Black Bean Soup & Chili Lime Tortilla Chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Using a nonstick pot cook the onion and jalapeno until onions start to become translucent.
3. Whisk together the lime juice and olive oil in a small bowl. Brush over the tortillas (both sides) and cut them into 8 segments.
4. Add canned beans, tomatoes, and ½-1 cup of water depending on how thick you want your soup. Add the seasonings (including any others you might like). Bring to a simmer then reduce heat to low.
5. Line the chips on a cookie sheet in a single layer and bake for around 8 minutes, flip them over, and bake for another 8 minutes. They should be super crispy. If not just bake a little longer until they are done.
6. When they come out of the oven you can spray them with a light mist of cooking spray to give the seasoning salt something to stick to. Sprinkle with the salt and chili powder.
7. Turn the heat off of the soup and add in one tablespoon of cream. Feel free to use sour cream, cream cheese, or nothing at all – but I like the added richness. There will be some leftover oil and lime juice from the tortilla chips, dump that into the soup as well. Remove the bay leaf. Stick an immersion blender in the pan or transfer about half the soup to a blender and pulse. The point is to get part of the soup smooth and creamy while still leaving some remaining beans and chunks of tomato for texture.
8. Serve the soup (about 1/3 of the pot is a serving but you could probably stretch it to ¼ with more water) topped with some sliced green onion and ½ ounce of queso fresco cheese. Have your tortilla chips on the side.