I want to begin this post by stressing the importance of bike safety. People who ride bikes; wear a helmet, wear enough clothes to cover your body, pay attention, look both ways, don’t be bike ninja...use lights at night and when the weather is shit, try not to listen to your ipods on full blast, and watch for others on the road. Proper bike safety is how we stay alive on a bicycle...that is why bike safety is so important. Though as I unfortunately found out recently, no matter how closely you follow the rules of the road, you sometimes get hit by cars who cant see you because the suns in their eyes. Yeah, I got hit. A few scrapes, bruises, and a foot I couldn’t put any weight on for a week, but really not as bad as it could have been. I think my mountain biking instincts kicked in and once the car hit my bike, I launched myself away from the bike. Good on you brain! I also was fortunate that the people who hit me were actually decent human beings and helped me after the accident. Please people, if you hit someone; stop and help them, they need it. I also want to say that even though I was pretty shaken up after my crazy adrenaline rush wore off and pain kicked in, I still wanted to ride my bike. I missed it sitting out there all alone on my porch while I was resting up. Getting hit was shocking but it wont keep me away, well at least after this time anyways.
So what do you do when you are sitting on your ass for a week waiting for a bruise to heal? Well, you watch a lot of good TVDs and read. But what do you eat? Your cat can’t make you much for dinner and you don’t want to eat a bunch of crap thats going to make you all flabby since you’re just sitting. I figured I needed to make something that would last me a few days and wouldn’t take much effort. Hello Crock Pot soups! Since its late-summer and vegetables are just amazing right now I decided on my old favorite...Tortilla Soup. This soup is great because you can make it in a crock pot or just on the stove and know that it will keep for a week in your fridge. Also what is great about it, is you have a lot of flexibility with the toppings for your soup. On its own the soup is great, thick with black beans and a spicy brothy goodness. Then with toppings like homemade tortilla chips (don’t worry, recipe below) and a mix of fresh veggies, its transformed into a wholesomely filling, yummy meal.
FYI, I totally made this soup with my bum foot up on the counter the whole time I was chopping and stirring, haha.
Tortilla Soup
- 8ish cups chicken broth (think 2 32oz cartons and maybe a cup or two extra)
- 1 bag frozen bell pepper strips (or two fresh large bell peppers, any color, cut into thin short strips)
- 1 medium onion, chopped into small pieces
- 1 Tbsp chili flakes
- 1 to 2 jalapenos, sliced (if you like it hot; leave the seeds and white membrane, if not; clean out those guys as much as you can)
- 1 can whole black beans with liquid
- 1 can refried black beans
- 1 pound’s worth of chicken (Since I was going for less labor, I just used the meat from a rotisserie chicken and tossed it in the end, but you can definitely use raw chicken just make sure to thoroughly cook it in the broth, and chop it up before serving.)
Garnish
Really you can put whatever you like in this soup. I usually just chop up all of my veggies and grate all of my cheese and store it in tupperware, then its ready to go.
- 2 to 3 red, green, yellow, purple or orange bell peppers, chopped
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- 1 bunch green onions, sliced
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped
- 2 ears of fresh corn, kernels shaved off
- about 1/2 an avocado per serving of soup, diced. (I love finding the mini avos for this recipe, they are the perfect amount for one serving and you don’t have to deal with issue of avo-oxidation for an uneaten half, oh you evil blackness you.)
- 1 bunch cilantro, stems removed and lightly chopped
- cheese; shredded or crumbled (Monterey Jack works the best here but so does Pepper Jack, queso fresco, queso seco enchilado, or feta in a pinch)
- lime juice, to taste
- hot sauce, to taste
- Tortilla chips, crumbled
How
1.) -If using pre-cooked chicken with my less-labor method: add chicken broth, pepper strips, onion, chili flakes, jalapenos, and both cans of beans to crock pot. Cook for about 2 to 3 hours on high, and 4ish hours for low.
-If using frozen chicken: set crock pot to low, place everything but the beans and cook for 6 to 8 hours. During the last 2 hours, add in the beans. Remove chicken when done and chop into smaller pieces.
-If using fresh chicken: set crock pot to low, place everything but the beans and cook for about 5 to 6 hours. During the last 2 hours, add in the beans. Remove chicken when done and chop into smaller pieces.
2.) Do something while you wait. Maybe jazzercise, or not.
3.) Grab a big bowl and follow the soup assembly order: chicken, cheese, soup (so it gets the melting going), tortilla chips, veggies, and lime/hot sauces.
4.) Ole!
Substitutions: You can easily make this soup without chicken or dairy by simply leaving them out. Just pick your broth...veggie, beef, pork, or seafood and add matching meats or veggies. Also serranos work great in place of jalapenos.
Years ago when I originally made this soup I used store bought chips and they worked fine, but I figured why not make my own. The result was a chip that stayed crunchier longer in liquid since they are thicker and also gave a boost of flavor to the soup. They also are great as chips and hold onto bean dips like a pro, no breakage here.
Tortilla Chips
- 1 package medium size yellow or white corn tortillas (should be about 20ish) cut into any shapes you like (I do in half first, then in fourths for nice strips.)
- 3 Tbsp lime juice
- 2 Tbsp hot sauce (go for a mexican variety like Tapatio or a jalapeno-style sauce)
- 3 Tbsp chili powder (if you can find it, use ancho chili powder; its bomb)
- 1 Tbsp garlic and/or onion powder
- 2 Tbsp salt (I love them salty. So if that seems like too much to you; cut it down.)
- 2 to 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
How
1.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2.) In a large bowl, mix together thoroughly the lime juice, hot sauce, chili powder, garlic/onion powder, salt and oil.
3.) Add in chip strips and toss with tongs or your hands until each strip is evenly coated with spice sauce.
4.) Bake for 15 minutes, then turn oven down to 350 degrees and cook for another 15ish minutes until they become hard and crunchy. (Watch them like a hawk towards the end there, burnt chips are lame.)
Personal note: These are amazing and when I make them I remember just how good they are even when they’re half cooked and floppy. So I eat a lot of them, half cooked. Therefore I end up making an extra batch of the chips for the week of soup. Please do try them half cooked. Ya know, for quality control purposes.
