Tortilla Soup

After buying a few whole chickens with the strict purpose of making chicken stock, I found myself with an abundance of shredded chicken.  I figured the best way to use it would be to make a white chicken chili.  While hunting for a recipe, I happened upon a link I had saved some time ago, a recipe for Tortilla Soup.

The recipe calls for 2 whole chickens and gives instructions for how to prepare them.  I made two changes immediately.

1.  I didn't follow the cooking instructions.  I already had cooked, shredded chicken on hand. 
2.  I cut the recipe in half.  I didn't want to use that much chicken up on a recipe I'd never made before.

Like most good things, the recipe starts off with a saute of onions and garlic.

Here are some of the key ingredients (see recipe): Chipotle Peppers in Adobe Sauce, canned diced tomatoes, green chiles, fresh jalapeno, black beans, and shredded chicken

The beginning of something amazing

And the key players from the spice rack:  Chili Powder (of course), bay leaves, garlic powder (this recipe calls for a ton of garlic, but I don't think you could really tell), oregano, chipotle chili powder (a new addition to my huge spice collection), and cumin.

Pre-Spice (I never seem to remember to photograph ALL the ingredients...
This also has some frozen corn (recipe calls for canned).

With Spices on top:

Look at this yummy finished product!!

Here it is with the glorious and necessary (to dull the burn!) cheddar cheese and light sour cream:

I've already had a large bowlful prior to this picture being taken

Verdict:  This was a very delicious recipe.  I portioned it out into 6-8 servings (remember, I HALVED the recipe!) and ate it for lunch and dinner for until it was gone.  I will definitely be making this recipe again.  It is super duper delicious.

Side note:  I also had some tortilla chips...I didn't crumble any of them into the soup or really even use them to dip anything except maybe once or twice.  I guess thats just a preference thing...