My New Favorite Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

A friend mentioned Chicken Tortilla Soup to me the other day and I’ve been craving it ever since. I found myself lost in the blog vortex the other night and saw THIS recipe for the soup from Kiwigirl Cooking and it sort of seemed like the universe was trying to tell me to make Chicken Tortilla Soup! I had most of the ingredients on hand but made a quick run to Dollar General (gotta love Dollar General) and picked up the rest. My point in telling you that is that even a non-grocery store like Dollar General is likely to have most of the things you need for this soup! I’ve made Chicken Tortilla Soup before, but this is, by far, the best I’ve ever made. YUM! It reminded me of the Jason’s Deli version and that is the best I’ve ever tasted. (Unfortunately, we don’t have a Jason’s Deli—I think the closest one is in Nashville which is roughly 400 miles away.)

These are the ingredients you will need:

Chicken, olive oil, onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, condensed chicken broth, black beans, green chiles, whole kernel corn, cilantro, avocado (optional) and tortilla chips.

This is how I made it but if you want to see a great tutorial with step by step photos, go visit Kiwigirl Cooking:

I diced two chicken breasts and cooked them in a couple of teaspoons of olive oil in my stock pot. When they were cooked through, I took them out.

I added a few more teaspoons of oil to the pot and then added 1/4 cup of chopped onion—not real onions—the chopped onion that you find with the spices. If I had real onions, that’s what I would have used and I would have cooked them until they were translucent. Then I added 2 tsp. chili powder and 2 tsp. Cumin. I heated this for about a minute on low heat.

Then I added 1 regular size can of petite diced tomatoes and 1 jar of my mom’s canned tomatoes. If I didn’t have my mom’s tomatoes, I just would have used a can of crushed tomatoes.

Next is the broth. I used 4 1/2 cups—or whatever the canned/boxed equivalent of that is. (I don’t use canned/boxed broth. I buy powdered broth from the Amish store which is way cheaper and way richer than canned. I highly recommend it if you can find it!) Then just let this combo simmer for about 15 minutes.

Then I added a can of corn which I had drained. I also added several large spoonfuls of black beans (I didn’t add the whole can because I’m not a huge bean fan.) Then add a whole can of chopped green chiles. Throw your chicken back in and let it simmer for at least 10 more minutes. I went ahead and added cilantro—lots of cilantro.

And that’s it. I loved it. I will be eating it all week. Thank you Kiwigirl!

White Chili from Michelle

Yippee! My friend Michelle (who is always a great source of family-friendly recipes) has one to share she writes:

I love the recipe/blog idea. Here’s my contribution. My family loves it and won’t even touch red chili anymore.

White Chili

1 bag of boneless, skinless chicken breast—boiled & shredded
1 white onion
1 T. garlic powder
2 T. vegetable oil
4 15 oz. cans of northern beans—drained & rinsed
2 14 oz. cans of chicken broth
4 4 oz. cans of green chili’s
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
2 cups sour cream
1 cup heavy cream

In a large pot, sauté onion, garlic powder and cooked chicken in vegetable oil over medium heat until onions are translucent. Add all other ingredients except for sour and heavy cream; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook 30 minutes. Stir in sour and heavy cream. Enjoy! This recipe also freezes well.

Meatloaf

Meatloaf
1 lb. ground beef or ground turkey
1 egg
1 cup crushed corn flakes
¼ cup ketchup
2 tbsp. chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
Mix all ingredients together. Dump into a greased pan.
Shape into a loaf. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

I know everyone probably has a meatloaf recipe but this one is my mom's and it is so easy and so good. Sometimes I use crackers instead of corn flakes. Sometimes I add garlic. Sometimes I make it into 4 little loaves. Use your imagination! (Well, don't get too crazy--no anchovies or anything.)

Chicken Noodle Soup

RECIPE #1 From Tracy (my sister) This is sooooooo good. The trick is to use a small bag of frozen noodles. You don't pre-cook them. Just throw the whole bag in. They are kind of thick and chewy--almost like dumplings! The first time I made this Parker ate 3 bowls and told me that Tracy should send this recipe to Rachael Ray. Now that is a 5 star rating!

Quick and Easy Chicken Noodle Soup
INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery (or skip the celery and add 1 tsp--or more-- of celery salt)
4 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 (14.5 ounce) can vegetable broth
1/2 pound chopped cooked chicken breast (I used the meat from a rotisserie chicken--the whole chicken)
1 1/2 cups egg noodles (I used a small bag of Reames frozen noodles)
1 cup sliced carrots (or use a cup--or more--of frozen carrots)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Cook onion and celery in butter until just tender, 5 minutes. ( I sauteed my veggies for quite a while because I wanted them VERY tender.) If you use frozen carrots, go ahead and sautee them but dont' worry about them getting tender. They will soften up while you boil your soup. Pour in chicken and vegetable broths and stir in chicken, noodles, carrots, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes before serving.

This is so easy and it probably doesn't sound like a "knock-your-socks-off" recipe, but trust me, it is. It's about 100x better than Campbells and not much harder.