Tortilla soup

So I love the fact that my neighbor friend is so kind and brought me a whole GIANT frozen chicken as a belated birthday gift.  I had been thinking about what I could make with this.  We decided to just roast it up and then think of the possibilities. Its always nice to have cooked meat saved in the freezer for quick quesadillas, pizza or nachos toppings or even a chicken salad so I saved half of the pulled chicken meat for another day.  For the other half I created a tortillas Soup.  Basically it's a normal chicken soup but I add lime, cumin and chili powder and it takes on a flavor all its own.

 

 

 

In a dutch oven I sautéed celery and onion with cumin and chili powder.  This got nice and tender; so much flavor is added by cooking spices and awakening them with heat.

 

This was my partner in crime although he wasn't that excited to be here.

I sat him on the counter and I got to work; he likes to watch as I twirl busily around the kitchen.

It looks like he had a fight with his sippy cup.

You can pretty much add anything to this. I usually add diced tomato which I didn't have on hand so I added in three tablespoons of crushed tomato, 1litre of chicken stock(which so happens to be homemade chicken stock by mother in law; the flavour was so concentrated...looks like liquid gold!), a can of black beans and a cup of frozen corn.

He enjoys frozen corn while he's teething.

I added in the zest of one lime and the juice of two limes.

Added in chopped cilantro and let this simmer away until serving time!

After about a half an hour I could no longer wait! I served myself up a big bowl topped with plain Greek yogurt, grated cheddar cheese and a generous handful of taco chips....yes please!

While I was busy cooking with Liam; Aubrey and Jeff were on daddy-daughter date to A&W; what special memories for them.

My afternoon looked more like this; but I'm not complaining I know these moments won't last forever.