Chicken Tortilla Soup

Today's soup swap was a rousing success, and all 5 soups were delicious! I want to share them so others can enjoy the yumminess, starting with my friend L's tasty tortilla soup. She started with a recipe but made so many modifications it officially became her own creation. Whatever she did - it worked! Just beware - it makes like 18 cups of soup. Great for a big family, a big get-together, or for those with plenty of freezer space.

Note - the recipe uses shallots instead of onions because one of our friends is allergice to white, yellow, and red onions. But you could use regular onions instead.

Tortilla Soup

Ingredients
1 rotiserie chicken
6 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of water
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp apple cidar vinegar
1 (15 ounce) can chopped tomatoes
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
3 shallots, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 can of black beans rinced

7 corn tortillas
vegetable oil

Directions

Soup
1. Remove Chicken from bones.
2. Boil Bones, skin, broth and water and vinegar for several hours
3. Drain stock from bones and put back in stock pot
4. Wisk 1/2 cup of water with the flour and add to the stock pot
4. Add Everything but the chicken
5. Simmer for 2-3 hours - then remove the bay leaf
6. Chop the chicken and add after you take the soup off the heat.

Tortilla Strips
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
3. Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 8 - 10 minutes.

To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup. We also topped our soup with a little bit of shredded cheese, fresh cilantro, and sour cream.

Creamy Sweet Potato Soup

I made my soup for this Saturday's "soup swap" and I'm delighted with how it all came out. The recipe is very easy, so I thought I'd share.

Creamy Sweet Potato Soup

This would make a quick, healthy dinner for 4 on a cold, busy weeknight if you paired it with a big salad and half a sandwich.

Crockpot Pulled Pork/Chicken

I love my Crockpot, but surprisingly hadn't used mine yet this winter. That was corrected on New Year's Day, when I made pulled pork using a recipe that a friend sent me after a pot luck party. Here's the recipe link:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Crock-Pot-Pulled-Chicken-202703

I used a 1.5 lb pork tenderloin instead of chicken, and Campbell's Healthy Request tomato soup and Splenda Brown Sugar blend to cut back the calories. It was delicious!

My friend's original suggestion was also to use a rub on the meat. I forgot it, but have no doubt it would taste yummy. I'll definitely try it next time. Here was her custom-made rub.

Spice Rub:
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon dried oregano
4 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons table salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground white pepper