A Thyme To Eat: Tortilla Soup with Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

My husband and I love tortilla soup, and I will have to say that our favorite is my own version. However, whenever I make the soup, Bunker adds tons of Chipotle Tabasco to his bowl. Clearly, I was not making the soup spicy enough. Well...I went a bit overboard and completely ruined the soup by adding too many peppers. Really, we had to make another dinner because it was so spicy it was actually inedible! Lesson learned: you can always add spice later but you cannot take it back out.

Cute new apron from one of my mom's friends. Get a cute apron, it is an adorable and useful accessory, and tends to make any day a bit brighter.

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Ingredients for the Soup:
1/4 cup of Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (I used the whole can...fatal error!)
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 cup sweet corn kernels
4 cups chicken stock
14.5 ounce can of whole tomatoes pureed in a food processor
2 cups of cubed cooked chicken (add as much or as little chicken you choose)
1 large sweet potato cut into one to two inch pieces, roasted
1 package of yellow rice, cooked
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Grated cheese of your choice (we actually omitted the cheese...why?...because I forgot to buy cheese)

Ingredients for the Tortilla Chips and Strips:
Vegetable spray (Pam)
8 6-inch corn tortillas
Salt and Pepper (I used Cavender's seasoning. This is a seasoning my sister introduced to me years ago, and I do love using it on so many different dishes. Thanks Jeanie!)

Steps for the Soup:
1. Marinate and bake your chicken. You can also used store bought roasted chicken or left-over chicken you have already cooked.

2. Cut up the sweet potato into 1 to 2 inch pieces and bake in the over on 400 for about 45 minutes, until softened but not fully cooked, as they will continue to cook a bit once you add them to the soup.

3. Mince 1/2 of your onion and 2 clove of garlic. Also, measure out one cup of corn (I used sweet corn kernels from the can) and the 1 teaspoon of cumin and 1 teaspoon of chili powder.

4. Puree you 14.5 ounce can of tomatoes. I used my Magic Bullet that my mom gave me! I know this seems late night TV shopping channelish...it probably is on there if you watch...but it honestly is a good buy for the home chef. I love this little device, it makes cooking easier, is reliable results, and most importantly, easier to clean up than your traditional blender or food processor.

5. Puree your 1/4 cup of Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (really...tops 1/4 cup...you can always add more heat later!).

6. Add the 1 teaspoon of olive oil to a heavy pot and saute the onions and garlic. Saute for about 3 to 4 minutes until the onions begin to soften.

7. Add the pureed tomatoes, pureed peppers, spice, and 4 cups of chicken stock into the heavy pot.

8. Bring the soup to a boil.

9. While you wait for the soup to boil, cut the cooked chicken into bite sized pieces.

10. Reduce the heat and add the chopped chicken into the soup, corn and roasted sweet potato pieces.

11. Cover the soup and let simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
12. Prepare the yellow rice according to the package directions.

Steps for the Tortilla Strips and Chips:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut about 2 corn tortillas into small strips.

3. Cut about 6 corn tortillas into wedges (you should get four wedges per tortilla).
4. Spread out the strips and chips into one layer on two different baking sheets sprayed with a non-stick spray or using a sil-pad.

5. Spray more vegetable spray onto the tops of the tortilla strips and chips and then season with Cavendar's seasoning or whatever seasoning is your favorite.
6. Bake for about 10 minutes for the strips and about 15 to 20 minutes for the chips. Keep a watch on these and remove when they are slightly browned and crisp.

Serving:
I made a little buffet so that we could choose how much soup, rice and tortilla strips we each wanted. I would also have the grated cheese out, but I forgot to purchase any at the store!

We have indeed enjoyed this comforting soup many times in the past, just not this particular evening. We tasted, cried a bit from the heat, I might have said a choice word, we laughed, and then we made fajitas with the left over corn tortillas, chicken and rice! Cooking is indeed an adventure!

Thought for the day: Life is not what you look forward to, nor is it what you hope for in the future or even what you imagine your life should look like at this point. Life is what is happening at this very moment, so embrace it, enjoy it, live it.