Tortilla Soup (Lightened Up)

With the barbecue pot roast and this soup, it has been a week for comfort food! Both Mr. Max and I have felt a little puny with fall allergies on top of being generally run down from a very hectic September. Experiencing a bit of real fall weather, we decided to make a big batch of our favorite soup for the week. Giada's Tortilla Soup has been our go-to the past few years, it is so easy to make and truly delicious, but this time I decided to change it up a bit.

I wanted to turn up the heat a bit to help clear some serious sniffles so cayenne pepper was included, I added black beans for additional protein, and used a low-sodium vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. 

Nutritional facts can be found here, calculated through SparkRecipes.com; one serving of soup is 3 WW points. 

Grocery List:
Recipe yields 7-8 servings

• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 12 oz. can of roasted tomatoes, diced
• 1 tbsp. canola oil
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 poblano pepper, minced
• 1 tsp. cayenne
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 12 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups rotisserie chicken, shredded
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 1 avocado, cubed
• Cheese for garnish

To start, combine the vegetable broth, diced tomatoes and peppers in a pot on medium-high heat. Add the cayenne, chili powder and oregano.

 

Take an immersion blender, or dump contents of pot into a blender, and blend the diced tomatoes and peppers until smooth and creamy. In a different pot, begin to saute the onions in canola oil over medium heat. Add more cayenne pepper and cumin. After cooking for about 10 minutes, add the garlic until fragrant.

 

Pour the soup mix into the pot with the onions, then add the black beans, shredded chicken and cilantro. Let simmer for about 30 minutes to allow the flavors to conjure, or until you are ready to serve.

 

Add the avocado to each individual bowl, garnish cheese and additional cilantro then ladel and enjoy!

Tastefully yours,

Black Bean Soup

I decided to add a new soup to the recipe-repertoire this week. I came across a Black Bean Soup on Allrecipes.com which provided a perfect base to start with. This soup took all of 20 minutes to make, ideal for a Monday evening, and was plenty filling for both my hunger needs and those of Max Man. I added additional spices including cayenne, chili powder and some garlic powder. Rather than salsa, I grabbed a can of fire roasted tomatoes and green chiles, I also cut back on the sour cream and vegetable stock use to decrease the sodium and fat content. Enjoy this delicious and nutritious dish!

Click here for my recipe's nutritional facts calculated at SparkRecipes.com.

Grocery List:

• 2 cans organic black beans, rinsed and drained
• 10 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes and green chiles (love the fire roasted, adds a smokey taste!)
• 1 cup low-sodium vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp. fat free sour cream
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• Garlic powder to taste
• Cayenne to taste
• Shredded cheese and green onion for garnish

So, my camera battery was flashing at me to say - you've nearly drained me and I'm feeling temperamental. Therefore, I too feeling temperamental, shot the bare minimum and they aren't pretty. The reason I do step-by step was because when I was first starting out, I always second guessed myself. I would go through the process and feel like I am doing something way wrong... is it supposed to look like that? So, I will include these uglies because yes, it does look like this and still turns out well, you are not the only one. This will be as simple as it gets with just 3 steps. Ready?

1) Heat a pot and dump the beans, can of tomatoes, and vegetable stock. Add the cumin, chili powder, garlic powder and let simmer for 5 minutes to blend the flavors together. Add and blend in the sour cream.

2) If you have an immersion blender, leave ingredients in the pot. Otherwise, transfer contents into a blender or food processor. This next part is up to your soup consistency preferences. I like a decent puree but not a full one, leaving some black beans in their natural form rather than totally pulverized. And blend....

 

3) Once you've reached your desired consistency you can allow to simmer or serve. Taste test, make sure you don't want to add more to it. Ladle into bowls, garnish with chopped green onions, a tsp. of shredded cheese and like Mr. Max did, another dollop of sour cream. Last but not least... go enjoy it!

