Soooo the wind this weekend was absolutely insane. I thought our house was going to blow over at least 3 times! This is the part of dog ownership that totally sucks. Going out in 20 degree wild wind is not my idea of fun at 8am…yuck.
The cold weather does lend itself to crazy heavy and delicious meals though, which I love. I made tortilla soup on Sunday without a recipe and it came out really really great (going to share in a minute). Every single recipe (even the ones that said “easy”) online had 55 ingredients. I am a good cook, I can handle making something difficult, what I don’t want is to have to spend $30 on spices I will only use once, and waste vegetables that I won’t cook with again soon enough. Plus, the grocery stores were so busy this weekend, I nearly had a fist fight in Trader Joe’s (ok I didn’t, but I wanted to!). Anyway, here is what I did, and like I always say (and mean it) it came out really great!
WHAT YOU NEED:
1 1/4 lbs of chicken breast cubed((ish)
15 oz can diced tomato & green chilies fire roasted (Traders! or buy separately)
1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (this decides the heat)
1 chopped medium onion
2 boxes Swanson Mexican Tortilla Broth (greatest product ever)
1/2 tbs garlic (to taste)
Some garlic salt, onion powder, s&p
Lime, Avocado, Tortilla Strips, Cheese, Sour Cream (all optional)
DIRECTIONS
1. Put chicken, tomato/chile, chipotle peppers, onion, garlic, & broth in the crock pot on high. Let this cook for about 2 hours.
2. Use a ladle to take out the chunks of chicken, onion, tomato & pepper. This doesn’t have to be exact, but make sure to get the big pieces of chicken. Put this in the blender and blend it up quickly. Don’t purée this, just give it a light, quick mix.
3. Put it all back in the crock pot (do the blending in batches) and add the seasonings you are going to want. I added about 1 tsp of onion powder, garlic salt, and just a pinch of salt. Now let this cook for another couple hours (or 10 minutes if you need dinner).
4. You’re basically done. Scoop it out and enjoy with whatever toppings you like. I did some lime juice, pinch of cheddar, tortillas and sour cream, but honestly, it would have tasted great without these additions too!
Mmm.
On a totally different note, thanks to Jay for being my cheerleader. Saturday I really missed my friends. Everyone was together in NYC & NC and I was struggling a bit with how much I missed them. I love our new life here, but there will always be days I miss the ease of having my best friends right around the corner (whether it’s college or Brooklyn). Thankfully, I have Jay, who not only completely understood, but got me ground beef disturbing Taco Bell for dinner, played a flower game with me, and reminded me of how lucky I am.
xo-j
forEVR and always 