With the winter chill and snow, there is nothing better than a nice hot bowl of soup to chase away the chill! I love Mexican food, so this is my little take on tortilla soup. This soup is relatively east except for possibly the shredded cooked chicken, but there are two ways to get that. The first is to buy a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from your local store. The second is to place the chicken in your slow cooker/oven with Rotel and cook for about two hours. If you don’t have chicken broth, well just cook your chicken breasts together with some carrots, celery and onions to make the broth. Once they chicken breasts are tender, they’ll be perfect for shredding at that point!

Ingredients

1/2 cup onion
2 chopped garlic cloves
1/2 cup red pepper chopped
1/2 cup green pepper chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cups chicken broth
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can ROTEL
1 spoonful tomato paste
2 cups shredded chicken
Cumin
Chile Powder
Bay leaf
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

Place olive oil in a sauce pot. Saute onions, peppers and garlic in the oil.

Add the cumin and chili powder and just toast them for a moment to release the flavors. Then add the drained black beans, chicken, Rotel and spoonful of tomato paste. Give a few stirs to break up the tomato paste and add the chicken broth and bay leaf. Stir and cook for about 30 to 45 minutes to let the flavors meld together.

Place in bowls and top with sliced avocado, strips of baked/fried corn tortillas, cilantro, cheddar cheese and a wedge of lime!

You’ll love this! To make it spicier, use a poblano chile instead of the red pepper or add a shot or two of your favorite hot sauce.