Chicken & Veggie Tortilla Soup - Perfected!

First of all... as always... we have been slacking on the food blog front. But we now have some new motivation. Our friend Ryan and his girlfriend Angie just started a killer new blog: Primal Fusion. They are already making us look bad and have posted some really good stuff. Check it out.

For my birthday dinner Beth cooked me one of my favorite meals... Chicken Tortilla Soup. She has made it for me a handful of times and each time it's been a bit different, but always very good. We order chicken tortilla soup when we go out to eat to try find the right combo of spice, veggies, and chicken with out it being to heavy (creamy).

El Caribe probably has our favorite version so we have been wanting to duplicate it.... and even make it better. Well... Beth nailed and made me hands down the best Chicken and Veggie Tortilla soup I have ever had. It was probably the best soup I have ever had.

Beth doing work in her new killer sweat suit.


Here's how it went down.

• 1 pound shredded, cooked chicken
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed
• 1 can of diced tomatoes with jalepeno's
• 1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 Green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 zucchini, sliced
• 2 celery stocks, chopped
  
• 2 large carrots, sliced
  
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Everything but the chicken was cooked in one pot. Just chuck all the veggies in the pot and let them cook a bit and then add the Chicken broth. After the vegetables are almost done throw in the chicken. We used organic, free-range chicken breast from traders that we steamed in steamer bags and the she shredded it. They came out perfect.

Once the chicken is shredded throw it in the pot and let if cook for a while so everything is cooked through. Turn down the heat and let all the flavor combine.


I was responsible for making the guac.

• 2 avocados
• 1 tbsp Cilantro, chopped
• juice of one lime
• sea salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 small heirloom tomatoes, diced
  
• 2 tbsp of greek yogurt (makes is creamy and works well in the soup)

For the tortillas we used our favorite corn tortillas from La Fe. The La Fe Tortilla Factory is local and they make killer tortillas with very few ingredients. All the package lists are corn, water, lime juice, and salt. You can't beat that. We put the tortillas in the toaster oven to get them crispy and then broke them up into chips of the soup... and some extra for the guacamole.

That's it. It was awesome.