I Really Needed This Today: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Still haven't gotten over my ruffled tree obsession. I had to go to Hobby Lobby to find decorations for some of them and played around with more tiny trees to gift to people. I have a baby quilt to make for a friend but my cutting table is covered with glitter and tiny tree ornaments. Glitter is so much fun until you remember that you have to clean it up, so I didn't make it back down to the batcave to do that today.


Instead I decided that I needed to make soup and grilled cheese for dinner tonight. It has been so cold this week so chili sounded perfect. But while I was fooling around trying to get me a few extra Swagbucks I tried a search for Tortilla Soup. And this usually never happens, but I found a perfect recipe that I happened to have every single ingredient on hand for. It is from the Pioneer Woman so that is how I knew it was going to be perfect because everything she makes is perfect, am I right? I have made tortilla soup before but never saw a recipe that calls for cooking the masa in the soup, so I wanted to try this.

The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Tortilla Soup

I actually followed the recipe except for the fact that I didn't bother dirtying any measuring spoons or cups because that is silly when the eyeball method will work just fine. And instead of baking the chicken I coated it with seasoning and seared it then braised it in a little beer until it was tender. I didn't plan that but after I browned it on both sides I realized I needed a little liquid in there because the pot was starting to smoke, so I grabbed the nearest liquid at hand, and my beer was closer than the water at the time. Continuing with that theme I deglazed the pan with a little more beer when I cooked the onions and peppers. I think Ree would approve of my improvisation here anyway. But you really should make this soup! With or without the beer, because it was perfect!

It made a huge pot, which I was thinking would be good because we are having a couple girls over for some crafting on Saturday so I figured I could pop some jalapeno and cheese corn muffins in the oven and we could have the leftovers for lunch. Well, there wasn't really enough left after everybody went back for seconds.  

I did get 10 Swagbucks for that search later when I went back to get the link. So I guess Chicken Tortilla Soup was just what I needed. Now I need to go clean up that glitter, so I can get back to the sewing machine. I just added about a dozen more handmade gifts to my list and did you know Christmas is only 18 days away? No, neither did I until I just looked at my calendar. Good thing I am one of those people who works best under pressure. Don't we all?