Chicken Tortilla Soup

We have had 2 days of rain.  Gloomy days calls for soup.  So I pulled out my favorite soup pot and looked around my kitchen to see what would inspire me.  There it was... a huge bag of tortilla chips that I bought from Costco.   I love Costco, but sometimes their packages are so darn big you could literally feed an Army.  I bought a bag of tortilla chips for a football get together and there it sat more than half full.  So I decided Chicken Tortilla soup would be a great way to use up some of those chips.  I had the rest of the ingredients in my pantry so and off I went.    I wasn't sure how it would turn out (I have never made Tortilla soup), but I was so very happy with the results.  The soup was done in less than 30 minutes and that's with me starting with frozen chicken breast that I had to defrost in the microwave.  Yes, this soup will now become a favorite on my soup list.  It was quick, easy, tasty, pretty healthy and my daughter has already gobbled up a bowl.  Win, win, win!

Ingredients:

1lb boneless chicken breast (cut into bite size pieces)
1 large onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic grated
4 cups of chicken broth (low sodium)
1 (15oz) can of black beans (rinsed)
1 (15oz) can creamed corn
1 15oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup of crushed tortilla chips
juice of half a lime
1/2 cup of pickled jalapeno chopped (or a can of diced green chiles)
1/2 tsp of dried oregano
2 tsp of chili powder (this is the kind you use for Mexican cooking or chili)
1 tsp ground cumin
Seasoning Salt (recommend Adobo) and pepper

Directions:

Heat your soup pot with 1Tbs of canola oil.  Once heated, add your diced up chicken.  Season with salt and pepper or your Adobe seasoning. Brown the outside for a few minutes .

Next add your chopped onion and grated garlic.  Saute for another few minutes.

Now add your dry spices (cumin, chili powder and oregano) with your chopped jalapenos or diced chilies. Cook for another 2 minutes.

Now add your diced tomatoes and stir well.

Add your chicken broth, canned cream corn and rinsed black beans.  Bring soup to a boil.  Allow to boil for 10-12 minutes.

Finally add your crushed tortilla chips.  Stir well and boil for another 2 minutes.  Squeeze your lime juice and taste for seasoning. The best way to crush the chips is to put them in a ziploc bag and use a rolling pin over the bag until the chips get crushed.

Note: remember the tortilla chips will be salted so make sure you adjust your salt at the beginning of the soup accordingly.

Serves 4-6 people.  Serve with extra chips, sour cream and more wedges of lime.  Enjoy.