Tortilla Soup

The Date: 4 January 2012

The Occasion: Love this super-easy soup for a cold night. I had only made it once, and I wanted to do it again.

The Recipe: From Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade 20-Minute Meals cookbook.

How it Went:
This soup is so easy to make and Husband and I love it so much that he suggested I keep the ingredients for it on hand at all times. It's great with grilled cheese, although this time I added chicken to the soup, so that made it hearty enough to stand alone. It's great for when you have a cold - clears those nasal passages right out - and I think it'd be as excellent in the summer as it is in the winter. A soup for all seasons. Mmm.

What You Need:
olive oil
onion
minced, dried garlic
chicken broth
tomato soup
milk
salsa
diced tomatoes with green chiles
frozen corn
tortilla chips
fresh cilantro
cheese (pepper jack is best, but extra sharp white cheddar works too)
cooked, shredded chicken (optional)

Your Turn:
In your soup pot, saute 1 C finely chopped red or yellow onion in 1 T olive oil. Add a few shakes of minced garlic.

Cook about 5 minutes until onion is soft.

Add

• 4 C (32 oz) chicken broth
• 1 can tomato soup
• 1 T milk
• 2 T salsa
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles
• 1 C frozen, whole-kernel corn
• 1/2 C tortilla chips, crushed
• cooked, shredded chicken (optional)

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve each bowlful with chopped fresh cilantro, shredded or crumbled pepper jack cheese (extra sharp white cheddar works too), and additional crushed tortilla chips. These toppings are essential to this soup. Don't get lazy and omit them, or you will not be doing justice to this fabulous soup.

TIP: Unless you grow your own, you will probably buy an entire bunch of cilantro. But you'll only need to chop up a few stalks for this soup. The rest will keep for a while in your fridge if you store it properly. First, pull out any stalks with withered or soft leaves. Do not rinse the entire bunch. Then, prop up the bunch in a cup of water. (I usually use a glass jar so I can see when the water gets cloudy, but I didn't have one that would accommodate this large bunch of cilantro.) Then loosely cover the top of the bunch with a plastic bag. When you see the water getting cloudy, just dump it out and refill the cup or jar. When you're ready to use cilantro, just pull out a few stalks, rinse, chop, and eat! You can use the cilantro for well over a week when you store it this way.