Chicken Tortilla Soup

I was supposed to blog yesterday and it is now Thursday evening. We had a few hectic days. Yesterday I had to go to a last minute meeting and then came home to find a very sick dog at home. I ended up taking him to an emergency vet and was gone until midnight. I don't want to talk about how much money I spent at the Vet office!  Not that you care what my excuses are, but I feel better sharing them with you.

I made this soup on Halloween weekend and it was delicious. I found this recipe on one of my new favorite food blogs For the Love of Cooking. Here is a link to the recipe. http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/2008/10/chicken-tortilla-soup.html

I did make a few changes to the recipe. I only added 8 cups of chicken broth instead of 10 because my husband likes thick soup. I also added a can of black beans and omitted the jalapenos because I didn't have any. The avocado topping with the cojita cheese was amazing. I didn't make my own tortilla strips and we just crushed some tortilla chips on top.  I'm sure the homemade ones would be better and healthier.  Be sure to try the soup.

Shredded Chicken:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of any fat
3 cups of chicken broth or water
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp sweet yellow onion, diced finely
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients and gently boil for 20 minutes. Let the chicken breasts cool then shred with two forks.

Soup:

2 tsp olive oil
2 cups of onion, diced
1 cup of celery, diced
2 cups of carrots, diced
1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped (more if you want spicy)
4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 1/2 quarts of chicken stock (I used homemade)
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 tsp of cumin (I used about 1 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp ground coriander seed (I used about 1 1/2 tsp)
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
1/2 a cup of fresh cilantro, chopped (divided)
6 fresh white corn tortillas

Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Once hot, add onions and saute until tender. Add the garlic and stir constantly for 60 seconds. Add the carrots, celery, jalapeno, tomatoes, broth, cumin, coriander, sea salt and pepper to taste and 1/4 cup of cilantro. Cut the 6 corn tortillas in half, then cut them crosswise into 1/2 inch strips and add to the soup. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and the corn tortillas have melted away. Add the chicken, taste and re season if needed.

Corn tortilla strips:

5 corn tortillas
Cooking spray
Sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray the baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray. Spray each side of all the tortillas & lay in a pile. Cut into thin strips & spread across the baking dish then season with sea salt. Bake in the oven until golden brown - watch them carefully because they burn easily. It usually takes about 3-5 minutes.

Additional Toppings:

1 - 2 avocados, diced
Cotija cheese, grated
Fresh cilantro (remainder from above ingredients)

Ladle soup into large soup bowls. Add some avocado, tortilla strips, a sprinkle of cheese and cilantro. Enjoy!