So I was messing around cooking tonight, I was just going to make burritos, but then I got into it and came up with something new. I call it Mexican Fiesta soup & I will now share the recipe with you to enrich your life. :)
Mexican Fiesta soup (only fiesta because it sounds cooler than Mexican tomato/bean soup)
1 can black beans, drained
1 can refried beans
half a bottle of Hot & Spicy V8 (or about 4 individual sized bottles)
Put all ingredients in a pan, stir together & heat on medium or so until heated through. Don't let it boil just because that will make a terrible mess, but a nice simmer is good. Seeing as I don't measure things, the V8 is just a guess, but put enough in it to taste the tomato. If you have spices handy, you should probably add some chili powder if you like that sort of thing & I don't know anyone who reads this that doesn't. You could also add Tabasco sauce or taco seasoning, whatever you want to enhance the flavor. Cumin would also be an excellent addition. As previously mentioned, I lack spices right now, so I didn't add any & it tastes fine without them, but if I had them I would have added them, so do what you will. Just don't add anything like teriyaki sauce as this is not gross fiesta soup.
Anyway, once the soup is done, put some in a bowl, top with shredded cheddar or shredded pepper jack would work nicely. Garnish with tortilla strips. Eat and pretend that it's not depressing just cooking for yourself. No, actually I did have a pretty good night cooking something and even plating it up nicely.
To make tortilla strips:
Preheat oven to 350
Cut a whole wheat tortilla into 3/4" strips
Cut strips in half
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray
Arrange tortilla strips on baking sheet
Spray strips lightly with more cooking spray
Lightly salt
Bake until crisp, this will be when they start to brown lightly and the edges start to curl, takes around 20 minutes
Or if you're like me & get bored waiting, bake for about 10 minutes & then turn on the broiler to expedite the process. Just be sure to watch them closely as broiling can quickly turn to burning.
(Note: leave oven open a crack when broiling stuff.)
You can arrange about five of the strips standing up around the edge of the bowl & it makes it kind of look like a star. It looks cool. You can just eat the remainder of the strips as they are lovely baked tortilla chips that taste good or you can dip them in the soup, whatever you want really.
This tortilla baking also works really well for homemade nachos, only instead of cutting tortillas in strips, cut like a pie. Pizza cutters work well for cutting tortillas either for strips or wedges. For nachos, once the wedges are crispy, top with meat or beans, whatever your prefer, cheese and put back in the oven until the cheese is melted to your liking. Broiling works well for melting cheese & making it all bubbly if you go for that. I do. Then you can serve with your favorite toppings. Just a bit of taco sauce is great, you don't have to do too much. Or you can, it's up to you.
And now the cooking show part of the evening will conclude, have a good one. :)
Mexican Fiesta soup (only fiesta because it sounds cooler than Mexican tomato/bean soup)
1 can black beans, drained
1 can refried beans
half a bottle of Hot & Spicy V8 (or about 4 individual sized bottles)
Put all ingredients in a pan, stir together & heat on medium or so until heated through. Don't let it boil just because that will make a terrible mess, but a nice simmer is good. Seeing as I don't measure things, the V8 is just a guess, but put enough in it to taste the tomato. If you have spices handy, you should probably add some chili powder if you like that sort of thing & I don't know anyone who reads this that doesn't. You could also add Tabasco sauce or taco seasoning, whatever you want to enhance the flavor. Cumin would also be an excellent addition. As previously mentioned, I lack spices right now, so I didn't add any & it tastes fine without them, but if I had them I would have added them, so do what you will. Just don't add anything like teriyaki sauce as this is not gross fiesta soup.
Anyway, once the soup is done, put some in a bowl, top with shredded cheddar or shredded pepper jack would work nicely. Garnish with tortilla strips. Eat and pretend that it's not depressing just cooking for yourself. No, actually I did have a pretty good night cooking something and even plating it up nicely.
To make tortilla strips:
Preheat oven to 350
Cut a whole wheat tortilla into 3/4" strips
Cut strips in half
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray
Arrange tortilla strips on baking sheet
Spray strips lightly with more cooking spray
Lightly salt
Bake until crisp, this will be when they start to brown lightly and the edges start to curl, takes around 20 minutes
Or if you're like me & get bored waiting, bake for about 10 minutes & then turn on the broiler to expedite the process. Just be sure to watch them closely as broiling can quickly turn to burning.
(Note: leave oven open a crack when broiling stuff.)
You can arrange about five of the strips standing up around the edge of the bowl & it makes it kind of look like a star. It looks cool. You can just eat the remainder of the strips as they are lovely baked tortilla chips that taste good or you can dip them in the soup, whatever you want really.
This tortilla baking also works really well for homemade nachos, only instead of cutting tortillas in strips, cut like a pie. Pizza cutters work well for cutting tortillas either for strips or wedges. For nachos, once the wedges are crispy, top with meat or beans, whatever your prefer, cheese and put back in the oven until the cheese is melted to your liking. Broiling works well for melting cheese & making it all bubbly if you go for that. I do. Then you can serve with your favorite toppings. Just a bit of taco sauce is great, you don't have to do too much. Or you can, it's up to you.
And now the cooking show part of the evening will conclude, have a good one. :)
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Oh, and no, you don't know me. But I love Shauna, too, so you and I are like the best of friends!