| Tortilla Soup Recipe
This is for people who like to cook and like spicy foods.
Tortillas
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 (10-inch) fat-free flour tortillas
Soup
1 tablespoon butter
1 med. onion, divided into quarters
1 chipotle pepper (opt. for more spice; make sure you seed pepper)
1 to 2 tbsp of adobe sauce (from chipotle pepper)
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh garlic
1-1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 (14-1/2 oz.) cans chicken broth or vegetable broth or homemade
Five fresh tomatoes
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 cup lowfat Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
fresh ground pepper, three twists
1. Heat oven to broil. Core tomatoes and cut in half. Place face down in glass baking dish along with 1/4 section of onion. Broil until tomatoes are blackening. Remove from oven to cool slightly.
2. Reduce oven heat to 375, setting bake. Brush 1 tablespoon melted butter on both sides of each tortilla. Cut tortillas into 2-1/2 x 1/4-inch strips. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until light golden brown.
3. Meanwhile, in medium saucepan melt 1 tablespoon butter until sizzling; dice and add remaining onion, chipotle pepper (if using), garlic and cumin. Cook over medium-high heat until onion is softened (3 to 4 minutes). Add broth, tomatoes, adobe, and pepper. Continue cooking until mixture just comes to a boil (4 to 6 minutes).
4. While soup is coming to a boil, put roasted tomatoes, onion and any juice in glass pan in blender and puree. Add to soup.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add large handful baked tortilla strips. Cover; cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Stir in lime juice.
6. Place soup in blender or food processor. Blend on low until smooth (30 to 60 seconds). (May have to do this in batches.)
7. To serve, top soup with remaining tortilla strips, shredded cheese and chopped cilantro.
**For the liquid only period (after clears), you can omit the tortilla strips on top and maybe the cheese, although the cheese just melts. The soup does have tiny tomatoe seeds that don't get blended very well. Not sure if that's ok on the liquid stage, although I ate this for three days. Blend the cilantro with the soup at the end.
**Should be okay for the mushy stage; the flour strips turn to mush in the soup.
**And for post-mushy, my doctor told me when eating soup, one has to consume liquids and solids separately, which is a bummer because this is really good with little pieces of chicken and some fried strips of corn tortilla, lightly salted. You could consider those options if you are making this for guests.
I actually drink this soup. :) It's very lowfat and delicious.
__________________
Surgery Nov. 23, 2004
Dr. Bertha, Morristown NJ
5'7" - 35 YOA
276/262/140-145 (dream goal)
-14 pounds as of 2 weeks post-op
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