Sunday Soup: Chicken Tortilla Soup

You know the drill… You get home from church (or wherever you may be) STARVING, nothing really planned, and eating out isn’t an option. Well this is what happened to me on Sunday. We changed times for church and you’d be surprised how much more hungry you are at 2:00 instead of noon. I needed a meal relatively quick that felt hearty, and since it’s FREEZING here… Soup did the trick. Now if you follow our Facebook page, and saw me talking about chicken quinoa soup, that one I still need to make again and measure out the ingredients… This is a different one.

I had some black beans that I had pressure cooked for another recipe I needed to use. If you don’t know about pressure cooking beans- check out this post. I thought chicken chili could be good, but I also had some avocados I needed to use and didn’t really feel like eating chili. Am I the only one who meal plans based on what I HAVE to use… So anyways, I did a quick web search and found this recipe on The Food Network.

Since I’ve been making it a goal to cook my meals from scratch, it makes it so when I run into situations where we need food fast, we have been eating out a LOT. I’ve made it a goal to double recipes and freeze them more often. I’m sure there are a lot of recipes and resources out there that I can and will look into, but when I was making this soup, I thought I’d give it a try anyways. I didn’t freeze the tortillas, cheese, lime juice, or avocados… in case you were wondering.

Here’s the recipe. I made some changes out of necessity and it turned out really yummy. My family said it was for sure a keeper! In my hungered stupor, I didn’t’ take a picture. So here’s a picture of the frozen bag that is in my freezer.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Recipe courtesy Danny Boome (found on the Food Network)

Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 jalapenos, finely diced (I used freeze dried green chili peppers since I always have those on hand)
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 (14.5-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained (I used dry beans that I pressure cooked)
3 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless (I could have used freeze dried chicken and made it even faster)
2 limes, juiced, plus wedges for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 (8-inch) flour tortilla, grilled, cut into thin strips
1 avocado, pitted, sliced
1 cup shredded Monterrey cheese

Directions
In a large saucepan heat the vegetable oil. Add the onions and cook for 2 minutes. Once the onions have softened add the garlic and jalapenos and cook for another minute. Pour the chicken broth, tomatoes and beans into the pot and bring to a boil. Once at a boil lower heat to simmer and add your chicken breasts. Cook the chicken for 20 to 25 minutes. Once chicken is cooked remove from pot. When cool enough to handle shred it and set it aside. Add lime juice and fresh cilantro to the pot. In a serving bowl add a mound of shredded chicken. Ladle soup over chicken and top with a lime wedge, grilled tortilla strips, avocado slices and cheese.