Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

While winter seems never ending at least we can all feel ok about never leaving our houses. That means Netflix, homemade cookies, and so much soup. Also puppy snuggles. Rex is the best foot warmer. I've made tortilla soup twice so far and everyone has loved it. I went on a wild search for hominy and found 2 types at Wegman's- white and golden. I went with golden for the recipe. I also bought some dried hominy which I cooked with dried black beans for the second time I made tortilla soup. I found this recipe on Cookie+Kate!

• 1 dried ancho pepper, chopped with seeds if you want more spice
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeño (if you want even more spice)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked chili powder
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 14-ounce can hominy, rinsed
• 14-ounce can black beans, rinsed

In some ghee or coconut oil, sauté the onion for about 5 minutes. Add pepper and cook for a couple more minutes. Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Then throw in the spices including the ancho pepper for a couple seconds. Add the broth, tomatoes, and paste. Bring mixture up to a boil and simmer for 1/2 an hour. Add in the beans and hominy. Simmer for 15 more minutes on low heat. Then if you can wait, let sit overnight for the flavors to meld and serve hot the next day! 

Toppings:

Cheddar cheese

Cilantro

Avocado

Tortilla chips (obvii)

Creamy Cheesy Enchiladas

This is an enchilada for when what you really want is 80+% nice creamy cheese sauce, 20-% enchilada. You could of course adapt this to have a more hearty filling (that's what Michelle would do - there would probably be more vegetables involved and it would be awesome), but Linda and I wanted something warm and cheesy. 

My mom, her best friend and her friend's daughter, whom we've known for about 20 years, came over for dinner and to check out our apartment, which is still kind of new to us since we moved in mid-July. I got home from work at about 5:15 and they were coming to eat at 6:30, so I wanted to make a dinner without much prep. Butternut squash soup, rice and these enchiladas soup fit the bill.

For more traditional-ish or different enchiladas, try:

Vegetarian Enchiladas with Mole Sauce
Enchiladas with Mango Sauce
Pumpkin Enchiladas with Green Tomato Sauce
Pumpkin Enchiladas

And for normal enchiladas, make your own enchilada sauce.


Creamy Cheesy Enchiladas
Adapted from the Pioneer Woman

2-1/2 cups Cooked, Shredded Chicken

2 cups chicken broth

3 Tablespoons canola oil

12 whole corn tortillas

1 whole onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, diced

3 whole 4 oz cans whole green chilies, diced (I didn't include these this time - apparently canned chilies are a seasonal food at TJ's - have to make way for all the pumpkin..)

1 whole jalapeno, seeded and finely diced (Didn't include this either because my mom is very sensitive to spice - the rest of use just used hot sauce)

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour (I used gluten free flour for Linda and it worked fine)

1 cup sour cream

2-1/2 cups monterey jack cheese, grated

salt and pepper, to taste

hot sauce (optional)
cilantro, chopped