This Side of Sunny

Recipe Review :: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Looking for a good way to use up the rotisserie chicken you have in the fridge? Try some delicious, easy, healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup. This recipe was given to me by my dear friend Carrie, who introduced me to edamame beans and who at one time helped me devour a whole box of Ding Dongs in our dorm room. Ah, memories.

This is soooo easy-peasy and definitely gets a thumbs up for being a one handed meal- as in, you can have a baby on a hip and still get the soup simmering on the stove! Not to mention it's a hubby-friendly soup in our house.

Ingredients

• Favorite salsa (mine was 16 oz.)
• Chicken broth- either from liquid, cubes or paste- double the amount of ounces of salsa, for instance mine was 16 oz. so the liquid broth I had on hand was 32 oz.; you can also use water to make it vegetarian
• Leftover chicken- shredded, I recommend only half a rotisserie; or use three kind of beans for vegetarian version
• Corn tortillas- 6-8 cut into strips, these will dissolve when soup simmers
• Various garnishes- shredded cheese, limes, avocado, plain yogurt

{All ready to go}

Directions

• Dump in salsa in large soup pot
• Dump in broth double that of salsa amount
• Shred chicken, dump in
• Start simmering
• Cut tortillas into strips
• Dump tortilla strips in
• Check in 15-20 minutes
• Eat!

It's seriously so simple that I almost think I'm forgetting a step.  This was delicious and my two critics thought so too...

Tips

• Don't do what I did and shred the all the white meat rotisserie chicken- because we ate the soup quite a bit later than I made it, it simmered down quite a bit and was thick. Next time I'll do one half.
• For some reason, all my soups reduce down quite a bit, leaving them thicker than I would like. Probably has something to do with the fact that I'm cooking while juggling a three ring circus. So for myself, I would add more water right from the beginning, making the ratio 4:1 water to salsa.
• Most important- make a double or triple batch because it was awesome!  The salsa is great because you don't need to add any spices at all.  You can also customize it for a vegetarian dish or hide add more veggies in.

Nutritional Facts

This can vary based on your actual ingredients but mine was as follows:

Calories: 193

Carbs: 24

Fat: 3

Protein: 18

Thanks, Carrie!  This one is a keeper.

Halo Halo

Eating Halo Halo with my boys, an interesting mix of sugar palm, coconut gel cubes, jackfruit, mongo beans, ice and evaporated milk.  A small reminder of the Philippines.  Yum!

If you are adventurous and want to try this recipe, here it is:

Shaved ice, or ice from Sonic

Various gelled fruit, think fruitcake, from Asian grocery store, ours had a Filipino aisle

Beans, use ones in Asian grocery store because they soaking in a sugar syrup, I like the white beans better than mongo

Optional: wafer sticks, ube or mango ice cream

Evaporated milk, drizzle on top

Directions:  Two scoops of ice, then have kids pick what they want to put in, pour a small amount of the milk on top and dig in!  This dessert looks more impressive in tall clear glasses but bowls work better for kids.  A simple and easy way to experience a cultural dessert.