Crockpot Skinny Tortilla Soup

Here in Georgia our seasons don't really make sense. It's usually either Winter or Summer and sometimes both happen in one week. This week we seem to be having Winter weather with cold rainy days. All these cold days lately are making me want to eat soup for every single meal. Add to the crappy weather the fact that this week is full of Christmas celebrations and I need to desperately find some Crockpot recipes. Lately I've been craving Mexican food. The idea of an enchilada or tacos makes me salivate. Therefore, I ended up deciding to make a Crockpot Tortilla Soup. With my healthy lifestyle I'm working on now I decided to switch it up and make a "skinny" version of my favorite tortilla soup. 

It was really super easy to make. I normally wake up at 6:00am to leave my house by 6:30am for work. Based on that time range I don't really have a ton of time to meal prep, etc. in my mornings. Therefore I wanted something super easy. This recipe is one of those. The time it took me to prep the soup before throwing it in the Crockpot was probably a total of 5-10 minutes max. 

The ingredient list really wasn't that bad either for this recipe. I bought organic where possible and reduced sodium for anything that wasn't organic. This helped to minimize the salt count and calorie count on this recipe. You can make this recipe even healthier by making homemade pico instead of rotel, or boiling dry beans instead of using the canned version.

The only prep I had to do was open the cans or containers and dice my onion in my food processor. This seriously is the easiest recipe ever. Once everything was in my Crockpot I stirred everything up and set it to cook on Low for 8 hours. 

My Crockpot has a "warm" setting that it goes to once the time is up and it's finished cooking. This keeps anything I cook in the Crockpot from over cooking and burning to the edges. My Crockpot is really my best friend during the Winter. If you don't have one I highly recommend one.

The warm setting kept the soup at the perfect temperature for my husband and I to eat our dinner as soon as we finished working and working out. The smell alone of the house was amazing. I almost expected to be greeted with chips and salsa at our dinner table since we had the smell of Mexican Tortilla Soup radiating throughout the house. 

I served ours with a scoop of Wholly Guacomole 100 Calorie, Sargento Reduced Fat Cheddar, and Garden of Eatin Blue Corn Tortilla Chips. You could also top it with Sour Cream, Tortilla Strips, sliced Jalapeno Peppers, Lime wedges, or Cilantro garnish. 

Crockpot Skinny Tortilla Soup

Serves: 6

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes

Cook Time: 4-8 hours

Ingredients

• 2  Tbsp minced Garlic
• 1 medium Onion, diced
• 16 oz can reduced-sodium Black Beans, drained & rinsed
• 16 oz can reduced-sodium Kidney Beans, drained & rinsed
• 8 oz can Organic Tomato Paste
• 10 oz package of Yellow Corn, frozen
• 2 - 10 oz cans RoTel Diced Tomatoes with Chilies
• 4 oz can Green Chilis
• 1 packet Reduced-Sodium Taco Seasoning
• 1 Tbsp Chili Powder
• 32 oz Reduced Sodium Vegetable Broth

Optional Toppings

• Guacamole
• Reduced Fat Sour Cream
• Sliced Jalapeno Peppers
• Reduced Fat Shredded Cheese
• Cilantro, chopped
• Lime Wedges
• Tortilla Strips

Instructions

1. Dice the onions and place at the bottom of the slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients. Mix Well.
2. Cook on high for 4 hours on High or 8 hours on low.
3. Spoon soup into bowls and top with optional toppings, if desired.

Balsamic Tofu & Pineapple Avocado Tacos

I absolutely love finding new Vegetarian recipes that are actually healthy. I have to say this recipe for Balsamic Tofu & Pineapple Avocado Tacos by Rabbit Food for My Bunny Teeth is one of those recipes. I've been craving this recipe ever since I saw it on Pinterest. The mix of tangy balsamic, sweet pineapple, and creamy avocado just sounds perfectly mouthwatering. Even typing this up right now I'm getting hungry thinking about it. Therefore my husband and I decided we had to make it for dinner this past weekend.

We started by gathering all of our ingredients together. This recipe really doesn't have that many ingredients to it so it makes it SUPER easy to make. I love the recipes that have less than 10 ingredients. I hate when I find a super tasty looking meal then check the recipe and theres like 20 plus ingredients. No thanks!!

If you haven't worked with tofu before there are certain steps you must take to prep the tofu for your meal. If you skip this step your tofu will end up being super watery which doesn't make it taste as great and cook as well. You can do this step either before or after cutting up the tofu. I drain my tofu, chop it, then lay it on a plate on top of a paper towel. I then place another paper towel on top, with a plate on top of that. I used my bowl of bananas to press the water out, but you can use anything that's about 1-2 pounds. It's good to let it stand for 20-30 minutes. 

Next I measured out my ingredients and mixed the sauce to create the glaze for the tofu. At first glance it might seem like these would be a weird mixture on tofu, but it's perfection!! Once the glaze was ready I transferred the tofu to the balsamic mixture and let it marinade for 20 minutes. 

I then laid the tofu out evenly on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. I set it to bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. After the first 20 minutes I flipped the tofu, drizzled with remaining balsamic glaze, and put it back in to bake for another 10 minutes. While this was baking I prepped the pineapple and avocado. I used my OXO 3-in-1 Avocado Slicer. Since I eat a lot of avocados this thing is basically my best friend!! If you eat avocados as much as me I definitely recommend buying one. It slices the avocado in half, de-pits it, and cubes the avocado all with only 1 tool. I seriously love it!

Once everything was ready I laid out my ingredients and was ready to chow down. Seriously guys this recipe is amazing. It's so refreshing and great for a healthy dinner or lunch option for vegetarians and meat eaters alike. This is definitely a beautiful recipe as well. 

Balsamic Tofu & Pineapple Tacos
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 package extra firm tofu (14oz)
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp honey mustard
• 1/2 Tbsp agave
• 8 corn tortillas
• 2 cups pineapple, cubed
• 1 avocado cubed

Instructions

1. Drain tofu and place on a few sheets of paper town on a plate. Cover with another few pieces of paper towel and another plate, and weight the top with an object of about 1-2 pounds. Let the tofu stand 20 to 30 minutes to extract excess liquid. 
2. While the tofu is being pressed, mix together the balsamic, honey mustard, and agave. 
3. After excess liquid has been extracted from the tofu, chop into small 1/2 inch cubes. 
4. Transfer tofu cubes into the bowl of balsamic mixture and let it marinade for 20 minutes. 
5. After tofu has marinated, transfer to a baking pan lined with parchment paper (save excess balsamic for later). 
6. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. 
7. Using a spatula, flip tofu, drizzle with remaining balsamic mixture, and cook for another 10 minutes. 
8. Toss the tofu with pineapple and avocado, and place in corn tortillas. Enjoy!