Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is the exciting conclusion of "The Whole Chicken Experience!" (That's what I'm calling this. Fyi.) This is the third meal from our chicken from Monday. I saved most of the chicken breasts for this. I usually cook this in the crock pot, but I was running late because I was shopping. And really, what's a better excuse than that? If you'd like to cook it in the crock, you can cook it on high for about 2 hours. And add 5 minutes to the last step. I'm pretty sure it is delicious no matter how you make it.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chunky salsa
2 cups of cooked shredded chicken
2 cups frozen corn
1 15 oz. can of black beans rinsed and drained
2 cans (10.75 oz. each) cream of chicken soup
1 can Rotel
1/2 cup water or chicken stock (I used spicy chicken stock from my rotisserie chicken.)
1 tablespoon chopped pickled jalapeno (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground chili powder
1 or 2 6inch corn tortillas cut into strips
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Stir the salsa, chicken, corn and beans together in a large dutch oven.

2. Stir the soup, tomatoes, chicken stock (or water), jalapenos, cumin and chili powder together in a separate bowl. Pour on top.

3. Allow the pot to heat at very low for a minute or 2, then stir well.

4. Cover and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

5. Stir in tortilla strips, cheese and cilantro. Cover and cook on very low an additional 10 minutes.

I think this soup is rich enough on it's own, so the only topper I usually use is green onions, if I have them, which of course I will have them FOREVER now (see The Green Onion Experiment). You can also use black olives, sour cream and/or cheese. This batch was particularly spicy for some reason so I used sour cream to cool it down. And you definitely need tortilla or corn chips! I have fried a few corn tortilla strips before, but I was being lazy tonight.

This soup is awesome with Cheesy Jalapeno Cornbread. It's super easy!

Cheesy Jalapeno Cornbread

Ingredients:

1 box Jiffy cornbread mix (8.5 ounces)

1 egg

1/4 cup butter or margarine (melted)

1/3 cup milk

2 tablespoons diced pickled jalapeno, drained well

1 cup shredded cheese

1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Combine corn bread mix, egg and butter.

2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

3. Place cornbread in greased muffin tin or greased 8 x 8 casserole dish.

4. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  

YUM!!