Creamy Tortilla Soup

This creamy soup is an all time favorite at my house.  I typically use all fresh ingredients/dried beans when I have time, but you can easily trade those for canned if you are in a hurry.  With Thanksgiving coming up, keep this recipe in mind for turkey leftovers (instead of chicken).

Ingredients

2lbs Chicken breast

2  tablespoons Butter

1  Onion – diced

6  Cloves diced garlic

2 Jalapeños (optional)

2 Red Peppers 

1 Tablespoon Cumin

1 Tablespoon Chili Powder

Salt & Pepper

6 cups chicken stock

1 can Red Kidney Beans (drained and rinsed well) substitute any beans you like, I prefer to use dried beans to control the salt, but this does require soaking and boiling in advance

1 can Black Beans (drained and rinsed well)

1 package cream cheese

1 can salsa

1 can of Corn or two cups fresh or frozen

 

Salt and pepper the raw chicken and then sauté the chicken in butter, then remove from the pot(I use a big copper pot for this recipe) and set aside. Dice all the veggies and sauté.  Once veggies are cooked through, added spices, then liquids, shredded chicken, beans, canned tomatoes, salsa and cream cheese. I like to simmer this soup for at least an hour to get the flavors to really come together.

Tip- heat the cream cheese in the microwave and whisk with a little of the hot soup, it will dissolve much easier than just throwing it in – but I’ve done it and it still works you might just get a clump of cream cheese here and there…

Garnish with fresh cilantro,shredded cheddar, tortilla chips,sour cream or hot sauce.