I get a box from Taste Guru every month with new gluten free food items to try, plus coupons and recipe cards. The inspiration for this Tortilla Soup came from the recipe card from my May GF box. It was called “Roasted Corn and Black Bean Tortilla Soup.” I had some spicy turkey sausage in my fridge that I wanted to use in something, so I added it as well as some other ingredients to make it my own. Here's the list of ingredients you'll need:

• 3 hot Italian turkey sausage links, casing removed
• 1 large can (around 28 oz) of petite diced tomatoes undrained
• 1 large can of black beans (same size as tomatoes) drained and rinsed well
• 8 oz frozen corn (I used 2/3 of a 12 oz bag)
• 3 jalapeño peppers (or other pepper of your own choosing)
• Chicken or vegetable broth concentrate mixed with corresponding amount of water, or 10-12 cups of regular broth of your choice
• 1.5 tbsp chili powder
• 1.5 tbsp cumin
• 2 cloves of minced garlic (add in with the turkey sausage)
• Fresh avocado (for topping if preferred)
• 2% or nonfat Greek yogurt (also to top soup with if preferred)

The recipe called for Poblano peppers, which the store by my house didn't have. I opted for jalapeños instead, since I like my food to have some heat. It also called for oregano, which I didn't have, so I added more each of the chili powder and cumin.

The first step was to roast the jalapeños in the oven for about 15 minutes.

When I looked up how to roast jalapeños on Google, it said to broil for around 5 minutes, or until the peppers charred on the top. It took longer than what it said, so just keep an eye on yours while they're broiling and base your time on how quickly it takes them to look about like this:

Immediately after removing them from the oven, place a bowl over them to steam them for about 10 or so minutes. This makes the skin easier to take off before you chop them up.

Looking back, I would have broiled them for just a few more minutes, but that's just how we learn isn't it?

Once they've steamed long enough, go ahead and peel as much of the skin off as you can, and chop them up like this:

I leave the seeds because that's were the heat comes from in peppers. As I said, I like my food with a kick ;-). If you don't like spicy food, just remove the seeds after you chop the peppers in half to roast them. You'll get more of the jalapeño flavor without catching your mouth on fire.

While the peppers were roasting, I heated a pot on medium to high and put the frozen corn in to brown it up.

Then, I cut open the turkey sausage and removed the meat from the casing, added it and the minced garlic to the corn after about 5-10 minutes, and sautéed until the sausage was cooked through.

Then, I added all of the other ingredients to the pot, stirred it up, and let it cook for an hour or so. That's it! It was so so so easy, you guys!

Here's the final product ready to eat:

I topped it with avocado and Greek yogurt, but you could also add cilantro. This soup turned out to have fantastic flavor! I really didn't know what to expect with the final result, but this was another winner!!

I hope you guys have a chance to try this soup! It is really simple to make, and lasted me about a week. Let me know if you try it and how it turns out!

Happy Trails!

Stacey