Moms Tortilla Soup

Here in Texas it can be 95 one day and 50 the next. I spent the BEAUTIFUL weekend working on my garden (with a ton of Justin's help) in the 85 degree weather...now it's 50 and misting outside. With that said, I figured I should get my last bowl of soup in before summer hits. I made one of my favorites that I grew up with. My mom made this often. We always serve this over chips and top with cheese.


Moms Tortilla Soup

8 oz. cream cheese, 1 can Ro-tel, 1 can chicken broth, 1 1/2 cups milk, 2 tsp. lemon juice, 2 tsp. garlic salt, 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper, 2 tsp. cumin (I always use more!), 1 can drained corn, 1 can drained kidney beans, 2 lbs cooked/shredded chicken breasts, chips, shredded cheese.

Cook chicken however you like. Cube or shred once cooked. Meanwhile, in another large pot combined cream cheese, ro-tel, and chicken broth. Cook until smooth (HINT: I use a whisk at this point. It helps with breaking down the cream cheese). Add milk, lemon juice, garlic salt, cayenne pepper, and cumin; heat through. Add corn, beans, and cut up chicken and continue to heat. Serve in bowls over chips, topped with cheese! ENJOY!


A few weeks back Ty and I got together with my sister and mom over Spring Break. We took tons of pics before going out for lunch. We had good food, good fun, and good company. I love this pic of Ty. This is usually the look we get before he is going to do something he probably should not do!

MY version of King Ranch Chicken

King Ranch Chicken is always a cheap, delicious way to clean out my pantry. It always comes out differently, and it's always a winner.



Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
8 tortillas cut into strips(whatever you like...I'm into the yellow corn tortillas by the Tortilla Factory right now!)
1 Can Cream of Chicken soup
1 Can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 Green Bell Pepper diced up
1 Can rotel (or whatever diced tomatoes you have...for this one I had Hunts diced tomatoes with garlic...it's just what I had!)
1 Onion
1 small can mushrooms
CUMIN!!
Shredded cheese!

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Saute the onion and bell pepper with some salt. Added the chicken, soups, rotel, and drained mushrooms. At this point add your cumin and just let it simmer and stir occasionally. In a baking dish place down a layer of your tortilla strips. Next layer with a bit of the soup/chicken mixture, then layer with some cheese. Repeat this until you are out of the soup/chicken mixture. Before you place this in the oven sprinkle with cheese. IF you have some old broken tortilla chips that you are just going to throw away, go ahead and pour these on top! They make a great crust! Pop this in the oven for about 25 min!