Recipe #11: Chicken Tortilla Soup

This soup recipe was passed to me by my Aunt Teri.  I'm not sure where she got it but it's really yummy and healthy and we've gotten a lot of mileage out of it recently.  Due to the amount of ingredients and chopping, I would not normally consider this an "everyday" dinner recipe.  However, if you devote an hour or so to making a large pot of it, you can freeze it in smaller containers.  Served with a quesadilla and some sliced avocados or tomatoes, my family can get 3-4 meals out of 1 pot of soup.  It is great to pull it out of the freezer and warm it up, knowing my family is getting a well-rounded meal with very minimal effort (after the initial cooking-day).

Chicken Tortilla Soup

chopped de-boned meat from a rotisserie chicken

4 cloves minced garlic

1 large onion, chopped

3 large carrots, diced

4 sticks celery, diced

1 can black beans

1 can corn

1 teas cumin

1 teas chili powder

1 can RoTel tomatoes

2 teas lime juice

about 10 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup masa (corn flour) 

fresh cilantro

1 tbls butter

in a big pot on med heat, saute onion, garlic, celery, and carrots in butter until the veggies are tender......add flour and masa....it will be a gooey sight......slowly stir in about half of the broth.......add chicken, RoTel, beans, corn, lemon juice, and spices.....add almost all of the remainder of broth......simmer for about 45 minutes......then add oh, about 1/2 cup of washed and chopped cilantro.....simmer 5 more minutes, and then it’s ready!

And here are Aunt Teri's notes for adapting it in various ways:

*i usually keep a little of the broth to the side, just in case i decide it doesn’t need all of it.... that way you can control the thickness or thinness of the soup..... 10 cups is just a “ball park” figure

* sometimes i add about 3 diced corn tortillas, just to give it a little extra tortilla taste

* sometimes i crush a few fritos or doritos to give it extra flavor

* it might need salt, but if your chicken broth is salty enough, there’s no need to add to the soup

* sometimes, i add thinly sliced zucchini or squash during the last 5 or 10 minutes.....


Our Scores:
Megan: 9/10, if a healthy soup is going to be the main course, this is a good one
Adel: 7/10, not exotic enough to be a favorite, but it's a good meal
Isaac: 10/10, he LOVES it (which is great, because he's eating mixed ingredients!)
Abby: 6/10, picks out and eats only the beans and chicken, but it's growing on her