Chicken Tortilla Soup

My favorite flavors and foods come in waves.  One week I will be crazy about crispy lemon-y green beans tossed with olive oil, the next week I will want nothing to do with those green beans but instead would rather have a bread-and-butter-pickle+peanut butter sandwich (I'm willing to bet that your mouth starting to curl up in disgust, but don't knock it till you try it!).  One week I'll be obsessed with tomatoes and every dish that I make will have the red little fruits as the star, and the next week I will resort to the beloved sweet potato baby food (don't say "eww gross" or make a disgusted face...it's delicious).  My future child(ren) and I will be able to enjoy this little jar of pureed yams together, and I'm pretty pumped about that.  I have a friend that loves to eat mexican, specifically the restaurant known as Mazatlan.  Every time she asks me if I would like to join her for a meal there, she knows that it is about a 50-50% chance that I will either be craving mexican or I won't.    

I don't make mexican food all that often.  Maybe because my taste for it is very on-and-off.  Or maybe because I really only like actual, authentic Mexican food.  Like from Mexico.  All these mexican restaurants in America are very sad excuses for authenticity.  Sorry guys, I mean, good try, it's delicious for the most part, but if you go to Mexico, you will find the real stuff.  When I make mexican food, I like to make it as authentic as possible, but since I'm not a little old latina lady, I know that it is not going to be so.  But every now and then I make a good effort.  Like this Chicken Tortilla Soup.  It's delicious.  The one thing that hubby and I can measure up to in a sense of authenticity is spice.  We love hot and spicy things.  Not your traditional "spicy dish" at say, chili's, pei-wei or whatever chain restaurant you happen to eat at.  The majority of the time that we eat dishes that are labeled spicy, we both agree that it is indeed not actually spicy enough for our tastes.  Where did we acquire such a taste for spice?  We discussed this the other night, and we have no idea.  Neither of our families are really crazy for hotness. We have decided that when we have kids, we will put a dash or two of chili pepper in their baby food to slowly introduce them to spiciness, in hopes that they will grow to like it like we do.  Is that mean?  Nah.

So anyway, this soup.  It's good.  I also made homemade tortilla strips to go with it.  store-bought would be fine too I suppose. 

PS.  I'm not hating on American Mexican food, or those who are sensitive to spice!  Please don't take offense.  I enjoy it myself at times.  

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Adapted from Honey&Jam

6 (6-inch) corn or flour tortillas
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 medium jalapeño chile, chopped (leave some seeds if you want more spice)
4 cups chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained (I used fire roasted)
1 can of diced tomatoes and green chiles, drained
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken 

Chili powder
1 ripe medium avocado
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (queso fresco would also be delicious)
Chopped fresh cilantro
1 lime, cut into wedges

I made the tortilla strips by cutting the tortillas.  then place them on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and bake @ 350 for about 10 mins, until they are nice and crisp.
Heat oil  in saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook onion in oil 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic and chiles; cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in broth, tomatoes and salt. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 minutes. Add chicken; heat until hot.  Add chili power to taste.
Top with avocado, cheese, cilantro, tortilla strips and lime slices.