Tortilla Soup

1 -1 1/2 lb chicken torn (I buy a roasted chicken and pull all the meat off. If you have a medium chicken, you can use half of the meat for this soup and save the other half for another meal. If you can't get or don't want to use a whole roasted chicken, you can always use chicken breasts, boiled and torn ahead of time)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cup chopped or sliced carrots
1 can corn
1 can Rotel
1 can black beans
1 sm can sliced olives
1 can tomato sauce
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste



Missing from the lineup: corn and olives (I forgot to picture the corn and forgot to buy the olives - even if you don't like olives, try them in there anyway; it gives the soup a great flavor) And my Rotel is in a ziplock baggie because it's not actually Rotel, it's a tomato/jalapeño concoction I made to substitute for Rotel.



*Let's take a moment to commemorate the appearance of Goya black beans at Moje Česká Kuchyně. I have searched high and low in this city, scouring the International aisle of every grocery store I enter for this coveted product to no avail. I finally gave up, feeling so sorry for the poor Czech souls who would never know the greatness of black beans. Today at the corner market - as in, the corner right by our apartment building - Matt and I were grabbing the veggies for this meal when I heard Matt say, "Hey baby, look at this." I turned find my glorious, hunky husband pointing to 5 cans of Goya black beans. Seriously? Goya? If you live in Texas, you know what I mean. Goya can usually be found with the Mexican food at any Texas grocery store or in great abundance at your local Fiesta. And we found it here. At the Vietnamese fruit & veggie stand. On the corner. Is anyone else catching the irony here? Oh well, I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm hoping we'll see more Goya products in the future. So, for now, here's to you, Goya black beans, for saving my Tortilla Soup from the kidney beans I was going to use as your substitute.*

And now back to the soup:

In a large stock pot, saute onion and garlic until onion is clear.



Add carrots and enough water to cover the bottom of the pot by about an inch. Cook the onion/carrot mixture like this for about 5-10 minutes or until the water is almost gone. This is to soften the carrots up a bit so they're not still crunchy while the rest of your soup is falling to pieces.



Add chicken, corn, Rotel, olives, beans, tomato sauce and tomatoes. Season with cumin, salt, and pepper. Add water to desired consistency.



Cover and simmer about 2 hours. Served w/ tortilla strips, sliced avocado, and cheese (my favorite: Colby Jack).

Number of Servings: 8