I’ve been suffering from serious writer’s block lately. Not ideal for blogging and especially not ideal for passing three writing-based classes. On top of having absolutely no genuine creative thoughts as of lately, I’m also on day 10 of a cold that just won’t seem to go away….uh oh, I’m doing that thing where bloggers just whine about their lives. Better get to the good stuff. Chicken tortilla soup will make all your woes go away! MAKE THIS! It will make you feel good; it’s healthy, hearty, and DELICIOUS! Just look at that….

Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Soups recipes can be difficult, time consuming, and use lots of complicated kitchenware. This recipe is not. If you are so fortunate to be the proud owner of a Crock-Pot, you can simply place all the ingredients listed below (*instead of roasting the pepper, cut off the top, remove seeds, and cut into strips) into the Crock-Pot on high for 3-4 hours. Before serving, cut the chicken into pieces. Add garnish, as you would with the stove-top cooked version

Makes 5 Hearty Servings

• 1 bell pepper -  about $1
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts -  about $3-5 or $5-7 for organic chicken
• 2 tablespoons olive oil -  one quart extra virgin olive oil runs about $5 at most grocery stores and will last you a long time
• 1 yellow onion, diced -  about $1
• 4 garlic cloves, diced -  I like to buy pre-peeled cloves to make life easier, about $1.50 for one bulb
• 1 4-oz can diced green chilies, drained – about $1.50
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin (optional) -  an average 13g costs about $3-4 and will last you for years
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (optional) -  an average 13g costs about $3-4 and will last you for years
• 1 can hominy, rinsed and drained -  about $1.50
• 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes -  about $1.50
• 1 1/2 quart chicken broth (6 cups)  – about $4

For the Garnish:

• 2 corn tortillas, sliced lengthwise into fifths -  about $3 for a pack of 12 (you can freeze what you don’t use)
  
• 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped -  about $2 for a large bunch/ 1 oz
  
• 1 lime, sliced -  about .70¢
  
• 1 avocado, sliced -  about $1.25

Approximate cost: $15, which makes 5 servings at $3.00 each

Approximate cooking time: 45 minutes

A side note on hominy: Hominy is a grain, it’s like corn, and its kind of confusing so read about it here. What I can tell you is that hominy makes this soup incredibly filling (that’s a good thing!) and its unique and y’all should be branching out in your culinary endeavors….

This is hominy.

Preheat oven to 400. Wrap one bell pepper in tin foil. Bake for 30 minutes, until slightly browned.

Your pepper should look something like this

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the chicken breasts, reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, until breasts are cooked through. The chicken should be white through the center.

Not very appetising, I know but this is step 2

Drain and set chicken breasts aside to cool. Chop into bite size pieces. You can also shred it with your fingers. Oooh fun! Remove bell pepper from foil (CAREFULLY, it’s hot!) and let cool. Cut off stem, remove seeds, dice pepper.

Starting to look yummy again (I hope)

Place a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and diced yellow onions. Stir occasionally for about 5 minutes until onions become translucent. Add diced garlic and drained diced green chilies, chili powder and cumin. Stir.

Onions, garlic, diced chillies

Add diced tomatoes, drained hominy, chicken stock, diced chicken, and pepper.  Stir and bring to a boil

Add diced tomatoes, drained hominy, chicken stock, diced chicken and pepper. Stir and bring to a boil

Prepare garnish

Cut ingredients like so (*not shown: lime)

Place garnish on the bottom of a bowl, squeeze in lime juice, serve soup hot on top of garnish

Pouring soup on top of garnish

Finished product! Tada!

On a side note…. I’ve just broken my almost one month hiatus from chocolate! Don’t ask me what I was thinking. All I know now is I can not live without chocolate. So to celebrate my re-entrance in the chocolate world, I had a little chocolate tasting. Not quite as glamarous as it sounds- pathetic, really since I’m in my room, alone, with a glass of milk. Here’s what I got

chocolate heaven?

I HIGHLY recommend the ‘Lake Champlain Peppermint Crunch Dark Chocolate’ with real chunks of peppermint in it….OMG!