A New Kind Of Soup

A few weeks ago, I had just come home from Mommy's and was worn out from the hospital days with Baby Girl. I skipped church that Sunday for a catch-my-breath day, staying in pajamas. I watched a couple of shows on the Food Network. I think that was meant to be. I had never seen Trisha Yearwood's cooking show before. And lucky me happened up on the episode where she made this soup.

I listened to her tell about it and watched her make it. And she convinced me that I needed to try it. I have made chicken tortilla soup before. It was a tomato based soup and it is very good. But this one is totally different. And it is better than just "good." Trisha said it was Garth Brook's favorite. I need to find out what else he likes!

BE ADVISED: If you like a spicy Mexican soup, this one isn't spicy at all. It is a mild, creamy flavor. You can adjust the seasoning to give it more zip. We were happy with it like this.

This is a "busy mama" kind of recipe. (Mommy, I'm talking to you!) Although the ingredient list looks long, look again. SEVEN things on this list are just opened and added to the pot. I cooked my chicken in the slow cooker the day before I made soup. (You could also pull the meat off a purchased rotisserie chicken.) So on soup-making day, my hands-on cooking tasks were chopping an onion, shredding the chicken, and measuring the cumin. The rest is just stirred into the pot.

TRISHA'S CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP

3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 (15-oz) cans chicken broth
4 cups half-and-half
1 (10-3/4 oz) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup prepared salsa—mild or spicy (mine was medium)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, boiled, drained & shredded
1 (15-oz) can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 (15-oz) can light red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 (15-oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 (1.27 oz) packet fajita seasoning (I used 2 tsp. of recipe below)

garnishes:
Monterey Jack cheese, grated
Cheddar cheese, grated
tortilla chips
sour cream

Melt butter in a large pot (I used my 6-qt stock pot) over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and stir well. Cook for 1 minute. Add the broth and the half-and-half. Stir in the cream of chicken soup, salsa, (I used a wire whisk to blend everything at this point) and chicken, beans, corn, cumin and fajita seasoning.

Continue to simmer over low heat for at least 15 minutes. Stir often to keep cream-based soup from scorching.

Serve with choice of garnishes. If using tortilla chips, you can crumble them into the bowl and spoon the soup over.

Serves 8


You know I live in the county. Miles away from a store. So when I discovered yesterday afternoon that I didn't have fajita seasoning here, I looked up a recipe and made some. It was raining. Again. And I didn't want to get back out. There are so many recipes online. I kept looking until I found this one that only used ingredients that I had on the shelf.

FAJITA SEASONING

4 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8—1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used 1/8 tsp.)

Mix all ingredients. Store in an airtight container.
Use 2 teaspoons of seasoning for each pound of meat.


The comments following the online soup recipe talked about the soup freezing well. I hope so, because it makes a LOT. I will try it and let you know. If it does freeze well, this will be on hand for all of our holiday meals when the family is here.

Other commenters talked about adding more beans, less chicken, fat-free half-and-half, and on and on. It's soup, folks! Make it to suit you. But this recipe above it just how I did it. Not sure I'd change a thing when I make it again. And I will make it again.