Tortilla Soup

It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend in Georgia.  We spent as much time as we could outside - enjoying the beautiful Fall weather.  I snapped a few pictures of some of our weekend activities to share with all of you. 

Can you tell that I had a great weekend?  I am loving this September weather.

As soon as the cooler weather moves in, I start craving warm, hearty soup.  Last week I had a craving for tortilla soup.  I did some internet searching for a new tortilla soup recipe.  I was looking for a recipe that was loaded with vegetables and didn't have cream.  (It was harder to find than you might think.)  I finally found a recipe on sunflowersupperclub.blogspot.com and even though it was called Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup and contained cream - I decided to go ahead and make it anyway and just leave out the cream. 

Ben brought some banana peppers home from a friend at work this week and I wanted to use those in my soup so I swapped them for the jalapeno.  (My family isn't too fond of spicy food anyway.)  I made a few other changes to the recipe so I am going to give you my - modified - version of the recipe.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded
2  tablespoons olive oil
1  small onion chopped
1  small orange bell pepper, diced
3 banana peppers
4  cloves garlic, minced
2  tablespoons chili powder
1  teaspoon cumin
1  teaspoon oregano
1/2  teaspoon salt
1/4  cup flour
3  cups chicken broth
1  can (15 ounce) diced tomatoes, undrained
1  can (4 ounce) diced green chilies
1  can (15 ounce) sweet corn, drained 
1  can (15 ounce) black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 lime, juiced



Garnish:
Colby-Jack Cheese
Fresh Cilantro, minced
Avocado, diced
Corn Tortilla Strips








Roast chicken in the oven with for 40 minutes at 375.









Heat oil over medium heat in a large Dutch Oven or soup pot.  Add the onion, red bell pepper and banana peppers and saute for 3-4 minutes until soft.  

 




Add the garlic, Chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and cayenne pepper.  Cook for 1 minute until fragrant.  

 Add the flour and continue cooking for another minute, stirring constantly.

Slowly add the chicken broth, tomatoes, green chilies, corn and black beans.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes until slightly thickened. 

Remove from heat and stir in the cooked chicken.  Squeeze a half a lime into the soup.

Stack tortillas and slice into strips.

Lay strips on a baking sheet, spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt.

Bake 8-10 minutes at 400.

Ladle soup into bowls.

I like to put my toppings in separate bowls on the table because not everyone in the family likes the same things in their soup.

Serve.

Craving satisfied - deliciously!  This soup definitely hit the spot on a cool Fall evening.  And now, I have lunch for the rest of the week - bonus!

Ciao!