, shredded cheese or avocado.

Ezekiel Panini-Style Breakfast Quesadilla

This recipe was inspired by the Breakfast Burrito in "The Urban Vegan" by Dynise Balcavage - which is a wonderful cookbook BTW! This is not an actual burrito but a tortilla with filling, folded over and grilled panini-style.

Ingredients
1 TB olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
large garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
8-12 oz firm tofu, drained and chopped in 1/4 inch cubes
1-1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 can organic pinto beans, drained and rinsed
salt & pepper to taste

Ezekiel New Mexico Style Sprouted Grain tortillas
vegan cheese, if desired
salsa
chopped fresh bell peppers
spinach
chopped jalapeños

Directions
Saute onion and garlic in olive oil for a couple of minutes, add red pepper and cook a bit longer. Add tofu, saute a couple of minutes. Add spices and cook another minute or so. Add pinto beans and cook till warmed through. At this point you can refrigerate and save for later.

To Assemble
Spray or lightly brush one side of tortilla with olive oil. This will give it a nice crisp crust. I like to place it oil side down on a plate or piece of wax paper while assembling. On one half of the tortilla, add cheese, chopped bell peppers, spinach, jalapenos and bean-tofu mixture. Try not to get too carried away, you need about 1/2 inch around the edges while it cooks. Fold over and place in panini grill, close and grill till nice and crispy. After it's cooked, I like to put it on a plate, open it back up and add salsa, more fresh spinach and any other goodies you may have (avocados, etc.).

Note: you can use any kind of tortilla but I really like the 9" Ezekiel sprouted grain; very tasty and no added oils, GMOs, etc.