Fabulous Food: Chicken Tortilla Soup

This recipe is inspired by the Mexico City style soup I used to eat at Houston's restaurant in Kansas City.  It had a light chicken broth base with tons of fresh veggies.  All the traditional flavors that I love were there, but the soup was not too heavy to eat on warm days.  

For this recipe, I combined my favorite elements of the Mexico City soup- fresh corn, zucchini, avocado and a light broth base...and my favorite elements of a traditional tortilla soup- black beans, shredded chicken and a smoky green chile flavor...to create one of my favorite soups to eat right now-  Chicken Tortilla soup (Mexico City style). 

The ingredients:

2 cups chicken boiled and shredded
2 small sized zucchini diced (approximately 1 cup)
1 medium sweet onion diced (approximately 1 cup)
2 cups of fresh corn cut from the cob
1 can of black beans (rinsed)
2 cans of diced tomatoes with mild chiles
2 cups white rice cooked
5 cups chicken broth
1-2 tsp taco seasoning or your favorite Mexican seasoning
1 Tbsp olive oil
serve with shredded cheddar cheese and tortilla chips

Directions:

1) Boil the chicken in salted water.  Drain and shred the chicken and then set it aside.  Prepare the rice per the directions and set aside. 

2) Saute the onion in the olive oil until it is tender and slightly translucent.  Add the zucchini and cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until the zucchini is heated through, but still crunchy.

3) In a large pot, combine the onion, zucchini, tomatoes, black beans, corn, rice, chicken and chicken broth.  Stir together until well combined.  Add the taco seasoning.  I like a more light and fresh taste to my soup, so I usually use 1 tsp.  Feel free to add more to fit your taste.

4) Simmer soup for 15 minutes and then it's done.  If you want it to be more soupy, add an additional cup of chicken broth and a little bit more seasoning.  

Serve the soup topped with cheddar cheese and cubed avocado.  You can also sprinkle tortilla chips on top, or you can scoop it, like I  do : )

This soup is very light.  It has a slight sweetness to it, with a small kick of spice at the end.  It's very, very good and easy enough to make after a long day at work.