Chicken Taco Soup

A few weeks ago, a recipe for Chicken Enchilada Soup caught my eye on the Weight Watchers message boards. I didn't save it and couldn't find it later when I looked for it. So I googled and came up with a recipe that looked pretty close...chicken, refried beans, corn, tomatoes. I figured I could wing it, so to speak.

Last Sunday, my parents came to visit and I made a big pot of pinto beans. Mom brought fresh corn-probably the last of the season. Afterwards as I boxed up the minimal leftovers, I thought hmmmm....why use refried beans when I have real pintos here? So, I tossed the recipe and threw together my own soup. I didn't measure so I'm going to be pretty basic here.

Chicken Taco Soup

1 large can (12 oz) of canned chicken
1 can Rotel tomatoes
Pinto beans
Corn
Chicken stock (I used Rachael Ray's)
Onion
Garlic
Cumin
Chili Powder

I sauteed about a half of a medium onion (chopped) along with two cloves of crushed garlic in a little olive oil in a stock pot. When the onion had softened, I added the can of chicken (drained) and seasoned with cumin and chili powder. I sauteed that for a couple of minutes then added the tomatoes. I heated that through then added the stock. How much stock you add really depends on how much soup you want to make and how thick you want it. Once that was in, I carefully dumped in the beans and corn. I brought it to a boil, then reduced the heat and let simmer for maybe 15 minutes. Very easy. Very good. If I made this again, I would put more beans and corn. But I'm not complaining. It looked like this:



I made some tortilla "chips" to go with it. I prefer flour tortillas so I tore up one of those. I sprayed a nonstick skillet with oil, let it get hot, then tossed in my tortilla chips. I sprayed the top of the chips with oil and tossed them around until they had browned and gotten crispy.



Ladled up with a dollop of light sour cream and a handful of chips, it was a great meal. And even better the next day. It's soup weather for sure. See what you can cook up!