Tortilla Soup and Black Bean Quesadillas

On Sunday afternoon Lauren and Fi came over to my new apartment and ended up staying for dinner! Yay. So I made Tortilla Soup from Moosewood Simple Suppers and some black bean quesadillas of my own invention for Lauren, Fi, Mike, and myself. The Tortilla Soup was super yummy and easy and definitely one of the best recipes I have made from Simple Suppers. I also really liked how my quesadillas turned out.

Tomato Tortilla Soup
3 cups diced onions
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 quart vegetable broth
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons minced canned chipotles in adobo sauce or more to taste
1 1/s cups crumbled corn tortilla chips
1) In a soup pot on medium high heat, cook the onions in the oil for 5 minutes or until softened. 2) Add the cumin and oregano and stir for a minute. Add the broth, tomatoes, and chipotles, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.
3) Pulverize the tortilla chips in a blender. Add about 3 cups of the hot soup to the blender and puree until smooth. To make pouring easier, add another cup of hot soup and whirl on low speed. Stir the puree into the simmering soup pot. Serve hot.
Serves 4 to 6.

Black Bean Quesadillas
You could use any kind of beans here, really.
1 15 ounce can of black beans, drained and rinsed
your favorite salsa
8 small flour tortillas (6-8 inches)
shredded cheese [I used the Mexican blend from Kraft because it was in my fridge]
cooking spray/olive oil
1) Mash the beans with a fork or in a food processor with as much salsa as you would like, so that a spreadable paste is formed.
2) Spread some paste on four of the tortillas.
3) In a pan on medium-high heat, pour some olive oil and place the tortillas with bean spread down. Top each with cheese and another tortilla. Cook until golden brown, flip, and cook until the other side is golden brown and the cheese is melted.
Serves four.