Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Last month a friend offered to treat me to lunch. She had invited me to join her at a restaurant that, for whatever reason, I had no interest in visiting. I don't know why. I hadn't read anything bad about it, it just gave me bad vibes. As it turned out, my vibes were right; the food was horrible. I'd ordered the strata figuring that this was, surely, one item that they absolutely could not mess up. Boy was I wrong. It came out of the kitchen in a brick-like slab, that was not only brick-like in appearance, but in texture and taste as well, although, honestly, I have never tasted a brick.

You're probably wondering why I'm telling you this. It's because the day did have a happy ending. I had decided, wisely, before I left for lunch, to try a recipe for a slow cooker version of chicken tortilla soup. I'm not sure why I did this, because generally when I go out to lunch I'm not particularly in the mood to come home and fix or eat dinner. But intuition told me that day that I needed to have something to fall back on, and I was right. This was a new recipe that I'd found on the Wine and Glue blog. It required nothing more than putting a couple of chicken breasts in the crockpot and dumping beans, corn, and spices on top. I hadn't anticipated that it would be all that good to be quite honest with you, but I had these ingredients and figured, why not?

I really should call this Life-Saving Chicken Tortilla Soup, because it really did save the day for me. When I came home from the disastrous lunch, the house smelled amazing. The aroma was very spicy and delicious, and drew me right into the house. The whole place felt cozy and warm and comfortable, inviting me to sit down and have a nice bowl of soup. It was very easy to make, obviously is low maintenance, and the return is wonderful. This is a great soup to enjoy during the fall and winter. I cannot recommend it enough. It is also economical and, divided into six equal portions, comes in at just under 300 calories. Life saving indeed!

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Slightly adapted from Wine & Glue

1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes

3 cups chicken stock

1 16-oz. can kidney beans, drained

1 15.5-oz. can black beans, drained

1 10-oz. package frozen corn

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 T. chili powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

3/4 tsp. ground cumin

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. dried cilantro (optional)

Mix all ingredients together in slow cooker and cook on low for 5 hours. At the end of the cooking time, remove the chicken from the crock pot, shred and return to the soup. Serve topped with a squeeze of lime juice, and garnish as you see fit. I used cheese, scallions, and avocado. Yum!

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This post is linked to: Inspire Me Tuesday, Tuesdays At Our Home, Two Cup Tuesday, Celebrate Your Story, Homemaking Party Tuesday, Wow Us Wednesday, Work It Wednesday, Wine’d Down Wednesday, Wake up Wednesday, Full Plate Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Share Your Style, Coffee and Conversation, and Foodie Friday & Everything Else