Tortilla Soup

Look at me big! I'm a pretty picture :)

Mmm, tortilla taco-y soup. I have no idea what to call this kind of soup. It doesn't have tortillas in it... so is it still tortilla soup?

Whatever it's called, it's delicious. I made it on Saturday night--and I just have to say, I chose all the ingredients at the store BEFORE looking at a recipe, and I chose correctly! Not sure about you guys, but every time I try to do that I always end up missing something. Go me :)

I added up all the calories in this soup, and it's ridiculously low. If you have a medium sized bowl, it's about 400 calories with chips and no sour cream.

It turned out to be a little bit taco soup, a little bit chili, a little bit tortilla soup. Kinda just a Mexican-y soup. The chipotles really make it what it is though--they have a very distinct spice and flavor. I'd never cooked with them before, but I'm definitely going to again! You can find them in little cans on the Mexican aisle at the grocery store, and you'll have lots of leftovers.

Speaking of leftovers, this fed us dinner plus lunch for 2 days! Convenient? Uh, yeah.

Here's my version; it's based on Rachel Ray's Tortilla Soup only it has all stuff I wanted.

stuff you'll need:
1 pound ground beef
1 yellow pepper
1 medium white onion, diced
crushed garlic, to taste (1 tablespoon ish/ 3 cloves)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground rep pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
4 cups beef broth
1 14 ounce can black beans, rinsed
2-3 tablespoons corn starch
1-2 cups frozen sweet corn
1/2 to 1 cup chopped cilantro

optional toppings:
shredded pepperjack cheese
fritos or tortilla chips
sour cream

here's how you do it:
First, you halve and de-seed the pepper, and stick it either on a grill pan over medium high heat for 10 minutes, or in the oven to roast for a few minutes. This grills the outside and sweetens it. If you don't feel like doing this, just add the chopped pepper in with the onion when its turn comes; it will be tastier if you grill it though.

In a large pot over medium high heat, brown the beef with salt and pepper. Add chopped onion and garlic while it's browning. If your meat is very lean, you may need to add a bit of oil to saute the onion. Add seasonings and chipotle peppers. Continue to cook for a minute or two.

Lower the heat to medium, add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, black beans, and broth. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat to allow a simmer.

Using a ladle, spoon out about 1/2 cup of liquid from the pot. In a small bowl, stir the liquid in with 2-3 tablespoons cornstarch until it's dissolved. Add it to the simmering pot. You may want to start with a little corn starch, cook the soup for a few minutes, then repeat the process until the soup is the thickness you're looking for.

Stir in corn, cilantro, and chopped pepper. Cook until corn is heated through, about 5 minutes. Remember to taste test to see if it needs more seasonings.

Top with cheese, serve with Fritos or tortilla chips, and/or sour cream, as you like.