Tortilla Soup

This is another recipe that belongs to my grandma Alice. I have talked about her before here, she passed away this past July, and it's been a rough couple of months realizing over and over again that she will not be attending my wedding.

I write this post feeling very humbled, you see this past weekend we went to her house, and packed up her things and brought them home with us. Between my aunt Monica and my step father Marty I ended up with far more of her things than I thought possible or fair to them for that matter. It's hard to see her things around my house, because I would so much prefer to give them all back just to have her here. I write this post on the kitchen table I have inherited from her, it's beautiful. Mike and I just keep staring at it, because in all honesty it changed the whole room.

Since I've talked about her before I know that I have talked about the fact that she knew how to live. While I was walking around her house I kept thinking about the last time I was in it while she was alive. It was a birthday party for one of her sisters. It was a huge pot luck, and nothing but women - great women. We ate and laughed. It was this soup that kept coming to mind though. Alice kept offering up her "Tequila Soup" and there were no takers, she finally asked why. Everyone looked around and explained that tequila soup sounded just awful! She of course meant tortilla soup - there was no tequila.

When I looked up the recipe, I thought the ingredients looked a little strange. Then I went to the grocery store and every single ingredient was on sale, which was just so perfect. Alice LOVED a good deal. I put my own spin on this, but I still give her the credit.

Ingredients:
2 can rotel tomatoes and chilies
1 can of black beans
1 (26 oz.) jug of unsalted chicken stock - it exists, and I've never been so excited! You can use regular stock if you want, I just try to cook low sodium!
1 shot of tequila - just for Alice! 
1 Anaheim pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 lb. chicken, cooked and shredded
1/4 cup of cilantro, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 red onion, chopped
1/2 avocado, sliced
Sour cream, for garnish
1 tortilla
2 tablespoons of olive oil


Pour the olive oil and tequila in a large pot, add in the Anaheim, garlic, red pepper, onion and jalapeno. Start cooking until fragrant - just a few minutes. Add the remaining ingredients. In another pot, cook the chicken and shred it. Add the chicken into the pot. Salt and pepper as needed - to taste.

Slather a tortilla in butter on both sides. Bake it at 400 degrees, flip it after about 5 minutes. Cook on the other side for another 5 minutes. Take it out of the oven and let it cool. When it's cool and crunchy, crumble it and use it as a topping! I added an avocado, a spoonful of sour cream, the tortilla and a pinch of extra cilantro on top.

I slurped this down a little quicker than I care to admit.

Enjoy!