Tastefully yours, 
 

Favorite Soups

The cold air is finally settling in around these parts. Some of you may be used to or already sick of winter weather by now, but where I'm sitting, it's just beginning. Born and raised in Dallas, I've never been much of a cold weather person. It's fun on days 1 and 2, then I tolerate it for about another 3 days before I grow annoyed of it. If there is rain in there that is not snow, I then hate the cold weather. Right now, I'm going to enjoy it with some cold weather favorites, snuggled up in blankets and have fires in my fireplace. Here are a few delicious and nutritious, go-to soup recipes for cold weather days, tried and true from me to you!

 

Who doesn't love a good Tomato Basil Soup? This recipe keeps it simple with a grocery list that allows you to stay in the 10 and under lane.

 

With the cold can come some sniffles. Clear that nose and warm right up with this 

Creamy Southwest Chicken Soup. To cut down on the prep time, both Whole Foods and 

Central Market have a section of pre-chopped produce. You can get your peppers and 

onions taken care of there to save you some time.

 

A Giada DiLaurentiis classic, this is still my all-time favorite Tortilla Soup!

Tastefully Yours,

(Not So) French Onion Soup

 

Last January, Mr. Max and I experimented with our first French Onion Soup recipe. This was my first experience to caramelize onions for a prolonged period, not just quickly for say, fajitas. I felt as though I let my impatient nature get the best of me, not allowing the onions to reach prime sweet form by caramelizing long enough. Over the past few months, French Onion Soup has become a regular pre-meal delight when we've dined out at places like Nosh, Morton's and the Warwick Hotel's Landmark restaurant.

Tonight, we decided to stir up some taste, making a not-so-French-onion-soup. Looking at my last recipe, I knew a few things I wanted to change. I added brown sugar, only used 2 vidalia onions and nixed the red onion. I also used less white wine allowing it to evaporate longer creating more of a glaze, along with less beef stock, and replaced the Swiss with Gruyere cheese. Then came two secret ingredients: Dijon mustard and soy sauce. Say what?

As I taste-tested the broth, the sweetness was there, but I felt something was missing. The beef broth slightly dilutes the flavor once stirred in, adding more of a watery taste. I needed that tang that makes it impossible to resist going back for another bite. I was already using the Dijon mustard for a chicken recipe so I tried that first, then added sea salt and garlic powder. That made an impact but it wasn't there yet. Staring at my fridge, I needed a punch of tang. I was out of balsamic so I grabbed the soy adding just enough to make a statement. Took a sip and it was just right! When it came time to spoon and sip, I waited for Mr. Max's reaction which was a big caveman nod and an MMMM. Mission accomplished.

Grocery List:
For 2 hearty servings

• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 sweet yellow onions, sliced into thin 1/8" rings
• 1/4 cup white wine (I used chardonnay)
• 3 cups beef broth
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme
• 4 tsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 3 tsp. soy sauce (I used Tamari)
• Garlic Powder to taste (start with 1/2 tsp. and sprinkle away from there)
• Sea Salt to taste
• 4 slices from Baguette
• Gruyere cheese, sliced thin

First thing is first: allot yourself time for the pursuit of the perfect onions. I would recommend 90 minutes for the caramelization process, and then the rest flows quickly after that. To begin, add your butter and onions to a dutch oven over low-medium heat (dial set at 3 or 4).

Cover for about 10 minutes until butter is melted and the onions begin to soften. Uncover and add 2 tsp. of the brown sugar, stir in and cover. Set the timer for 45 minutes and then go do something else. Get on Pinterest, clean your house, catch up on the DVR, knit a scarf... just walk away. Every now and then, when you need a water refill or something, you may want to peek in and give it a quick stir to loosen up onions from sticking to the bottom, or any browned bits to keep from burning.

When the timer goes off, uncover, add the remaining 2 tsp. of brown sugar and now the wine, stir and lower the heat to a 2 or 3 on the dial. The onions will already look golden, there will be browned areas in the pan, stir it around and set that timer for another 35 minutes. Now we allow the wine to evaporate and kinda glaze the onions a bit, mixing with the butter and brown sugar.

