Mexican Tortilla Soup

Avocados are expensive.  $1.25 for a single avocado?  That's four for five bucks.  Sometimes it's only three for five dollars.  Ick.  But apparently this is avocado season because they are at the store for 99cents!  So obviously the impulse is to stock up.

Stock up?  On produce?  Well, according to the internet, avocados will stay in that perfect state of ripeness if you just put them in the fridge.  Really?  I'm trusting you internet.  (On a side note, I roasted my first red pepper last week based solely on what I had picked up from watching tv chefs do it, and that came out great, so I have no reason to doubt the internet either)

And now, with two avocados in my fridge, I needed something to do with them.  Enter tortilla soup.  The recipe didn't look like much.  It's more of a broth base with a bunch of toppings added in at the end.  But it was tex-mex, warm, a little sweet and a touch of spicy.

I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures.  I'm obviously still getting into this so it's not second nature yet.  Not to mention how long it usually takes me to get photos from my lame point-an-shoot-camera to the computer anyway.

But pictures or not, here is the recipe:

Mexican Tortilla Soup
Adjusted from Hass' Avocado and Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:
6 cups Chicken Broth 
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil 
1 (15 1/2 oz) can of diced tomatoes in juice (I used the basil and oregano kind)
1 (15 1/2 oz) can of cream style corn
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
A handful of coarsely chopped cilantro leaves 

Toppings:
1 avocado, diced
1-2 oz. low fat feta cheese
1 lime
4 tortillas
frying oil

Instructions:

1. In a dutch oven (my favorite kitchen tool) heat the olive oil and sauté the onion and garlic until onion is transparent.
2. Add the tomatoes with juice to the onion and garlic, and puree with a[n immersion] blender.  (I used an immersion blender, Hass recommends dumping it all into a blender, I might recommend not blending at all if the tomatoes are small enough.)
3. Return the pureed mixture to the dutch oven (if necessary), add broth, cilantro, corn, salt and chili powder.
4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat just about a Tbsp. of vegetable oil in a frying pan. When hot, add the tortillas one at a time for a few minutes on either side.  Let the tortillas turn golden before removing and cooling.  Then cut them into strips with a pizza cutter (they'll be nice and crisp and easy to cut).
6. Distribute the tortilla strips evenly in 4-6 bowls, ladle soup over top.  Sprinkle the avocado and crumbled feta evenly over the portions and squeeze a quarter of a lime over each bowl.

The cilantro really makes this soup.  It flavors the whole broth with fresh greenness (greenness doesn't sound delicious to you??).  The feta adds a touch of saltiness to it, and the tortillas soften into slime (that's not appealing either?  For real?)  Seriously, it was better than I thought it would be, and I added that creamed corn because it seemed like there was nothing in the soup!  I don't regret adding it, but I'm not sure it was necessary either.  Let me know what you think!