MEXICAN CHICKEN SOUP (CROCK POT RECIPE)

Alright, my friends, I am back. I've been seriously slacking in the posting department lately and I'm going to do my best to get back on the blogging wagon. I'm starting off by posting a few super recipes for y'all...three days, three recipes. Here's my first:

To those of you who have been waiting for me to get myself in gear and post this recipe, here you go (and thanks for being so patient). And for those of you who haven't heard me rave about how totally easy and delicious this soup is, you've got to try it!

MEXICAN CHICKEN SOUP

1 lb. cooked chicken, shredded

1 (15 oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed

1 (10 oz.) can red enchilada sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chile peppers

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 c. water

1 (14.5 oz.) can chicken broth

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 (10 oz.) bag frozen corn

1 (15 oz.) can black beans, undrained and unrinsed

fresh cilantro

sour cream

shredded cheese

Fritos (or corn chips of choice)

Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic in bottom of slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth then season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Add corn, beans, and cilantro and stir well. Cover and cook either on LOW for 6-8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours. Serve with sour cream, cheese, and crushed corn chips.

NOTES

• While I'm sure the pre-cooked chicken is fine, I've always made this using the frozen chicken tenders from Costco (purple bag...Foster Farms?). I just drop about 12+ of them (I love the extra meat) in the crock pot and let it do the work. Then, at the end of the cooking time, I pull the chicken pieces out and shred or tear them using two forks. Only thing with doing this is that I've found that the uncooked meat doesn't "fall apart" unless it's had the longer cooking time.
• I have never bothered with buying whole peeled tomatoes...I just use a can of diced or chopped tomatoes instead.
• We use mild enchilada sauce but if you like your food spicy and want to kick the soup up a notch in that department, go for medium (or hotter).
• Here's a BIG ONE: for a really good base/broth on this soup, I use 2 full cans of chicken broth instead of 1 can + water (the second makes up for about 1 1/2 cups of the water) and then add a bit more water to make up the rest of the liquid (approx. 1/2 cup). Make sense?
• Instead of the frozen corn, I use a full 15 oz. can of corn (drained). The extra corn really adds to it and considering that I always put in extra meat, it helps balance it.
• I'm the only cilantro fan in our house so I leave the cilantro out when cooking the soup and just toss some fresh cilantro in when I put my toppings on...it adds a really nice, fresh zing to it.
• This makes a good-sized batch so if you have a small family like we do, be prepared to have some leftovers (which freeze really well).

Tomorrow's recipe will be for a super fantastic Texas Sheet Cake. Mmmmmmm....chocolate!