Chicken Tortilla Soup

Fall is in the air.  At least around my house.  And while the days are still in the 80’s, my Oldest has started talking about getting out the Halloween decorations and having a Halloween party.  (I let him have one last year and apparently now it’s a tradition.)  And with fall and the cooler weather comes a craving for soup.  I don’t eat soup a lot, but I do like soup and dippy roll when it starts to get cold outside.  Not to mention that it’s easy to make.

Not too long ago the girlfriends and I went out for a pedicure and lunch.  Now that is a tradition for me, and one I’m not going to give up anytime soon.  (It can be hard to get my girly groove on in a house full of males.)  Since it was a celebration of my friend’s birthday, we went Mexican and I “let” her talk me into trying tortilla soup.  She makes it for her family, so I knew she knew what it was and that she liked it.  Now she and I don’t always agree on what’s yummy, and I tried the soup with a bit of trepidation.  But I liked it well enough to be interested in trying to make it myself when I came across this recipe.  You know by now that I “adapted” it to suit my taste of course.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

serves 4

(I tripled the recipe, which was a good thing, since there was nothing left in the pot!)

source: allrecipes.com

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (I used 2 cans of this)

½ teaspoon olive oil (I used about 1 teaspoon of this even though I wasn’t cooking the chicken ~ just wanted a little olive oil for nutritional value...)

½ teaspoon minced garlic (pulled out my supply of this and used a heaping tablespoon full ~ what can I say, I love garlic!)

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth

1 cup frozen corn kernels

1 cup chopped onion (I dumped in a decent amount of onion powder...)

½ teaspoon chili powder (I will probably cut back on this next time)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup chunky salsa (I liked the flavor the salsa added, but we usually buy medium-spicy ~ I only used 1 cup for the tripled recipe, but it was still a bit spicy)

8 ounces corn tortilla chips (these are my favorites)

½ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (optional) (of course I opted for the cheese but I didn’t bother to measure it ~ just sprinkled on as much as looked good)

sour cream (optional)

In a large pot over medium heat, sauté the chicken in the oil for 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cumin and mix well.  Then add the broth, corn, onion, chili powder, lemon juice and salsa.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Break up some tortilla chips into individual bowls and pour soup over chips.  Top with the Monterey Jack cheese and a little sour cream.

My husband loved this soup.  He ate a huge bowl and then went back and finished off the leftovers.  The little ones (and who am I kidding, me too) thought it was too spicy, but otherwise quite liked it, so adjust the heat according to your family’s taste.