 

When the timer goes off, pull out a string and taste - see how good that is! Now, we add the beef broth, thyme, Dijon and soy sauce, then season with garlic powder and salt to taste. Bring this to a boil, uncovered, a cook for about 5 minutes.

While that cooks, slice up your Gruyere and baguette. Set the oven to broil and toast the baguette slices for about 2 minutes.

Ladle your soup into oven-safe, high heat tolerant bowls.

Top with baguettes (I used 2 in each bowl to span the width of the soup bowls), and top with cheese. I thought I had a better cheese slicer, but alas, it did not give me a beautiful large slice of cheese as I had wanted. Therefore, we had to make-do with several smaller slices to cover the top.

Place in the oven a top a cooking sheet and broil for another 2 minutes until the cheese is a melty, bubbling, browned layer.

Remove from oven, let cool - bowls will be HOT. Set on a hot pad to be nice to your table surface, top with any additional thyme for garnish and enjoy!

Tastefully yours,

Turkey Chili Taco Soup

I know what you are thinking: um, what? As I typed the title of this, that is all I could think, so again, I like to put myself in your thoughts.

I begin tonight's recipe with a little story for you folks. I only like turkey in my sandwich and on Thanksgiving. However, I continue to see more and more recipes using turkey instead of chicken or beef. I was almost turned away from my skinny meatloaf post because it was 1/2 turkey but I tried it anyway and it was awesome. So, last week I went to My Fit Foods to pick up a donation of coupons and gift certificate to an auction I'm coordinating. As I waited while they printed the certificate and bundled 200 coupons, the nice salesman asked me if I would like to try something on the house. I asked him what their best-seller was and he said their Killuh Chili. I was skeptical, this was a dude talking and chili sounded very much like "dude food" but then this girl came in that I recognized from yoga, which happened to be right down the street. She ordered it so that gave it "chick cred". I told him I'd try it, though the meat used was ground turkey. Turned out, I loved it. This experience gave me a whole new appreciation for turkey.

I recently came across this recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipes blog and built it into my meal planning for the week now that I am accepting turkey as delicious. This is my adaptation of her recipe and it was quite enjoyable. I have enough left over to last Mr. Max and I through the week for lunch.

A bowl of this soup contains 198 calories, 1.4g fat, 29.7 carbs, 7g fiber and 19.5g protein.

Grocery List:

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 lb. lean ground turkey
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 10 oz. can of fire roasted tomatoes and chipotle chiles (or green chiles)
• 10 oz. bag of frozen corn
• 15 oz. can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 8 oz. can of tomato paste
• 16 oz. fat free refried beans 
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 2 - 2 1/2 cups fat free low-chicken broth

I started by browning my turkey in a skillet with just a little olive oil.Use your spatula to separate it out into small chunks.

As I let my turkey brown, I shot the rest of the ingredients, like I used to!

Next, add your chopped onion and bell pepper - cook over medium heat until softened.

I decided to do this next part in my crock pot because I had a post-work meeting. You can crock it my way or stove it Gina's way for a quicker result. If going the crock route, pour the tomatoes, corn, kidney beans, tomato sauce, refried beans, and taco seasoning into the pot.

Now stir it together.

What is that plastic in the picture above?? I would like to take a moment for a little unpaid product placement. Word of mouth, these things are a cleaning miracle. I once threw a queso'd crock pot away after a party because I'd rather buy a new one than clean it. True story of the 23-year old me. If I had these, that would never have been an issue...

Once the veggies are soft, add the skillet contents and combine well. At this point it is up to you how you want the consistency of your "soup" to be. I added 2 cups of chicken broth and after stirring it up, I poured a little more, maybe 1/4 cup.

 

I left for an hour 1/2 and came back to a perfect consistency, not too thin but not too thick.

Top with cheese and serve!

Fire Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

This is a delicious take on tomato basil soup from the Novice Chef. I had left over soup for a week that heated up perfectly for lunch. I was planning to do the grilled mozzarella and proscuitto sandwich with this but *made a big salad instead because it had been a long day. *made = salad buffet at Whole Foods, quick and easy.

