Hearty Mexican Chard & Chickpea Soup

A recipe modified in enough ways that I consider it mine at this point, it's fast (15 minutes if you're good!) and easy, not to mention satisfying. A good way to get some greens and fiber, too.

Ingredients:
1 head Swiss chard, doesn't matter what kind - the stems lose their color when boiled, so if white is cheaper, then just buy white
1 small can chickpeas
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
2 cups broth, chicken or vegetable
1 tsp cumin
1/4-1/2 tsp ground chipotle pepper, or 1-2 canned chipotle peppers, seeded and minced
1 brick pepper jack cheese (low-fat works well here)
1/2 brick regular monterey jack cheese (low-fat works well here)
(Note that the cheeses must be bricks, not shredded.)

Tear the chard leaves into bite-sized pieces and set aside. Slice the ribs like celery and set aside, separate from the leaves.

Chop the onion and the garlic and sauté in olive oil over medium heat until the garlic is translucent. Add the spices and the broth and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, add the chard ribs and boil for 4 minutes. Then add the leaves and boil for another 2 or 3 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender.

Remove from heat and add the chickpeas I do it this way so that the chickpeas cool the soup slightly, so it's ready to eat without needing an ice cube to cool it. If you don't intend to serve it immediately, or if you enjoy burning your tongue on your soup (weirdo) then add the chickpeas along with the leaves and boil an extra minute to warm them.

Cut the cheese into cubes about half an inch wide. Put 1/4 of the cheese cubes in the bottoms of 4 soup bowls and ladle the soup on top.

Frankly, you had me at "cheese cubes."

A note on chipotle peppers: Chipotle has recently come into vogue. Even McDonald's has chipotle-flavored stuff now. The chipotle pepper is a smoked red jalapeno. If you are familiar with jalapenos, then you can safely use them equivalently in terms of heat.

Until recently, I could only find these peppers in cans of adobo sauce, which was annoying because I never used the whole can before it went bad, and also I had to wear gloves to handle them or inevitably the pepper's heat would find its way into some tiny cut I didn't know I had and I'd be running around the kitchen yelling about how I should have worn gloves. Now, though, McCormick's Spices sells ground dried chipotle peppers and suddenly chipotle is SUPER easy to use. (Although I personally buy mine from Penzey's, I'm sure McCormick's is fine.) Try a sprinkle atop eggs, in anything mexican or beef-based, and on top of chef's salads!