Three Mexican-Inspired Quick and Easy Recipes

Life happened and I missed a MoFo post yesterday.  Whoops.  So to make up for it, today I have three recipes!  They are all super simple and come together really quickly.  This was our “clean out the pantry/freezer” dinner last night.  I was craving vegetable soup and Mexican food.  And it needed to be relatively quick and easy.  So, I came up with a Mexican-inspired vegetable soup, a cheezey sauce, and some super simple quesadillas.  The soup is primarily made from canned and frozen vegetables, but you’d never know it.  It’s incredibly satisfying and has good depth of flavor.  The Refried Bean Quesadillas are the perfect quick finger food compliment to the soup, and the Mexican-Style Chedda Cheeze Sauce ties it all together.  Enjoy!

I decided to go oil free and sauté the veggies in water.  If you’d rather use oil, go for it.  I’m a medium spicy kinda gal, but if you like a spicier or milder flavor adjust the amount of diced jalapeños accordingly.  This soup is absolutely delicious as is, but I particularly like it with a couple tablespoons of the cheeze sauce drizzled in.

Naked Soup

Soup plus Cheeze Sauce

Chunky Mexican-Inspired Vegetable Soup

 3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup celery, chopped

2 cups frozen broccoli florets, thawed

1 cup frozen corn, thawed (for non GMO, choose organic)

1 tablespoon cumin

2 teaspoons mild chili powder

1 can (14 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

3/4 teaspoon Mexican oregano

1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes

1 can (14 oz) tomato sauce

2 tablespoons diced canned jalapeño peppers, drained

1 cube Edward & Sons Not-Chick’n Broth (vegetable broth works too)

6 cups water

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro (for garnish)

Hot Sauce such as Tabasco (optional, for garnish)

Preheat a large soup pot on medium heat for a minute or so.  Add 3 to 4 tablespoons water.  Once the water is nice and hot, add the onion and garlic.  Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, adding additional water by the tablespoon if needed to prevent sticking.  Add celery, broccoli, corn, and spices.  Sauté for 2 minutes or so, again adding water by the tablespoon if necessary to prevent sticking.  Add all other ingredients except cilantro and stir.  Cover the soup and continue to cook until nice and hot (10 minutes or so), taking care not to over cook.  Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with cilantro.  Serve as is or drizzle on some Mexican-Style Chedda Cheeze Sauce and hot sauce such as Tabasco.

This sauce is simple and comes together pretty quickly.  You can make it spicier by adding additional cayenne if that’s your thing.  You can also use non-dairy milk in place of the broth if you want to mix it up a little.

All the dry ingredients in the pan

Cheeze sauce, ready for eating

Mexican-Style Chedda Cheeze Sauce

Dry Ingredients:

3/4 cup nutritional yeast (NOT brewer’s yeast)

1/2 cup unbleached or whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 teaspoon Mexican oregano

1/2 teaspoon mild chili powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Pinch cayenne pepper (to taste)

A few turns freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Wet Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups vegetable broth (if using bouillon cubes, 2 cups broth and 1/2 cup water works fine)

1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 teaspoons yellow or dijon mustard

Place all dry ingredients into a medium-sized saucepan.  Turn the burner on medium heat.  Pour the vegetable broth into the dry ingredients one third at a time, whisking thoroughly between each addition (this is key to prevent lumpy sauce).  Turn the heat up slightly (just a bit above medium heat) and continue to whisk until the sauce thickens.  The sauce should thicken within about 5 minutes if you used room temperature or warm broth, but will take a little longer if the broth was right out of the frig.  Once the sauce has thickened, remove from heat.  Add lemon juice and mustard.  Whisk to combine.  Use immediately.  Mexican-Style Chedda Cheeze Sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.  When reheating, the sauce can become quite thick.  Add additional broth as needed to thin out the sauce to the original consistency.  Be sure to re-whisk thoroughly.

These quesadillas really couldn’t be simpler.  Salsa and/or some thin avocado slices would be a great addition if you have it on hand (I didn’t).  How many quesadillas you get out of this recipe will depend on how thick you spread the refried beans.  Just don’t use too much filling or it will ooze out when you cook them.

Refried-Bean Quesadillas

1 can refried beans (check the ingredient list to confirm vegan)

4 to 6 10 inch whole wheat tortillas (preferably hydrogenated oil free)

2 to 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro, divided

Set aside one tablespoon of chopped cilantro for garnish.  Stir refried beans in the can to thoroughly mix in any separated liquid.  Preheat a large skillet on medium heat.  Spread beans onto tortillas leaving 3/4 inch border.  Divide remaining cilantro between the tortillas and sprinkle onto the refried beans.  Fold each tortilla in half.  Cook each quesadilla a few minutes on each side or until lightly browned.  Cut into wedges.  Garnish with cilantro and hot sauce, if desired.  Serve with Mexican-Style Chedda Cheeze Sauce.