Grocery List:

• Olive oil
  
• 3 cans of Fire Roasted Tomatoes
• 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup Half & Half
• 1 tbsp. red pepper flakes
• 20 fresh basil leaves, chiffonaded
  

In a large pot or dutch oven, heat about two pours of olive oil and add your onions. Once translucent, add five of the six chopped cloves of garlic and stir well until combined.


Now add the cans of fire roasted tomatoes, cooking over medium heat and stirring well, then cover for about 15 minutes.


While it simmers for 15, chiffonade your basil like so:
Stack a few leaves...


Roll up tight...


Slice along the horizontal "axis", if you will, to create strips...


Uncover and add the chicken broth followed by the half & half, let simmer and thicken, while it reduces. I like my soup a little creamier so I added a tiny bit more.


Now, add the last clove of chopped garlic, fresh basil (about 15 of the chiffonaded leaves, save the rest for garnish), salt and pepper. I also added a few shakes of some dried parsley and oregano that I had, just because. Finally, add the red pepper flakes.


If you have an immersion blender, now would be the time to use it - if not, a blender would work as well. If using the hand blender, this process will take about 8-10 minutes. Move it around the pot to help mix everything together and puree those tomato chunks. Once you have met your desired consistency, stop. taste. and??


If you've reached your perfect end product, ladle into bowls, garnish with some leftover basil strips and enjoy!

French Onion Soup

Parlez vous francais? Bon moi non plus.

Ahh it's French Bistro night in my kitchen! It has been a very cold week around here so I decided to try this french onion soup recipe that I came across in my Cooking Light Recipe Makeovers magazine. My first encounter with French onion soup was on a trip to Milwaukee with Mr. Max. His family took us to brunch at a lovely restaurant overlooking Lake Michigan. He had ordered the soup as one of his starters, I a salad, but that soup smelled amazing. Being the fine gentleman that he is, he offered to let me try some.

It was amazing, I couldn't believe I hadn't tried french onion soup before! I remember saying that I needed to start getting that instead of the incredibly high in everything-under-the-sun tomato basil soup at La Madeleine. Well, that was over a year ago and I still haven't had it again to this day. That all changes tonight, my friends.

Reading about this soup, I'll share insight that I came across - the biggest factor in this soup is caramelizing the onions to bring out the natural sugars enhancing the onion flavor and sweetness. So don't rush the cooking process, the key to their flavor is low and slow. This is perfect for a night that you have some time on your hands or can leave and come back. The total cook time is about 2 hours for this soup - important to know going in.

One thing I would consider doing differently is to use a sweet red wine rather than a dry white - I feel like it could do leaps and bounds for the flavor, further extracting the sweet onion and hearty stock.

This soup is 290 calories, 9.6g fat, 16.8 g protein, 33.4g carbs, 3.1g fiber, 317mg calcium.

Grocery List:

• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 4 cups thinly vertically sliced sweet onion
• 4 cups thinly vertically sliced red onion
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 6 cups less-sodium beef broth
• 1/4 tsp. fresh thyme
• 4-5 slices french bread
• 4 slices reduced fat Swiss cheese

To slice my onions thin and perfect, I picked up a Mandoline at World Market - I love this thing!

Perfectly thin onion rings!

Heat the oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onions to the pan and saute for about 5 minutes, until tender. Stir in sugar, pepper and salt. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.


Increase the heat to medium-high and saute 5 minutes or until golden brown. Stir in wine and cook for about 1 minute. Add the broth and thyme, then bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for two hours.


When you are almost ready to serve, preheat the broiler. Please bread on a baking sheet and broil for 1 minutes on either side.


Place the oven safe bowls on a cooking sheet and ladle soup into each bowl. Top with bread, followed by the cheese then boil for 3 minutes, or until cheese is brown.


Carefully remove the soup from the oven and let cool then serve.