Have you ever thought about becoming a Recipe Tester?  Would you like to learn more about it?  Well, today is your lucky day.  In the last five years, I have tested recipes for cookbooks, magazines, and other culinary publications.  While recipe testing, I developed a stomach of steel and the patience of a saint (or at least I would like to believe so).  Recipe testing requires culinary knowledge, patience, attention to detail and perseverance.  
This week, I am testing a few recipes for an upcoming cookbook – if you would like more information, please leave a message and I will follow up once the book is published.  In general, when testing recipes, the tester is reimbursed the cost of groceries.  In some rare, but highly appreciated instances, a recipe tester also gets a copy of the cookbook and perhaps a small token of appreciation in a form of a gift card.

What’s on the list this week? Vegetarian Posole!  I tried this popular Mexican soup for the first time when I lived in Texas.  It has a deep, rich, smoky flavor of ancho chilies.  Traditionally made with pork or chicken, the soup resembles the chicken tortilla soup.  This recipe takes the traditional version and lightens  it up.

The completely vegetarian version uses hominy and extra-firm tofu.  Serve the soup with a variety of toppings including chopped cilantro, avocado, onion and lime wedges.  If you have corn chips, go ahead and use them as well.  I didn’t have any on hand and instead cooked a corn tortilla on a cast iron skillet and cut it up into strips.

Enjoy!  I think a pot of this vegetarian posole will be fantastic for Super Bowl Sunday!