Recipe: Vegetable Soup with a Kick

Soup is one of my favorite winter comfort foods to make. I'm always looking for new recipes to try. I like to keep it healthy and low-calorie so I can pack them in my lunches throughout the week. My mom has a pretty good recipe for vegetable soup but I wanted to take it up a notch and give it a spicy, Mexican kick. I have to admit, this turned out really good for something I just made up with ingredients I had on hand. I will definitely be making this again and again!

Ingredients:
1 can low sodium chicken broth (could also use vegetable or beef broth)
1/2 cup water (this can be adjusted depending on how thick vs. watery you want it to be)
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles (such as Rotel)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3/4 cup carrots, chopped
3/4 cup celery, diced (I chop up the leafy parts too and put those in the pot for more flavor)
1 zucchini, chopped
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
S&P to taste
fresh cilantro, chopped

To make the soup, you'll want to start out by sauteing the carrots, celery and red pepper until softened. While those are cooking, add the tomatoes, chicken broth, cumin, chili powder and black beans to a large soup pot over medium heat. Once the veggies have softened, add them to the pot as well. In the same skillet as the other veggies, saute the zucchini for a few minutes. Zucchini doesn't need as much time as the other vegetables, so I do it separately. I added the red pepper flakes to the skillet with the zucchini as well. After a few minutes, toss those in the soup pot with the other ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to your liking and add the cilantro. I actually didn't add any salt because the tomatoes had pretty much sodium in them already.

Let it come to a boil and then turn it down to warm. I left it on warm for about an hour and a half for the flavors to meld together - stirring every so often. At the end, I added in my water because I thought it was too thick, but you may like it that way.

The fire roasted tomatoes add such a nice kick to this soup. It's super filling and very healthy - a winning combination.  :)  And feel free to play with the spices and veggies. I just used what I had on hand at the moment. Almost any veggie will work! You could make it more of an Italian soup by changing out the spices to garlic, basil, parsley and oregano and switching to a cannelini bean. They make diced tomatoes with basil and garlic in them instead of the ones with green chiles. You get the idea! Be creative...and enjoy!

~ Kris