Prepare Today Homemade- Creamy Tortilla Soup

I have been searching the Internet for new slow cooker recipes to use in my Saratoga Jacks thermal cooker,  and one of my favorite sites is called 365 Days of Slow Cooking.  Karen, the author, cooked in her slow cooker EVERY day for 1 year and blogged about it.  She currently has a new cookbook out and still blogs about her slow cooker adventures.  I love slow cooker recipes because they work so well in my Saratoga Jacks thermal cooker. 


My husband and I have date night every Friday night and I usually let my kids make their own dinner, but I decided that I am going to try a new dinner in the thermal cooker every Friday.  My kids can open it and serve themselves when they are hungry.  This Friday I made Creamy Tortilla Soup from 365daysofcrockpot.com.

This recipe was mostly canned goods, with only a few ingredients from the fridge.  In a situation where refrigeration wasn't available I would have used garlic powder and lime powder (dehydrated lime that had been powdered in the blender).  I would also leave out the cilantro in an emergency, but you really need it if you make it for dinner.  The cilantro makes this soup!!

I boiled my ingredients in my thermal cooker pans, stacked them and put them in the base, but the slow cooker will work perfectly. 

 Creamy Tortilla Soup (from 365daysofcrockpot.com)
1/2-1lb chicken breasts (I used a bottle of home canned chicken)
1 C chicken broth
1/2 C picante or salsa
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 t lime juice
2 garlic cloves
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 t cumin
1 C corn
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 C chopped red pepper (I didn't add this, my kids aren't that adventuresome yet)
1/2 C or more of chopped cilantro 
tortilla chips
sour cream
cheese

Place chicken, broth, salsa, tomatoes, lime juice, garlic, cream of chicken soup and red pepper in slow cooker.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.  Remove chicken and shred with 2 forks.  Add the chicken back in and then add cumin, cilantro, and corn.  Cover and cook for another 30 minutes.  Serve with tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream.


For the thermal cooker I brought the chicken through black beans to a boil for 3 minutes and placed it in the cooker. I added the cilantro when it was finished and let everyone decide if they wanted cheese and sour cream.  It was so yummy with tortilla chips.  Even though I was going out to dinner I kept "tasting" this soup.  It was so good!! The only thing I may change next time is the corn.  My kids aren't really into eating corn lately but other than that this soup is a keeper!!