Tortilla Soup

Tortilla Soup is a Mexican Inspired Soup with tons of flavor.
My wife is not a fan of super-hot stuff, so I toned this down a bit. When making Tortilla Soup, you usually add one or two seeded and chopped jalapenos.
I have a couple of jars I keep in the refrigerator with homemade pickled jalapenos, Sliced jalapenos in water, and Sliced Jalapenos that have been fire roasted. I then add these after I have cooked whatever we are eating. This way I get the heat that I like and the wife gets a more tamed-down version.

A couple of days before, I made a baked whole chicken and had a bunch of the meat left…this is what I used for the tortilla soup.

1. Chop a medium size onion and a couple of celery ribs. Put these in your stock pot (large pot) with a little olive oil and saute until these are translucent.
2. Add chopped garlic, 2 tablespoons of oregano (or Mexican Oregano), 1 teaspoon of paprika, 1 teaspoon of cardamom, one teaspoon of cumin, one tablespoon of cilantro, one teaspoon of chili powder, one teaspoon of cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste.
3. Stir frequently and don’t let the spices burn. Once fragrant, add the following:
   1. Two 1-quart containers of chicken stock
   2. Small Tomato Paste
   3. 15 oz can of Tomato Sauce
   4. 15 ox can of diced tomatoes
   5. Small can of green chilis.
   6. Here is where you get to be very creative. You can add your choice of veggies to the mix. I added diced zucchini and shaved broccoli.
   7. I took the chicken off the bones and diced it into about 1/2-1″ chunks.
   8. Add 1 can of your favorite beans  – I used black beans for this
4. Keep cooking this on low heat.
5. I had a couple of ears of corn cooked from another dinner and chopped one of them into 1-1/2″ inch pieces.
6. I took a ripe avocado, cut that into slices, chopped some radishes, and chopped some cilantro.
7. When serving, I ladled in the soup, added a handful of tortilla chips, corn, cilantro, and radishes. There are a lot of creative things that you could add at this point, depending on your personal taste.