Chicken Tortilla Soup

I like soup. All kinds, especially those that are easy to make and hearty enough for an entire meal. I’ve actually been making a lot of soup lately, mostly because I live in Wisconsin and its winter. Wisconsin winter+soup=HAPPINESS. For real.

I found this recipe at the request of my husband. He loves mexican chicken soup. The original recipe calls for making it in a crockpot, but my crockpot isn’t really big enough (I have a 4 quart, I think you’d need at least a 6 quart), so I made it in my big dutch oven.

Chicken Tortilla Soup (Find the original recipe here)

• 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts & 2-3 boneless skinless thighs
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed
• 1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups water
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can 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 (I left this out. Hubby HATES cilantro)
• Corn tortilla chips for topping

Place all the ingredients (except the chips) into the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8 hours (I cooked it for 2 hours on the stovetop on low). Before serving, remove cooked chicken, shred and add back into soup. Top with tortilla chips (I also topped with cheese)

So easy and so yummy.

Soooooo….

I got a little sidetracked. I’m sorry about that, but I’m back with a list of recipes I need to blog about! I’m going to try to mix in some Thanksgiving favorites this month too, plus we’ll have a little discussion about brining a turkey.

So, for my first recipe back from my break, I’d like to give you…..drumroll please….Chicken Enchiladas.

Ok, so that probably isn’t the grand gourmet dish you were expecting, right? I mean, what have I been DOING all this time if I haven’t been slaving away on fablously complicated dishes? Well, I have a husband and a kid that simply don’t DO gourmet. We’re pretty simple, and I like to keep things easy and tasty, and this recipe fits that bills. You’ll need a slowcooker for this one.

Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 1 package of boneless skinless chicken thighs, plus 1-2 boneless skinless breasts
• 1 large can of enchilada sauce (I use mild, do whatever you like)
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 6-7 medium sized flour tortillas
• 3 cups mexican blend cheese

Place chicken in crockpot. Cover with enchilada sauce, plus 3/4 of a can’s worth of water. Mix in taco seasoning. Cook 8 hours on low. Remove meat and shred with a fork.

Mix chicken with a couple scoops of sauce remaining in the crockpot, plus 1.5 cups of the cheese.

In a medium baking dish, spoon enough sauce into dish to cover the bottom. Fill each tortilla with meat/cheese mixture, roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish. Top with more sauce and remaining cheese.

Bake at 375 until cheese is melted and bubbly, about 20 minutes.

Voila. There you have it. Easy chicken enchiladas. These are really, really good. You can also use the meat for tacos, tostadas, taco salad, quesadillas, you get the idea. I recommend doing a mix of thighs and breasts only because the thighs stay very moist and I like the texture of the mix better, but you can do all breasts if you’d like.