No Chicken Tortilla Soup

No Chicken Tortilla Soup

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy a good bowl of soup year round, and today we are making a delicious, No Chicken Tortilla Soup! Why plant based? I’m glad you asked! While I’m definitely not vegan or even vegetarian, I do know that studies have shown many benefits to eating a plant based diet. For me, I see meat and animal protein as more a condiment or an occasional ingredient in my diet and prefer eating more fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts, and seeds. Let’s go through some of the benefits of this type of diet:

1. Fiber is not found in animal products, only plants, and our bodies need fiber to help keep our bowel movements regular and sweep away all the waste. As you could imagine, high fiber diets help fight against colon cancer. Feeling a bit “stopped up”? Eat more plants!
2. Plants are chock full of antioxidants which help support healthy cells in the body. Researchers believe that antioxidants can also fight off cancer!
3. This can be a touchy subject because most people think of meat when they think of protein, but there are many proteins in the plant world. Beans, peas, lentils, and soy are just some of them.
4. Weight loss. Plant food is the most nutrient dense food, which means you are getting more vitamins and minerals with less calories!  And with all the added fiber (remember that from #1?) the body also feels fuller longer! Win-win!

These are just four out of many, many reasons why eating more plants is good for you and should be something you consider doing. You could even start with one day, like a meatless Monday, and do a plant based dinner that day. Every little step helps!

So Many Plants

So, this recipe happens to have, count them, 14 different plants in it! Holy Celery Batman! Don’t worry though, you will NOT miss your meat in this soup because of one special ingredient, mushrooms! Mushrooms have a meaty texture, and depending on how you prepare them, can have a similar flavor and mouth feel as well. Because I have heavily seasoned and oven roasted the mushrooms, they will satisfy that need for a meaty ingredient.

Mushrooms also contain PRE-biotics, which is a new buzzword in the health world lately. I’m sure you’ve heard of PRO-biotics, but PRE-biotics are a type of fiber that are difficult to digest in the stomach, so they travel down into the digestive system further and are essentially the fuel or food for the PRO-biotics! Fascinating stuff! Have I turned you a mushroom lover yet? Here’s one more little mushroom fact for you, you can increase the vitamin D in your mushrooms by exposing them to sunlight 30 minutes before you cook them. What the WHAT?!? No wonder they are sometimes called magic mushrooms?!

Ok, let’s get back to earth now and get ready to make this dish! The flavors in it will make your taste buds happy and all the nutrients in it will make your body sing! In addition to mushrooms you will find carrots, celery, onions, beans, corn, peppers, and more in this soup!  Eating plant based doesn’t have to feel like you’re depriving yourself of anything, it is so delicious and pleasurable.  Enjoy! 

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No Chicken Tortilla Soup

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 15 mins

 

Savory, spicy, tangy, rich and delicious are the things I think of when I think of Tortilla Soup! This is an entriely plant based recipe.  I am a Tortilla Soup expert and I can't get enough of this recipe!  

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Vegetarian

Keyword: Tortilla Soup

Ingredients

• ½ bulb of fresh garlic
• 10 cremini mushrooms stemmed and quartered
• 3 tbs of olive oil
• 1 tsp sea salt divided
• 1 tsp ground cumin divided
• 1 tsp chili powder divided
• 1 tsp paprika divided
• 2 tbs of ghee
• 4 organic corn tortillas cut into ½ inch strips
• 1 carrot finely diced
• 1 celery stalk finely diced
• 1 onion finely diced
• 1 green chili finely diced
• 1 red bell pepper finely diced
• 4 cups chicken stock or veggie stock
• 2 tbs of tomato paste
• 1 can organic tomatoes with green chilies
• 1 cup black beans if canned drain and rinsed
• ¼ tsp red chili flakes
• 1 tsp arrowroot starch
• ½ cup of hot water
• 1 cup fresh cilantro finely chopped
• juice of 1 lime

Toppings:

• Raw cheddar cheese
• Purple onion
• Cilantro
• Sliced Avocado
• Lime wedges

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 425, line a roast pan with parchment. 

2. Cut the top off of 1/5 of a garlic bulb and place on roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil. 

3. On the same pan add mushrooms. Drizzle olive oil, sprinkle ½ tsp of each salt, cumin, chili powder, and paprika over the top of mushrooms and garlic. Mix gently with hands or tongs. Cook for 10 mins until mushrooms are slightly crisp.

4. Cut corn tortillas into narrow strips. 

5. In a large stock pot add 2 tbs of ghee. Heat well and add tortilla strips, cook until edges brown and they are slightly crisp. Remove strips from pan and set aside to drain on paper towel.   
6. After garlic has cooled, remove outside skin by smashing in your fingers to reveal inside flesh of the garlic.

7. In the stock pot add carrot, onion, celery, green chili and bell pepper. Cook until slightly soft 3 -4 minutes.

8. Mince soft garlic and add to mixture.
9. Add stock, tomato paste, tomatoes with green chilies, black beans, remainder of spices, and red chili flakes. Mix well and bring to a boil. 
10. Turn heat to a slow simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes. 

11. In a small bowl add hot water and arrowroot whisk until well blended. Add to soup and simmer for 10 minutes. 

12. Return tortillas to the pot; add roasted mushrooms, fresh cilantro, and juice of lime. Simmer for up to 1 hour.
13. Top with any or all suggested toppings.