recipe time

Hello all. Allison, I'll post some pictures of our house. Now that our bathrooms our done, I feel we can finally put pictures up. And you're right, the house is partly yours, anyway. : ) And I also agree that we could use some more posts, so here's one:

This is a recipe (and maybe you can use this one, Kelli : ) ) that Matt and I love. I discovered it one day in a cookbook we have called Cheap, Fast, Good. You may already have a tortilla soup recipe, but this one is so good! I think it rivals Cafe Rio's soup, and my changes are in blue.

Super Saver Tortilla Soup
2/3 pound boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 small onion (we leave this out)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
3 cups pork broth
1 cup chicken stock (Rather than using 3 cups pork broth and 1 cup chicken stock, I use 2 cups beef broth and 2 cups of chicken broth, made from water and bullion cubes.)
1 cup bottled salsa (I use part salsa and part petite diced tomatoes, and it turns out really well.)
Cream Cheese (I put a heaping spoonful of cream cheese in the pot, and it makes it less watery and a little more creamy.)

4 ounces tortilla strips
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup shredded cheese
Guacamole (this just makes everything better)

Heat oil in a 4 1/2 quart soup pan over medium heat. Peel the onion and finely chop it, adding it to the pot as you chop. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces, adding them to the pot as you cut. Add cumin and chili powder.
Add the pork broth and chicken stock and raise the heat to high. Add the salsa. Cover the pot and cook until the soup is steaming hot, about 6 minutes.
To serve, ladle the soup into four bowls and garnish with crushed tortilla strips, 1 tablespoon sour cream, and 1 tablespoon cheese.
Sometimes I'll put the chicken in the crockpot earlier in the day and when I get home I shred it, and it usually shreds pretty easily. I think the chicken is better shredded than in cubes. It's more like Cafe Rio. : )