Sopa mexicana

Sopa mexicana
Originally uploaded by riblet.

I had a lot of beans left over from the beginning of the week so I decided to make a little soup from them. Here's the recipe for what I threw together. It tasted great! If I ordered this in a restaurant, I would have been so stoked on it.

Sopa Mexicana

1 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup diced red bell pepper
2 cloves pressed garlic
1 bay leaf
1 tbs Mexican oregano (or regular)
2 tsp chili powder
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes + their liquid (I used Muir Glen)
1 cup cooked or canned pinto beans (leave out the liquid if you use canned beans)
1/2 cup cooked quinoa (I haven't tried subbing dry quinoa, but it would probably work just as well)
4 or 5 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup bean broth (use it if you cooked your own pinto beans, if not - add that 5th cup of broth)
Chopped cilantro
Diced avocado
Salt to taste

In a soup pot, warm oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, bell peppers and a small pinch of salt. Sautee around for a couple of minutes and add in the bay leaf and oregano. When the veggies are softened, add in the garlic and sautee for one minute more. Add in the tomatoes and their liquids, stir and pour in broth, beans, quinoa, chili powder and bean cooking liquid if you have it. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally, then cover, turn down heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes or so. If you simmer for a little longer, say 30 minutes, the flavors are really going to come together beautifully. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary. Remove bay leaf and serve with fresh diced avocado and chopped cilantro on top.

Makes about 8 cups of soup, which is around 5 servings. Leon told me that this was a super low calorie soup. It is also vegan, but you could put a cheese on it if you wanted. Pumpkin seeds would go good on this, too. Or chips. You can basically do whatever you want, I'm not going to hardline you on it. No pressure, okay?