tortilla soup veggie style

so all of a sudden our tivo has started recording every food show imaginable. it's actually pretty cool because i am getting lots of pbs food shows, although some of them are a bit dorky, but nonetheless it's fun to watch yummy things being cooked that i know i can somehow transform into my own.

this past weekend, everyday food appeared in our tivo choices, and i decided to give it a whirl. i don't remember much about the show except for the tortilla soup one person made. it seemed so simple and easy that i decided that tonight i would make a veggie version. i just ate it and i am happy to report it turned out quite nice. here's what i did and it is pretty different from what they did on the show.

so if you want that recipe you can look it up on their website: everyday food

first, I sauteed about a tablespoon of butter with one clove of chopped garlic. Then after about 45 seconds i added a small handfull of onion and celery to the mix. this all sauteed for a few minutes and then i added another small handful of potato and tofu. again, this all sauteed for a few minutes and then i added a small box of imagine organic vegetable broth.

i also added 2-3 cups of water. then i added one diced (seeds and all) jalapeno to the soup. i let everything boil until the chopped potatoes were cooked through and then i turned the soup down to low.

next, while the soup was on low and simmering, i put the oven on 400 degrees. i coated about 5 corn tortillas with canola oil front and back. i used a brush to do this but you could use a paper towel instead. i stacked them and cut them into then strips and then once across the middle. i spread them out over a baking dish and put them in the oven for 15 minutes or so. i flipped them a few times with a spatula.

once those were done i ladled some soup into a bowl and topped it off with the crunchy tortilla strips. then i added some scallions, avocado, sour cream, and a taste of lime.

here is a picture of the final product. i think it turned out pretty tasty and i will have leftovers for at least two days. it wasn't quite salty enough so make sure you add enough salt to where you like it. i had to add some to my soup after it was already in the bowl.



let me know if you try it.

what else. this past weekend landon and melissa came to visit us and we had a great time. we ate out a ton. friday we went to my all time favorite neighborhood spot, el nuevo fruitlandia. as usual it was outstanding. my favorite thing to get at fruitlandia are the chile rellenos. however, i am trying not to eat cheese (or any dairy) for two weeks. i of course ended up cheating when we were at fruitlandia and like usual geoffrey and i split the chile rellenos and an order of maduros (fried plantains). i did forego ordering my own pineapple shake or having any of geoffrey's mango shake. i have a review of fruitlandia on my yelp page (see link for kristie's yelp page).

saturday, being on a good eats roll, we ate breakfast/brunch at the universal cafe.
as usual everything was delicious and if you are afraid to eat here because of the cost or the long waits on the weekend, just give in and you'll see that it's worth it. you can read my recent review on my yelp page.

later saturday, we ate at spices II to get our spice on. hao has been going on and on about spices II and i decided to give it another try. once i ate there and it wasn't so good. spices II has however redeemed itself. there were tons of veggie options and the ma po tofu was very spicy which i enjoyed. once again there is more on this experience on my yelp page.

being the pigs we are, we went right around the corner to genki crepes and mini mart. genki is one of my favorite stores in the city. it's basically like a japanese 7-11 except a million times better. they have savory and sweet crepes, egg puffs (like waffles), cool sodas and snacks, and fun toys! i hardly ever get to go there though because we live in the mission and the richmond always seems so far away and it's cold there. but, whenever we do venture over there i always stop in to buy something cute at genki. that night though, we were there for crepes. well everyone but me was there for a crepe. being on my no dairy kick i had to settle for egg puffs which may have had some dairy but not as much as a crepe with ice cream and nutella. the best part of the night was when i discovered a cute new toy. they are called "woodmate kitchen petite" and i must have the entire collection. someone has some pics up on flickr:


and now that i have gotten way off the topic of food i will end here. i also promise to take more pictures of the fun food we eat out.