Clean-out-your-veggie-bin Enchilada Soup

That's what I did today. It's good a good thing to do once in a while, make a giant pot of soup from every scrap of vegetables in your fridge. Here's how it went. I kept it completely vegan til the end, when I added cheese. It was delicious and super flavorful before the cheese, so it's a great alternative to leave it all meat and dairy free.

A few onions, celery, garlic, green peppers, one poblano pepper, shredded carrots, one yellow squash, 2 tomatoes, one ear corn, half bunch cilantro, one avocado and a handful mushrooms is what I came up with from the veggy bin.
Everything was rough chopped and sauteed in olive oil. First celery, garlic and onion.
Then green pepper, poblano and carrots.

Then I added a generous amount of kosher salt, cumin, paprika, chili powder and two bay leaves.

Then the zucchini, corn, tomato and mushrooms.

All this cooked for about 20 minutes. Then I added one large can diced tomatoes, one cup homemade salsa, two cups tomato stock and some Mexican hot sauce.
This cooked for about an hour, until all the veggies were tender.

Then I blended it with an imersion blender, removed from the heat and stirred in one cup cubed cheddar cheese and half a cup cubed cream cheese.

I served it with fresh crispy tortilla strips, seasoned avocado & cilantro with lime and some cheddar cheese. I also diced up half a blackened chicken breast to put in Joseph's soup. It didn't need the chicken at all, I just knew he'd like it. It was rich, filling and flavorful with out it.

After lunch we took the dogs for a walk. It has been nasty and cold for the last few days, and even froze last night. We were happy to take advantage of the afternoon sunshine and warmer weather. Here is Marshall having a stand off with a deer in someone's front yard. In his doggy dreams he wishes he had gotten to catch just one of the thousands of deer he's seen in his life.