Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken tortilla soup has to be the best comfort food. In one bowl, I have memories of my Irish grandmother's chicken noodle soup joined with my favorite Mexican seasonings. This has been a great recipe for those with diet restrictions, because I can make the soup, and after it is done people can add corn, cheese, or tortillas into their individual bowl.

Turkey legs were on sale last week, so I put a frozen turkey leg in the slow cooker yesterday morning, and by dinner time the meat fell off the bone. You can use bone-in chicken or turkey legs, and they can both be frozen. If you're using frozen poultry make sure to start the slow cooker by late morning. There are so many variations to this recipe - have fun with it!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Makes 10-12 (1) cup servings

Ingredients

1 lb of raw chicken

1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 medium onion, diced

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
1 cup frozen corn (optional)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
2 cups (or 1 can) of chicken broth
1 T cumin*
1 T chili powder*
2 tsp oregano*
1 tsp salt*
1/4 teaspoon black pepper*
1 bay leaf
2 T chopped cilantro

- You can replace all of the ingredients with an (*) with 2 T of my homemade taco seasoning recipe.

Directions

- Place chicken, tomatoes, onion, green chiles, corn (if you are using it) and garlic into slow cooker.
- Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, bay leaf, and cilantro.
- Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.

- Garnish with diced avocados, cheese, sour cream, fresh cilantro, chives and/or tortilla strips

* This soup freezes very well! If you have the extra ingredients, double the recipe, cool leftovers in fridge and then freeze.

How to make tortilla strips:

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Oil both sides of the tortillas of your choice.
- Using a pizza cutter, cut the tortilla into ½ -1” strips
- Place on baking sheet, and bake 10-15 minutes (depending on type of tortilla you’re using) until crisp.

Cost:

1 lb organic chicken: $2.39

or turkey leg: $1.30

1 can organic diced tomatoes: $.89

1 can green chilis: $.69

Homemade stock: $.53

Organic onion: $.33

Seasonings (including cilantro): $.25 (best guess)

Garnishes: $1.00 (again, a guess)

Total: $6.08 (chicken) or $4.99 (turkey)