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This veggie-forward soup warms without weighing you down

Recipe: Vegetarian tortilla soup adaptable to all tastes

This vegetarian tortilla soup can be spiced from mild to hot and garnished to taste.

This vegetarian tortilla soup can be spiced from mild to hot and garnished to taste. Kathy Morrison

Vegetables for soup and some uncooked tortillas
The tomatoes were frozen last summer.

It’s Jan. 1, and I’m just about done with elaborate, heavy food. But we still have a few months until spring, so I’m looking for dishes that are warming without being heavy.

Good news, tomato growers: I found the perfect recipe to use those frozen or preserved tomatoes that we labored over last summer. And what better time to use them: It’s six months yet until the next crop comes in. (Big sigh here.) Yes, tomatoes can be frozen – I usually toss them into plastic bags, half or quartered depending on size. And the skins come off beautifully when they’re defrosted.

I had a few mixed peppers that survived the pre-Christmas freeze, so I was able to use those, too. And some homegrown garlic, hooray!

I’d used up the most recent batch of homemade vegetable broth (recipe in link), so resorted to packaged low-sodium broth, which worked well. That’s the general guidance with this recipe, which is adapted from The New York Times: Use fresh or homegrown or homemade where you can, but the soup will be just fine if you shortcut the broth, the (optional) beans or the tortilla chips. Toss in some shredded rotisserie chicken or cooked chorizo if you’re not vegetarian and want to boost the protein. 

Note: I have a large spice collection, so I blended several for the chili powder, but if you have a commercial blend you like, go ahead and use that. (For the record, I used smoked paprika, sweet paprika, cayenne, ground aji amarillo, ground New Mexican green chili and a dash of Penzey’s medium-hot chili powder.) And those canned chipotles are crucial to flavor – they give the soup a delicious kick.

Spiced a little or lot, this soup will definitely warm you up.

Vegetarian tortilla soup

Serve 4 to 6

Ingredients:

Triangles of tortillas in a cast iron skillet
Baked tortilla chips -- no oil needed.

4 to 8 small corn tortillas, cut into triangles or strips (commercial chips are OK as an alternate but will be saltier)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 or more small to medium fresh chili pepper, such as jalapeño, seeds removed, minced 

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1-½ teaspoons or more chili powder or a mix of spices (see note above)

4 cups frozen or canned tomatoes, crushed (remove the skin if the tomatoes were frozen with it on)

2 chipotles in adobo, finely chopped

4 cups vegetable broth

One 15-ounce can of beans, such as black beans or white kidney beans, drained and rinsed (optional)

2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (thawing not required)

4 tablespoons chopped cilantro, divided

A red oval plate containing bowls of garnishes
Let everyone add their own garnishes.

Garnishes:

3/4 cup crumbled queso fresco or grated cheddar cheese

3/4 cup crema, crème fraîche or sour cream

1 firm but ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and cubed

2 tablespoons of the cilantro that was chopped for the soup

About one-third of the tortilla strips or triangles

Instructions:

If making your own tortilla chips: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the tortilla triangles or strips randomly on an ungreased heavy baking sheet or cast-iron skillet. Bake until the tortilla pieces are crispy but not browned, turning frequently so they crisp evenly. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, using a large soup pot or dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high. Add the onion, garlic and minced peppers, plus a bit of salt and pepper. stirring until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. 

Add the chili powder or spice blend and stir, cooking on medium for about 2 minutes, then stir in the chipotles, the tomatoes and any collected liquid from the tomatoes. Heat through before adding the broth, the beans (if using) and the corn.

Tortilla soup being stirred in a large pot
Gently stir some chips into the soup.

Let the soup simmer for at least 15 minutes, and stir in 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro. Correct the seasonings with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

 Once the tortillas are ready, gently stir a little more than half the chips into the soup, allowing them a minute or 2 to soften in the broth.

To serve: Place a few more chips in individual bowls and ladle the soup over them. Pass the garnishes at the table, along with the remaining chips.

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Garden Checklist for week of June 15

Make the most of this “average” weather; your garden is growing fast! (So are the weeds!)

* Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden, with tomatoes and squash enjoying the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.

* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don’t let them dry out completely. That can encourage blossom-end rot.

* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.

* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.

* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias. It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.

* Pull weeds before they go to seed.

* Let the grass grow longer. Set the mower blades high to reduce stress on your lawn during summer heat. To cut down on evaporation, water your lawn deeply during the wee hours of the morning, between 2 and 8 a.m.

* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.

* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.

* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.

* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather. It also helps smother weeds.

* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.

* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries.

* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.

* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.

* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.

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