It is starting to feel like Fall!
I love the cooler temperatures,
the time spent outside,
the football games,
and THE SOUP!
Here is a family fave...
Uncle Marty's Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients:
2 whole roasted chickens (I like the Mesquite flavored rotisserie but any will do)
- can be bought @ grocery store already cooked
6 cans 14 oz Butterball Chicken broth
5 cans 14 oz Del Monte Mexican Style or Fire Roasted w/ garlic
Diced Tomatoes (Hunt’s)
2 cans Rotel Festival Diced Tomatoes w/ Lime Juice & Cilantro
(3 if you want)
1 cup of Joe T. Garcia's
Green Tomatillo Sauce (can be bought @ Kroger)
4 tsp fresh minced garlic (5 tsp if you like garlic)
4 tsp ground cumin
Ground chili powder
5 tbsp butter or margarine
1 bunch Cilantro (if you like cilantro get 2 bunches)
2 large white onions
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
Bag of Limes (usually 6-8 depending on how many you are feeding)
1 bag of Monterrey Jack Shredded Cheese
1 bag of Corn Tortillas (12 ct )
Cook garlic in the butter in dutch oven
or like container on med - high heat for 2 minutes. Stir frequently to
prevent garlic from burning. Add 3 tsp cumin into garlic butter mixture
and stir for about 1 minute. Add broth, diced tomatoes, rotel, tomatillo sauce,
onions (chopped or sliced), bell peppers (chopped or sliced), 1 tbsp chili
powder, 1/2 bunch cilantro leaves chopped w/o stems;
As the soup begins to cook, separate
all the meat from the chickens and hand shred into soup; Bring to boil. Stir
often. Reduce heat, add another 1 tbsp chili powder (optional), add 1 tsp
cumin, cover for 30 - 45 minutes but stir often.
Cut corn tortillas into 1/4" strips w/
knife (3 at a time works well for me), Slice limes into 4 quarters (hand roll
each one before cutting to increase the juices). If you have a juicer
use it w/ the limes. It creates more fresh lime juice.
Remove from heat, ladle soup into bowl of your
choice (I like a big one), squeeze 1 - 2 lime quarters into soup or pour fresh
lime juice from the juicer (as much as you want to your taste), place tortilla
strips on top of soup, sprinkle cilantro and cheese on top of soup ( as much as
you like of each) and EAT EAT EAT!
Jalapeno cornbread is a great compliment NO crackers
allowed!
This will serve 15-20+ depending on the size of your bowls.
Note: I do a few things differently...I bake chicken breasts and shred them, I buy the "Hint of Lime" tortilla chips, I do not sprinkle cilantro on top of mine--but I do have it available...ENJOY!