Cast of Characters: Vegetable broth, can rotel, green beans, garlic, zucchini, squash, tomatillo, jalapeno, red onion, cumin, oregano, black beans, diced tomato, chipotle pepper in adobo, salt, pepper, lime zest, lime juice and fresh cilantro
Get the pan screaming hot and add: garlic, onion, green beans
then squash, zucchini and cans of rotel and diced tomato, cumin, black beans (drained and rinsed) tomatillo (which I personally think added a TON of great flavor) jalapeno, chipotle pepper in adobo (use sparingly cause those suckers are HOT) salt & pepper
Then I added 4 cups of chicken stock (recipe called for vegetable stock, but I used chicken cause I had it and then added 2 cups of water to make a total of 6 cups) add lime zest and lime juice and just ripped up some cilantro and threw it in.
Bring to a boil and then let simmer on very low. The longer it sits the more the flavors develop.
The original recipe says it is ZERO points, but since I used chicken stock and added the black beans, that added more calories...so I counted it as 1 point per serving. The actual recipe calls for bell peppers and a jar of roasted red peppers and I don't groove on the bell peppers, so I omitted and added the squash & black beans instead. But the flavor of this was def Mexican, plus lots of delicious hearty veggies.
Here is the actual recipe:
6 cups vegetable broth
14 ounces canned diced tomato, Mexican-style preferred
2 cups fresh green beans (start with 8 ounces, then trim and snap into bite-size pieces)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 small zucchini (about 8 ounces before trimming)
1 cup tomatillo, cubed (start with about 4 ounces or 2 medium tomatillos)
1/2 medium poblano chili pepper, chopped
1 medium jalapeno, membranes and seeds removed, minced
1 medium Red Onion chopped
1 green pepper
chopped1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon fresh oregano (I used 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano)
2 roasted red peppers packed in water
1 tablespoon chipotle peppers in adobo
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons lime juice (from 2 limes)
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons lime juice (from 2 limes)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Heat a large pot or Dutch oven on MEDIUM HIGH. Add the vegetables and spices (canned tomatoes through as oregano) as they're prepped. Add the broth when it's ready. Once at a boil, partly uncover the soup, reduce the heat to maintain a slow simmer and simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir in salt, lime juice and cilantro. Serve immediately.
NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Serving: 43 Cal (6% from Fat, 24% from Protein, 70% from Carb); 3 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 8 g Carb; 2 g Fiber; NetCarb6; 3 g Sugar; 20 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 553 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 0 points
