Chicken & Black Bean Tortilla Soup

Tonight's dinner came from the fact that I had leftover tortilla taco shells from last night, vegetables to use up and chicken in the freezer, plus I watched both Rachel Ray and the Contessa make this on Food Network today.


To start I chopped onions and peppers added some minced garlic and sauteed in melted smart balance. At the same time I poached chicken thighs and chicken breast tenderloins in broth made with bullion.

I added tomatoes that I had diced and a can of chicken stock, then I scraped the bits off the bottom of the pan, which gave the veggies a kind of roasted effect.

I added the following spices.
- Adobo Chili Powder
- Adobo
- Cilantro
- Chili Powder
- Bay Leaves (don't forget to remove)
Use whatever amounts suits your taste buds.

I strained the stock the chicken was cooking in and added it along with a can of corn (kept the liquid to sweeten it a bit) and black beans (these were originally dried, it helps to cook up a bunch at once and freeze them in individual bags, about a cans worth for various recipes)

I broke up my leftover taco shells and served on top of the soup. You can also add the tortilla shells or chips to the soup to thicken it.
My eight year old son made the corn muffins (with a little help & from a box) for our dinner. The best thing was - this made enough to freeze some for another whole meal.

Smoky Black Bean and Rice Stoup

As you may tell from the word "stoup" this is a Rachel Recipe from her Express Lane Meal cookbook (link below). I changed it a bit so I'll give you my adapted ingredient list (not tons different)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- one pack of Turkey Bacon (baked it in the oven)
- Bay leaf
- 2 celery ribs
- 1 onion
- 4 garlic gloves (but I use a jar so I estimate this one)
- 1 cup frozen corn kernel (I didn't feel like putting it back so I used the whole bag:)
- 2 15-ounce cans of black beans
- ground coriander (I'm not putting spice measurements cause I just use what I want)
- chili powder
- ground cumin (my favorite spice)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce
- 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 quart low sodium chicken stock
- 1 cup brown rice (I recommend sticking to the cup because I added more which soaked up the broth so I added more stock and it just kept soaking it up, however since it was so thick I used the leftover to make rice and beans with sausage!)

Veggies went in first, then the corn and black beans (half a can of black beans were smashed to thicken it). then spices, stock sauce and rice. Pretty easy.

I chopped up some avocados (topped with lime juice), onions and fresh tomatoes for a topping along with some shredded cheese.

I served it with biscuits, but for some reason they didn't make the picture:)