Chicken Tortilla Soup

Tonight's dinner was chicken tortilla soup.   I had originally planned on this for dinner, but wanted to use a recipe that I have had for years.  Sadly, I couldn't find the recipe.  So, I had to make it up on the fly. 

Yesterday, I made chicken tacos in the crock pot.  I've mentioned this recipe before.  If you want to see it, you can find it here.  It makes quite a bit, so we had some leftovers.  I decided it would be good if I could use this up, which is why I had wanted to make chicken tortilla soup.  It was a super fast recipe, plus it tasted good (SCORE!)  

First I took chicken stock and put it in a pot.  Then I took the leftover chicken taco meat and put that in.  Next I put in a can of tomatoes.  Then I added a bit of mashed butternut or acorn squash (this idea was given to me by my friend Jessica - genius!).  I don't remember which one I used because I didn't label the bag that I put this in.  Then I added some taco seasoning, you know, the stuff from the packet, and finally I added a can of kidney beans.  That was it!  Oh!  I forgot...I baked some corn tortilla strips in the oven to put on top of the soup.  NOW, that was it!

This is what it looked like:

It was so good, Angel decided to eat the tomatoes out of the soup!  This, my friends, is a MONUMENTAL OCCASION!!!!  He NEVER eats tomatoes.  Ever.  So, of course, I had to take a picture of this rare moment.

This is Turkey showing us his 'magic' mouth.  "You see Mommy.  I put food in and it disappears!"

 And here's Bean,  'hiding' from us.  When his hands are up like that, we always say, "Where's Bean?"  and he just laughs and laughs...it's too cute.   When he lowers his hands, we then 'find' him and say, "There he is!"  He LOVES this game.  My silly Bean!

Here's the recipe written out for ya!

Chicken Tortilla Soup
5 cups chicken stock
1.5 - 2 cups chicken taco meat
1 cup mashed roasted butternut or acorn squash
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (15 oz) kidney beans drained and rinsed
juice of 1.5 limes or to taste
1/4 cup or 1 packet of taco seasoning
tortilla strips for topping

Combine all ingredients, except tortilla strips and let simmer for about 20-30 minutes...or until  heated through.  Top with tortilla strips and serve.  It fed our family of 4 with another 2-4 bowls leftover.