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This recipe is the result of things in my fridge that I wanted to use up, which happens pretty often. I made a whole roasted chicken (about 3 pounds) a few nights ago but I'm not a big fan of white meat chicken so we just ate the legs and wings. This recipe uses the left over meat and the bones. I also had a large container of salsa from the bachelorette party weekend and I wanted to use that too. It was a spicy salsa so keep in mind that your soup will be more or less spicy depending on the salsa you use.

Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell peppers
• 2 cups salsa (Santa Barbara Deli-style medium)
  
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoon cumin
  
• 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
  
• 2 quarts chicken broth
• 1 roasted chicken (white mean only left), separate meat from bones and hand shred
  
• 1 (15 ounce) can cream style corn
  
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1. Heat oil in a large pot. Sweat the onions, garlic, and peppers until soft.
2. Add salsa, chili powder, cumin, and dried cilantro. Stir until evenly mixed.
3. Add chicken broth and chicken bones, bring to a boil.
4. Add cream style corn and black beans and bring to a boil again. (This may be a good time to preheat the oven for the tortillas.)
5. Turn down to a simmer and cook covered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. During this time, you can make the tortillas.)
6. Add chicken meat to soup and cook for 15 minutes. (You can put the tortillas in the oven now and they will be done at the same time as the soup.)
7. Remove the bones from the soup. Serve soup with tortillas.

Tortillas

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 3/4 teaspoon lime powder
• 5 (6") corn tortillas
  
• salt and paprika to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the olive oil, granulated garlic, and lime powder. Brush on both sides of each tortilla. Cut into 4 strips or wedges and lay on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and paprika. Bake for 15 minutes.

Garnishes - There are a few garnishes that come to mind that would enhance this soup but for one reason or the other, I have not chosen to use them but if you like any of these, throw them on.

• Avocado, cubed or sliced, would be great if you like avocado. I don't.
• Shredded Mexican cheeses would be my preference, but Lon is lactose intolerant so we'll leave it out when we can.
• Fresh cilantro would've been in this recipe if I wasn't too lazy to go out and buy some.
  

*Note: Keep in mind that I made enough tortillas for Lon and I to eat with the soup for one meal. There's enough soup for several meals though so if you're serving to a group, you'll have to double or triple the tortilla portion of the recipe.

posted by Jessica@Foodmayhem at 8:24 AM 2 Comments add a comment