Make Me a Meal Monday - Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

I love my crock pot... however this is the only dish that I have ever made in it. But I'm here to tell you that its the best meal that I have ever had from a crockpot!

Here are all the ingredients that you will need (including 2 cloves of garlic - i forgot to place them out when I took the picture - sorry!)


I know the picture shows a ton of ingredients and the recipe calls for a lot - however they are mostly inexpensive items - and as you can tell I bought mainly store brand items - AND the best part- is that there is barely any prep time - just throwing it all in the pot!

FOR THE SOUP
1 lb of shredded chicken (and if you know me well enough - you know I don't do shredded meat - so I dice my chicken tenders up into cubes)
1 (15oz) can whole peeled tomatoes mashed
1 (10 oz) can red enchilada sauce
1 medium onion chopped
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chile peppers
2 gloves of garlic minced
2 cups of water (also not pictured!)
1 (14.5 oz) can of chicken broth
1 teaspoon of cumin (and i love CUMIN so my hand gets a little heavy with this measurement
1 teaspoon of chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 oz) package of frozen corn
1 tablespoon of fresh cilantro (i always use fresh, but I'm sure you could use dried)

Place whole peeled tomatoes in bottom of crock pot and mash - I use a potato masher - it seems to work well for the tomatoes

I just dump all the rest of the canned items into the pot



I chop up my fresh cilantro (YUMM my favorite scent in the whole wide world!)


I chop up an onion (sorry - no picture - I'm pretty sure you have chopped an onion up in your day!)

and then I chop up my chicken tenders and place them into the pot as well. I buy chicken at bulk and then bring it home, clean it, and separate chicken breasts and chicken tenders, and then freeze them. I use the tenders for soups and save the breasts for grilled chicken.




and dump the rest of the ingredients into the crock pot


Cover and Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4.

TOPPING BAR FOR THE SOUP
Sour Cream
Cheddar Cheese
Limes
Avocado
Tortilla Strips (the actual recipe calls for you to make the strips - but I cheat and buy these Yummy, pre made, less hassle ones from the store!)



Because I don't want you to go for almost 48 hours without a post - I'm going to post this early today, and if I think about it, I'll take a picture of the soup with all the toppings..

There are a few reasons as to why this is one of my favorite meals #1 its easy to make, #2 its fairly healthy, #3 its mexican, and I love any mexican food!, and #4 you come home from a long day at work and your dinner is already fixed and your entire place smells amazing! whats not to love about this dish!