Tortilla Stew/Soup

So when I’m home, and my mom doesn’t want to cook, I become the chef for the night. When it comes to food, my mom is really picky and there are a few musts that need to be in the dish I prepare. Spicy and not messy to clean-up. My favorite thing to make is a Tortilla Stew/Soup recipe I found on Allrecipes.com.

This stew/soup only takes one pan, and it can be made and then served directly. What’s even better is that is it vegetarian, but you can feel free to add meat as desired.

Ingredients

• 1 (19 ounce) can green enchilada sauce

   

  

  Tortilla Soup courtesy of Mindy Poje

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cube vegetable bouillon
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1/2 cup vegetarian chicken substitute, diced (optional)
• 4 (6 inch) corn tortillas, torn into strips
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• salt and pepper to taste

Torchy’s Tacos

Last year, I discovered this wonderful taco place right off of Guadalupe. Torchy’s Tacos keeps with the “Keep Austin Weird” trend, by offering out-of-the-box tacos names.

With such tacos like Fried Avocado, Baja Shrimp, The Republican, Ranch Hand, Trailer Park and more, there is something for everyone. They also give you the opportunity to build your own taco.

Besides the location off of the Drag, there are two other locations around Austin.

Each month, Torchy’s features a different taco as its specialty. This month, the taco is “The Scarecrow.” It has pumpkin crusted chicken, roasted poblanos, escabeche carrots, cotija cheese & cilantro. Torchy’s vistors have the choice of having their taco on flour or corn tortillas. It also comes with creamy chipotle salsa.

Also in time for the Halloween season, Torchy’s Trailer Park has a pumpkin patch.

Torchy’s also has a wonderful green chile queso and burritos. To round out your meal, get little nookies, fried dough covered in powdered sugar.

**Special shout out to Torchy’s: they won Best Mole at the 2009 Austin Chocolate Festival!