Southwestern Chicken Soup Revamped

Hi Everyone,

I still can’t get over that we are already into a new year!  It’s crazy how fast time goes!!  All I know is I am looking forward to spring, blue skies, birds chirping and spring produce!  Boy I miss fresh strawberries.  They are not the same this time of year, no flavor!!  Are you looking forward to spring as much as I am?  I know winter has just begun, but I am sick of the cold!!!  Speaking of cold, today I have for you a soup that will fill you up and warm you up, it’s my Southwestern Chicken Soup that I revamped from a previous version.  

This soup has it all, chicken of course, black beans, corn, peppers, onions and a little enchilada sauce.  I have to say this is one of my favorite top 3 soups of all time, with Chicken Noodle coming in at number one and tomato at number 2.  No cross that, I’ll move tomato to number 3 and my Southwestern Soup to number 2!  I love this combo!!!  I don’t think I can get sick of black beans corn and tomatoes together!  I drive my Husband nuts with all my recipes with this concoction!  he he  Maybe I’m doing that on purpose?  ;)

To make this soup all I did was throw all the ingredients into a Crockpot and let the Crockpot do all of the work.  It’s quick and easy to prepare and when you come home from work, your soup is ready for you.  I swear the Crockpot is probably one of the best inventions for food lovers or busy people who like a home cooked meal without all the work!

I get asked a lot about the chicken I put into my soups.  I normally always use boneless, skinless frozen chicken breasts.  I don’t have time to defrost it and I don’t like to defrost it in the microwave otherwise it tends to over cook and get rubbery!  Yuck!  Who wants rubbery chicken?  You could always use fresh chicken in this recipe, but I recommend cutting the cooking time down a bit if you do.

This soup is very thick and one bowl will fill you up pretty good!!  As you know I am not good with descriptions, but I’ll try my best to describe it to you.  It’s got a kick of spice, but not spicy hot, it’s savory, chock full of chicken, corn, tomatoes and black beans.  If you’re inclined serve it with a cheese quesadilla on the side.  It’s a perfect match!!  I topped my soup with fresh tomatoes, Pepper Jack Cheese, avocados and a dollop of plain Greek Yogurt.  I was really surprised, but my Husband loved this soup.  He’s normally not a fan of black beans or Southwestern Foods, probably because I may overdo this combo. Oh I have to tell you, having this soup the next day is even better!  The flavors really mingle together and it seems even thicker, almost like a chili.  Yum!

Well that’s it for me.  I’m still trying to come up with easy recipes that do not take a lot of room for ingredients, since I still do not have any space to work in my kitchen.  Think of working with about 2 ‘ x 2′ counter space, with all your ingredients in Trader Joe bags and boxes, not fun!!  It’s only been a couple of days, but I’m going crazy!

Have a great day everyone!

Toodles,

Jennifer