Review of Thug Kitchen for January Foodies Read featuring Tortilla Soup

Last month I told you about a new reading group that I joined in which you read any books you want that has food as a main theme and link up with other foodies to review it and any recipes that you made inspired by the book.

The club is the brainchild of Based on a True Story who sets up a page for us to add our links as well as taking charge of pinning and tweeting.  Fiction, non fiction, cookbooks....any book is game as long as the main theme of the book is food related.

My friend, Linda, joined us for Thanksgiving dinner this year and brought me Thug Kitchen from Rodale Press and written by Matt Halloway and Michelle Davis.  It was published in 2014 and won Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Food & Cookbooks.  

As you can see from the cover of the book, it uses bad language, most specifically the F word a LOT!!  If this offends you then the book is definitely not for you. But if, like me, while you try not to use that kind of language and think that life can be lived without it but are able to stomach it.....you are going to laugh your A** off.

The book is written with beginners in mind but with recipes suited for seasoned cooks as well. As with all Rodale products it is written with a health conscious sense of humor.  It is a vegan cookbook which works perfectly for me as I am trying to cut down on the amount of meat my family consumes. In a chapter entitled "Hold the F up, Where's the Meat?" we are given statistics that American's on average eat 270 lbs of meat each year. This is more than double the recommended amount.  I try, with varying success, to serve Meatless Monday meals in our household but find that most of those meals still contain animal protein in the form of eggs or cheese.  This cookbook has some delicious recipes that I hope will help me break out of that cycle.

I decided to start this little experiment with the Tortilla Soup because:

•  Frank likes tortilla soup and I was hoping that he wouldn't notice the omission of meat.  
• During the winter I like to have a little thing called Soup Saturday because nothing is more satisfying than soup on a cold blustery day.
• It sounded easy, peasy and delcious.
• I had all the ingredients on hand,

"This old-school Southwestern soup is so gd good, even your grandma would approve.  Just don't let her catch you swearing in the house" quote from Thug Kitchen.

I served this on Saturday when we had friends for dinner.  We started with Margaritas, chips and guacamole and then had the soup followed by a build your own taco bar.

I did make some adaptations to the recipe so it is no longer vegan.  I used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock because that was what I had on hand.  I also garnished with sour cream.  Use vegetable stock and omit the sour cream to remain vegan.  The only other adaptations were with the ingredient measurements.  I added more tomato paste and stock than in the original recipe and lessened the amount of spice for my husband's palate.

I also changed up some of the technique.  The recipe had you cutting the vegetables into different size dice.  Since it was all going to be pureed anyway, I just threw everything into the food processor together without worrying too much about size.

This turned out delicious and would make an excellent meatless Monday meal.  The chickpeas add texture and protein.  It was flavorful and had just the right amount of spice.

Tortilla Soup
adapted from Thug Kitchen

1/2 of a sweet onion, cut into chunks
1 carrot, scraped and cut into chunks
1 bell pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
1 lg. jalapeno, seeded and cut in half
4 cloves garlic
1 T. olive oil
1 1/2  t. cumin
2 t. oregano paste ( I use Gourmet Garden)
2 t. chili powder
pinch of salt
1  (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
7 c. chicken or vegetable broth
juice from 1/2 a lime
8 corn tortillas, cut into 1" squares
1 (15 oz) can of chickpeas
Garnish of choice. I used sour cream and cilantro. Other good choices would be avocado, jalapeno slices or tortilla chips.

Place onion, carrot, pepper, jalapeno and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times.  Scrape sides and pulse again.  Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over med high heat.  Add pulsed vegetables and cook, stirring for a couple of minutes.  Add the spices and cook for another minute or so before adding tomatoes and tomato paste.  Stir to combine and then stir in the broth. Bring just to a boil and then turn down to a simmer and add the lime juice and tortilla.  Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until tortilla is softened.  Puree the soup using an immersion blender or by batches in a blender returning to pot afterwards.  Add the chickpeas and heat through. Taste and add additional seasonings if desired.  Garnish and serve hot. Print Recipe