Sometimes I cook…

Actually, more than sometimes.  Currently I’m a stay-at-home mom so I definitely feel the responsibility to have a cooked dinner most nights.  Even if that means just marinating a meat to put on the grill.  I also enjoy cooking.  Usually.  Some nights I am just way too tired lazy to cook dinner.  Anyway, I made a super easy dinner that was yummy and easy clean-up the other night.

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

I know that soup is kind of a cold weather meal, but it really doesn’t have to be.  Especially when it’s Mexican.  Mexican food always reminds me of warm weather.  I adapted it from Pioneer Woman’s recipe.  Here’s what I did:

First I chopped up some veggies and threw them into the crock pot (already turned on low).

• 1/2 cup green pepper
• 1/2 cup red pepper
• 1/2 cup onion (I used red, but any kind would be great)

There’s also a minced clove of garlic in there.

Then I chopped up some chicken.  I had some pre- marinated and cooked.  It doesn’t have to be marinated, or cooked, for that matter.  You could throw it in raw and just shred it before serving.  You could also just get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and shred some of that to throw in.

• 2-3 cups of chopped or shredded chicken

Side note: How cute is my sous chef??

Yes, he’s in a stroller.  He’s not quite strong enough to keep his head up if he’s sitting in the Bumbo for a long time and he got bored with being on the floor/rolling over.

Back to the soup…

To the veggies and chicken, I added some Taco seasoning.  You can make your own (I often do), but I had this on hand, so..why not?

• 1/4 cup Taco Seasoning

I stirred that in.  Look how pretty!!

Then I straight up copied Pioneer Woman and added a can of Rotel.  Like she says…a can diced tomatoes and a can of green chillies gets you the exact same thing.

• 1 15oz can o’ Rotel

Next, (we are almost done…) Chicken Broth.  It totally doesn’t have to be organic.  Again, this is just what I had in the pantry.

• 1 32 oz. box of Chicken Broth

Then, my camera died.  Awesome-sauce!  I did take pics with my Ipad, but I guess I deleted those? I’m horrible with technology.  OBVI!

Here’s what else I added but don’t have the proof:

• 1 15 oz can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 2 T tomato paste

I totally thought I had frozen corn in the freezer, but I was wrong :-(.  If I had it, I would have added about 1/4 cup.

• With the crock pot on low, let it simmer for a few hours.  In my case, the chicken was already cooked so I just wanted the flavors to come together and for the whole thing to get hot.

To serve it, I put some shredded pepper jack cheese at the bottom of a bowl and ladled in some soup.  Then on top, I added some chopped up avocado and squeezed a slice of lime over it all.  MMMMmmmm.  It was delish.  We just ate it with a spoon, but you could also try it with tortilla chips.

Seriously, I had an awesome picture of the soup all served up and pretty.  Maybe it’s out there in cyber space somewhere.  Trust me, it was good!

Bob had three bowls.