Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is a great recipe I got from my dear friend Jaye. I had been looking online for a good recipe for it. Yet all the recipes I was finding only used chicken and salsa with some chicken broth and the cheese and chips. I had had this soup at restaurants before and it always had beans and or corn too. I wanted a recipe like that, I wanted a hearty filling soup. So I asked Jaye if she had a recipe for it, not only did she have one, it had all the things in it I wanted! I am sharing this recipe with Jaye's permission. This soup is "Nummy" as my 2 year old said when he was eating it lol.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped

• 3 cloves garlic, minced, less if it's too much

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 2 teaspoons chili powder

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

• 1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed chicken broth, or 2 chicken bullion cubes, which is what I use because I prefer the flavor

• 1 1/4 cups water

• 1 cup whole corn kernels, cooked

• 1 cup white hominy**

• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green Chile peppers if you want to add them

• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained, I actually like to use a half can of black and a half can of light red or pinto beans

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

• 2 to 3 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces if you prefer the white meat, which for this soup its preferred

• crushed tortilla chips

• shredded Monterey Jack cheese

• chopped green onions, if you like

Directions

1. In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic in oil until soft.

Stir in chili powder, oregano, tomatoes, broth, and water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

2. Stir in corn, hominy, chilies, beans, cilantro, and chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Ladle soup into individual serving bowls, and top with crushed tortilla chips, cheese, and chopped green onion.

** That is Jaye's recipe as she gave it to me. I left out the hominy, because we're not fans of it. So instead I used 1 whole can of Black Beans and 1 whole can of Pinto beans, instead of a half can of each. We also didn't top with green onions, since my husband is the only fan of green onions...but he thinks they would be awesome on top 8)

Enjoy ~