When you get a scare and the doctor tells you, you need to lower your cholesterol or go on medication, you bet I'm listening. I already take heart burn and thyroid meds, so the thought of taking more did not appeal to me. After my doctor's appointment the other day, I immediately started changing my way of eating. The first night we had stir fry chicken just made healthier, with a lot more veges and brown rice. So since I had leftover stir fry I thought about making Tortilla Soup the next night for supper.
Here's the recipe for a healthier version. I can promise you before it would have been fried fried and more fried, but not this time.
Tortilla Soup Recipe:
Cut corn tortillas into strips and put on a baking dish. Bake tortilla strips until they are crisp, about 20-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Ovens will vary so watch them so they don't burn. Once crisp, sprinkle with sea salt.
Leftover stir fry veges (or a bag of frozen veges)
1 whole onion, chopped into small pieces
1 rib celery (or more if you like, cut into small chunks)
1 small can tomato sauce
1 can chicken broth
3 cloves of garlic, minzed
spices (garlic powder, pepper flakes*, salt, pepper, italian seasoning) *You can omit the pepper flakes if don't want it too spicy. I never measure anything I just add to taste.
olive oil
cooked chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
Avocado
Low fat cheese
Small Key Limes, cut into quarters
Saute the onion and celery until soft in a large pot in olive oil (about 2 teaspoons.) Add garlic and cook for a few minutes, then add the bag of frozen veges. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and broth and fill both cans of water and pour into pot. Cook until bubbly.
Then take half the mixture and put into a blender or food mill. Put the blended mixture back into the pot and add the chicken until heated through. Serve in a dish with chunks of avocado and "low fat" cheese and tortilla strips. Sprinkle lime juice over the tortilla strips.
Enjoy, it was so good I didn't even miss the fried tortilla chips.
