Main Dish
Vegetable Chili Soup with Baked Quesadillas

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil (evoo)
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 large red or green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 small zucchini, chopped
• 1 Tbs ground cumin (a palmful)
• 2 Tbs chili powder (2 palmfuls)
• 1 Tbs cayenne pepper sauce, such as Frank's Red Hot Salt, to taste
• 1 can crushed tomatoes (14 oz)
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained (14 oz)
• 1 can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained (14 oz)
• 8 flour tortillas (8-inch)
• 2½ shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (one 10-oz sack, pre-shredded is available on dairy aisle)
• 2 scallions, chopped

Directions:

Make the soup: Preheat a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add oil, onions, carrot, bell pepper, jalapeno, garlic, and zucchini. Saute 10 minutes, add cumin, chili powder, cayenne sauce, and salt; stir. Add tomatoes, stock, and beans and bring soup to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Make the quesadillas: Get out 2 cookie sheets and place 2 tortillas next to each other on each cookie sheet. Cover each tortilla with ½ cup cheese and a few pieces of chopped scallions, then place a tortilla on top of each. Bake 5 minutes to melt cheese and crisp tortillas. Cut quesadillas into 4 wedges each to make a total of 4 quesadilla rounds, 4 wedges per person.

Serve veggie chili stoup with quesadilla wedges for dipping. Makes 4 servings.

Skill Level: Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Recipe taken with permission from Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals For Kids.

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