Tortilla soup-Again!

There are so many variations of Tortilla Soup!
And I think I've collected all of them.
I've been on a cleaning out and tossing--taking to Goodwill and giving stuff to my daughters-in-law kick lately, and this is one area I really need to  clean out and toss-- my many recipe cards, pages torn out of magazines and those quickly handwritten on the back of envelopes variations of Tortilla Soup.
No person in their right mind needs as many as I have, so I'll throw away the ones I don't like and keep just a few ...  the trouble is, I've never had a bad one.   So, I'll just keep the ones I absolutely love, right?  The trouble is, I think I love them all. Absolutely!!

Oh well... 

This recipe comes from a torn out page of a magazine. On the bottom of the page it says "Southern Favorites", so I am assuming that I tore this out of Southern Living Magazine or Taste of the South.

It's really, really good. 

One of the best I think.

Tortilla Soup

from Southern Living Magazine or Taste of the South 

Vegetable Oil

1 (11.5 oz) package corn tortilla-cut into strips

1 tsp salt

1 onion chopped

1/2 small red bell pepper-seeded and chopped

1 jalapeno pepper-seeded and minced

3 cups cooked chicken--shredded or chopped

6 cups chicken broth

1 (15.25 oz) can whole kernel corn

1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes

1 (10oz can)  diced tomatoes and green chilies (I used Rotel)

1 T chili poweder

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

Garnishes:

Shredded Jack cheese

Sour cream

cilantro (optional)

Cook tortilla strips in hot oil until lightly browned and crunchy

salt with 1 tsp salt

set aside

Soften onion, and peppers in oil for a few minutes. Combine the rest of the ingredients (except garnishes) and cook on low for a few hours.

Serve in soup bowls with garnishes of your choice, topped with tortilla strips.

I love lots and lots of the tortilla strips!  And I do love them fried like this.  Some recipes have you just add the corn tortilla strips without frying them or just crush some tortilla strips on top.

While all those are fine, I prefer them this way!

Yummy!

I think this Tortilla Soup tasted particularly good because it is the first soup of the fall, and we had a freak September weather turn--- we had snow!

Nobody in town is ready for this.  Nobody.

Okay, one friend, Gina, she is ready for this, but really, out of 8,000 people, I think she is the only one.

So it felt good to go home and have soup!

It made it taste extra special.

Sunday Soup--Brocoli Cheese

I love making soups and linking up with Deb

Souper Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen!

Souper Sundays is a weekly blog event that started because of her love of soup and a desire to work through the many soup and soup-like recipes in cookbooks and magazines, Deb set a goal to make a soup or "soupish" dish each week and post it each Sunday and invited others to do the same.

This is a favorite of everyone in my house.

Cheesy, creamy goodness!

Although the title of the recipe might indicate this to be a vegetable soup--it isn't.  It's a cheese soup.  The dominate flavor is cheese.  It's so yummy!!

I always think of making this soup as the weather starts to get cold outside. There are certain traditions to look forward to as the seasons change and this soup is a fall and winter favorite!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

1 (10oz) package frozen broccoli

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

1 1/2 tsp butter

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup water

1 (10oz) can cream of chicken soup

12oz Velveeta Cheese

1/2 cup cooked rice

Cook the broccoli according to package directions, omitting salt, drain well.

Cook onion, green pepper and butter in a large soup pot until tender.  Add milk, water, cream of chicken soup and cheese to soup pot. Cook until cheese melts.

Add the rice, heat and serve.

Add sandwiches to make a complete meal.

I made this to take to a church potluck as a gluten-free soup.  We needed one gluten free soup for a visiting Pastor. I was in charge of the meal/potluck and put the word out that we did need a gluten free soup.  We ended up with 4 gluten free soups, which were all great!  But this one was the best!

Sunday Soup/Souper Sundays

Mexican Potato Soup. 

Mmmm.

I would serve this one at my fictional  soup restaurant

  "Ahh-some Soups"

The Handyman co-signed that.  He said  "if you were going to make this again, and I know you're not, but if  you were, just know that I like it a lot."

This one tho?  I just might make it again....it was creamy, cheesy, potato-y, spicy  goodness.

(it isn't that I wouldn't make some soups again---I do do that---but there are just so many to try and so little time! But this one?  I WILL be making it again.  For company too!)

The recipe says that steak and potatoes go together like-- well-- steak and potatoes.

A dinner classic!

So, in this soup,  you grill up some steak strips and garnish the soup with a strip of ancho-grilled steak and some Pico de Gallo.

Mexican Potato Soup

Melt:

4 T unsalted butter

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat until foamy.

Add:

1 cup minced onions

1/2 cup minced celery

2 T minced fresh garlic

2 tsp dried Mexican oregano

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 T all purpose flour

Add onions, celery, garlic, oregano, cumin, coriander and cayenne to the pot and sweat until onion softens, about  5 minutes. 

Sweat the spices with the onions and celery  and garlic to release their flavors into the soup.

Stir in flour and cook 1 minute.

Stir in:

4 cups chicken broth

2 lb red skinned potatoes, peeled and diced (I didn't peel)

12 oz shredded pepper jack cheese

1 1/2 cups half-and-half

Stir in broth and potatoes; bring to a boil and cook  until potatoes are fork tender, about 15 minutes.

Crush potatoes with a potato masher to desired consistency, then stir in the pepper jack cheese and half and half until cheese melts.

Off heat, stir in:

1/2 cup sour cream

salt, pepper and lime juice to taste

1 recipe Pepper Pico de Gallo

Off heat, stir in sour cream, season with salt, pepper and lime juice.

Garnish each serving with Ancho rubbed Flank Steak and Pepper Pico de Gallo.

*****************

Ancho Rubbed Flank Steak

Flank steak can be tough. To remedy this, cook it only until rare, then thinly slice against the grain to keep the fibers shorter and less chewy

Combine:

2 T brown sugar

1 T ancho chili powder

2 t kosher salt

1 tsp granulated garlic

1 tsp black pepper

Minced zest of 1 lime

Rub:

1 flank steak  ( 1 1/2 lb)

Preheat grill to medium-high.

Brush grill grate with oil.

Combine brown sugar, chili powder, salt, garlic, pepper and zest for the rub.

Rub both sides of the steak with spice rub; grill 2 minutes per side.

Flip steak 2 more times, cooking 2 minutes on each side until an instant read thermometer measures 125F in the thickest part for rare.  Tent the steak with foil and let rest 5 minutes, then thinly slice against the grain.

*********************

Pepper Pico de Gallo

1/3 cup each finely diced red, yellow and orange bell peppers.

2 T chopped fresh cilantro

1 jalapeno, finely diced

2 T fresh lime juice

1 T olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

It's definitely worth the trouble!

Invite friends to come share on a cold winter night.

As I said, the Handyman co-signed that!  He told me over and over how much he liked it.

 I am going to link up  with

Souper Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen!

Souper Sundays is a weekly blog event that started because of her love of soup and a desire to work through the many soup and soup-like recipes in cookbooks and magazines, Deb set a goal to make a soup or "soupish" dish each week and post it each Sunday and invited others to do the same.

And also I'm going to link up with Weekend Cooking.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts!