Pull up your boot straps kiddos, it’s finally fall in Southern California.  I’ve stocked up on seasonal candles, crockpot recipes and baby pumpkins so even if Helen Keller came to visit, she’d know what time it was in our house.  BOOM.

Tonight was perfect for a simple soup that is one of my favorites – inspired by Cooking Light – this one pot White Bean and Turkey Sausage Ragout with Tomatoes, Spinach and Zucchini can be whipped up in less than 30 minutes.  As with all soups, it gets better with age – so you’ll be happy to know it feeds four with leftovers for lunch the next day.

Have you ever Googled a seemingly innocent topic that brings up the most horiffic/graphic/sexual/inappropriate image results?  At that very moment, I usually want to be proactive and call my HR department and let them know that I’m not a pervert or sicko.  Just to be safe.  Well, today, before I went to the grocery store I wanted to double check if peaches were on the “Dirty Dozen” list.  If you’re not familiar – it’s a list of the top 12 produce items you should always try to buy organic, if nothing else, because they have the highest levels of pesticides used when growing.

Well, if you ever look it up, don’t be too quick to the trigger, like I was, push “Enter” on a suggested search and accidentally Google “Dirty D”. Because… there are just some things you can’t unsee.

I hope I don’t get fired for trying to look up if a peach is going to give me cancer.  Let’s at least make it worth my while… can we talk organic?  I’ve really been trying to be better with buying more organic produce.  It’s expensive, but I at least always buy the “Dirty D”…. I mean “Dozen”  (holy gross) organic and then look for sales on other items.  Do you eat all organic?  If you’re a halfy like me, what are your “organic priorities” at the store?

Tonight, the hug for my stomach, known as Restaurant Style Chicken Tortilla Soup was ALL organic (minus the chicken). Everything in the whole recipe organic?? I’m such a hippie! Get me my flower crown.

I used my leftovers from Friday’s Three Ingredient Shredded Chicken to put together this delectable little Chicken Tortilla Soup. The recipe below is for about half the shredded chicken I made on Friday.  If you have less chicken, you can adjust accordingly.  There’s no science to tonight’s meal, just adjust as you go!

Restaurant-Style Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

• Three Ingredient Shredded Chicken (1/2 the recipe – use the other half for tacos!)
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 (15 oz) can of corn
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobe (or 2-3 if you like it really spicy!)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 (32 oz) Organic Chicken Broth, divided
• 1 (15 oz) black beans (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

For toppings (all optional):

• crushed tortilla chips
• chopped avocado
• pico de gallo (I left this off, because I’m lazy)
• light sour cream
• light mexican cheese
• chopped cilantro

Directions:

Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, cumin, chili powder and cumin. Stir well and saute until onions are tender (about 7 minutes).  Add corn, chipotle pepper and tomato paste; stir well let blend for about 2 minutes. Add cilantro, pepper to taste, black beans, lime juice, and 3-1/2 cups chicken broth then simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop avocado, and combine remaining 1/2 cup chicken broth with masa or cornmeal in a small bowl. When soup is done simmering, drizzle in chicken broth/masa mixture, and simmer for 10 more minutes. Serve topped chopped avocado, pico de gallo, cheese, crushed chips and cilantro.