Easy-Peasy Chicken Tortilla Soup

I'm such soup gal. I love to soup it out. I remember, during the hottest day of last Summer, I was at Mandoo Dumpling Bar and ordered a spicy ramen noodle soup. The sweat hadn't even dried on my face and I was enjoying myself some nice hot noodles.

My favorite diet is my version of the soup diet--meaning eating soup for lunch everyday. It is suppose to be soup for every meal. Not really much of a diet, but I'm not really a diet person. Besides, like I said, I'm a soup gal and believe it or not the Europa downstairs from where I use to work had the best tomato basil soup.

I really adore chicken tortilla soup though. I always imagined that it would be difficult. No real reason to think that, its just that when something is that good. How could it be easy to make?

I decided to give it a go though. For some reason, I decided to give it a go on a weeknight--never a good time to try a new recipe. Very stressful and you have to deal with hanger. In case you don't know, hanger is anger+hungry=hanger. I did  little research and found this Tyler Florence recipe. Even though I'm more of a Bobby Flay fan, Tyler's recipes are always easy to follow and you don't end up having to spend tons of money on spices you will never use again.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/mexican-tortilla-chicken-soup-recipe/index.html


I decided to modify it a little bit though. I have no time to run around cooking chicken or making homemade chicken broth on a weeknight. I got ingredients though some were the same and some of it different.

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 medium white onions, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
• 3 ripe medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 quart chicken broth
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Bag of blue corn tortilla chips
• 1 rotisserie chicken
• 1 cup crumbled queso fresco, optional
• 1 lime, cut in wedges, for serving

First, I threw the olive oil, onions, garlic, and tomatoes into my good friend the dutch oven. Cooking until everything is all pulped up.

Then I add the chicken broth and salt and pepper. I simmer for about 15 minutes. I think shred the rotisserie chicken and add to the broth. Simmering for another 15 minutes.

I then serve in bowls and top with crumbled blue corn tortilla chips. No need to make your own tortilla chips. It makes a greasey mess and it is much easier to just crumble and add. I also top with crumbled queso fresco, because it has so much more authentic flavor than jack cheese. I also squeeze in lot of lime for extra goodness. How tasty does this look?

So easy peasy and really very good. Next time I will use chopped avocado as well. The avocados at two grocery stores were nowhere near ripe and I was very sad although there is nothing truly sad about this completely yummy soup. It was so perfect. This one is totally going in the books! xoxo happy nibbling!