Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Further evidence of how The Fairy Blogmother and I share some sort of freakish, bloggy, psychic connection today, for What's Cooking Wednesday, I bring you this dish prepared by my lovely husband...

(I love this part of the winter...when he is home...and he cooks!)


Chicken Tortilla Soup


If you like warm comfort food, and you like Nachos, you will like this soup.


Here is your ingredients list:


1 cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic

3 cups chicken broth

1 can diced tomatoes**

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1-1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

1/4 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend

1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro


Tortilla chips, optional (really? I don't think they are "optional" at all. You must serve this soup with tortilla chips!).

**In case you didn't know...you should always buy canned tomatoes whole. It has something to do with the amount of processing, or something. The whole ones are picked vine ripened and canned and the diced ones have to be processed first or something...so they aren't as fresh or as flavourful. I forget just what the science behind it is now, but I think I must have learned this from the Food God, Alton Brown, so just trust me...only ever buy canned whole tomatoes and do whatever else you need to do with them (mush them, slice them, dice them...) yourself.



Directions:

• In a large saucepan, combine the first six ingredients; bring to a boil. Add chicken. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 4-6 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; gradually stir into soup.


• Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened. Top servings with cheese and cilantro (mmmm. I love me some cilantro. So does Bun-Bun!). Serve with tortilla chips "if desired" (why wouldn't you desire to serve this with the tortilla chips? C'mon...it's great!).

This soup was really, really, good and it was also quite filling. So, it makes a great dinner soup. And, my little Mexican food loving girls both really liked their soup - gave it two thumbs up and polished it off. In the words of Rachel Ray (but, no, it isn't her recipe), "Yumm-O".

This soup was made from a recipe in the book I got last fall, "Taste of Home, Heartwarming Soups". I tend to want soup a lot once the weather turns cold. Dave made this one and two others that he just "whipped up" on his own during this past week. Did I mention that I love it when Davey cooks? Yesterday he made me a curry vegetable soup without a recipe. It was really, really, good too!!

So....Happy What's Cooking Wednesday!

If you are looking for more great dinner ideas, or would like to share a recipe that you've tried out and loved, please go HERE to the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.