Chicken Tortilla Soup

Let me start off by saying my kids LOVE this soup! Which is great because it is good for you and really simple to make. My oldest doesn't even ask if the beans are fart beans which he seems to have an unnatural fear of eating, especially for a boy. Anyway here are the ingredients you will need.
6 C chicken stock (or broth)
2-3 C of diced or shredded cooked chicken
1 1/2-2 C frozen corn
4 oz diced green chilies
15 oz black beans rinsed and drained
1-2 onions
3-5 cloves of garlic
1 Tbs of olive oil
Salt and pepper
paprika
monterey jack cheese
tortilla chips


Yes I realize there is a range of amounts listed. Go off of the preference of you family. Here we love onions, garlic and corn so we go for the higher amounts. In the soup pot place the olive oil and turn on the heat so that you can saute the vegetables. You always want to start with a hot pan when sauteing veggies otherwise your veggies are just going to be sitting there in the oil soaking it up while you wait for your pan to heat up. You should hear a nice sizzle when you drop your veggies in. Now while your pot is heating up chop up your onions and garlic and throw them into the pot. We do not want to brown them we just want to soften them up. After they have been in the pot a minute or two I toss in the jar of diced green chilies, chicken and corn and let them heat up for a couple minutes. While this is happening I drain and rinse the black beans then throw them in the pot and finally the chicken stock. Then you can season it. I usually use salt and pepper to taste (probably 1-2 tsp salt depending on how salty my stock is and maybe a tsp of pepper). Then I generally add about 2 tsp of paprika, smoked paprika if I have it but regular works fine too. Make sure to taste your soup before adding seasoning. You can always add more seasoning, but you can not take it out once it is in there.

I let my soup simmer for about 30-45 minutes. Just enough time for everything to get nice and hot and all the flavors to combine. Once you can not stand smelling it without going to get yourself a bowl, it is done. Now go pour yourself a big ole bowl and grab some toppings. Sprinkle some monterey jack cheese on top and throw some tortilla chips in there and eat up! I have also made some cornbread with it before and my husband broke a bunch up and mixed it in with his soup and liked that. I just ate mine on the side. There you have it. Homemade chicken tortilla soup in less then an hour.