Chicken Tortilla Soup

Remember how last week was comfort food week at our house?  Well here's another fruit of my labor:  Chicken tortilla soup.  I am a big fan of soup and also a big fan of Mexican food.  This of course was the perfect combo, even Mike said this was a soup he could eat a lot of - high praise from that meat loving man.

I'm just going to let most of the pictures do the talking on this one.

I've become a kind of connoisseur of chicken tortilla soups if you will and this one has all the good stuff from all the soups I've had.  Hope you enjoy this soup as much as I do; my mouth's watering just looking at these pictures.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 small onion, diced

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 jalapenos, finely diced

3 cups low-sodium chicken broth

3 cups water

1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes

1 (14.5-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can corn, drained

1 bag boil-in-bag brown rice, cooked (or 2 cups prepared rice)

3 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

2 limes, juiced, plus wedges for garnish

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Option garnishes

1 cup shredded cheese

avocado slices

tortilla chips

Directions

In a large saucepan heat the vegetable oil. Add the onions and cook for 2 minutes. Once the onions have softened add the garlic and jalepenos and cook for another minute. Pour the chicken broth, water, tomatoes, corn, rice, and beans into the pot and bring to a boil. Once at a boil lower heat to simmer and add your chicken breasts. Cook the chicken for 20 to 25 minutes. Once chicken is cooked remove from pot. When cool enough to handle shred it and set it aside, or place in the bowl of a stand mixer fit with paddle attachment and shred that way (believe it or not, it works like magic!) Return chicken to pot and add lime juice and fresh cilantro. Garnish with tortilla chips, cheese and avocado if desired.

Honey-Garlic BBQ sauce

Last week was comfort food week at the Coghill house seeing as I needed lots of comfort to get through this stinking paper.  But good news: I am finally in the editing phase which means the end is near! So to kick off our unofficial "comfort food" week, I made some bbq sauce.

Yep. It's pretty delicious (this is coming from the girl that doesn't really care for bbq sauce).  It's also fairly simple to make; it's one of those wonderful set it and forget it type things.  Also, it makes a lovely companion to things like pulled pork sandwiches (hint, hint).

In addition to making wonderful yummy food last week, I also have been religiously listening to My Hope Is In You.  If you haven't heard it, you should because it's great (forewarning though, the music video's kinda sad!).  It's been my great reminder that the end is near on the semester of law school!

Alright, enough yammering, here's the recipe.  Happy Monday to you all!

Honey-Garlic BBQ Sauce
adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients

            2 cups ketchup

            4 cloves crushed and peeled garlic

            1 cup water

            2 tablespoons hot sauce

            1/4 cup honey

            1 T garlic powder

            1 T onion powder

            2 tablespoons molasses

            2 tablespoons brown sugar

            1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

            1 teaspoon soy sauce

            1 teaspoon salt

            2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning

            1 pinch paprika

            1 pinch crushed red pepper

            1 pinch ground white pepper

            1 pinch ground black pepper

            1 tablespoons cornstarch

            1 tablespoon water

            1/2 cup butter

Directions

In a large saucepan over medium low heat, mix together everything but the last three
ingredients (2 T cornstarch, 1 T water, 1/2 butter). Allow the mixture to simmer approximately
30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in 1 tablespoon of water. Adjust amount of water as
needed to fully dissolve cornstarch. Stir into the sauce mixture. Continue simmering
approximately 2-3 minutes. Stir butter into the sauce mixture. Continue simmering mixture
approximately 5 more minutes, or until butter is melted and the sauce has begun to thicken.
Serve over meats prepared as desired.