With my every week tied to NASCAR from now until November, I thought it would be interesting, fun, and delicious to concentrate on foods from the different venues the NASCAR races take place. As the sport is run all over this great country, a wide variety of food, ingredients, and preparations will offer up a plethora of tasty recipes from myriad regions.
This week the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series takes us to Phoenix, Arizona. After some searching I thought a recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup prepared in the slow cooker would be an ideal winter recipe that would transport us to the beautiful scenery and climes of Phoenix.
Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
Recipe from Elena http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-chicken-tortilla-soup/detail.aspx
Ingredients:
• 1 pound shredded, cooked chicken
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed
• 1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chili peppers
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups water
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 7 corn tortillas
• vegetable oil
Directions:
1. Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chilies, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
3. Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
4. Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.
In my opinion, the secret here is to take help where you can to simplify things. No cooked chicken on hand? Pick up a rotisserie chicken the night before you want to have this for dinner. “Wrong” can of tomatoes in the house? Use the canned tomatoes you do have! If you have the ones with green chilies already in the can, that might be superb! Love black beans? Add a can!
If you’re like me and love to travel but don’t have the time, money, or opportunity right now, making and eating foods indicative of different regions is a fun mini-vacation for your taste buds at least! And it definitely livens up the weekly menu to try something new.
Please join me tomorrow for the week=ending Friday Music Blog on Chief 187™Chatter.
I'd eat that.
ReplyDeleteSounds yummy. going to try it!
ReplyDelete