Tortilla Chicken Soup

It was a cool day today and I wanted to do something that would warm us up but also that Ryan could take to lunch during the week. I decided to do a Tortilla Soup. I added chicken but it could easily be made without meat (vegetable broth could be used instead of chicken as well). I also used flour tortilla's but corn could easily be used, we just prefer the taste of flour ones. I served it with some dinner buns and it was an easy delicious meal.

Ingredients

• 2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can chili tomatoes (we don't have Rotel in my area otherwise I would have used that)
• 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 7 cups chicken stock (vegetable stock could be used as well)
• 1 cup water
• chili powder to taste
• cumin to taste
• salt and pepper to taste
• flour tortillas, cut into strips
• avacadoes, peeled, seeded, and diced
• cilantro, chopped
• tomato, diced
• red onion, finely diced
• 2-3 radishes, sliced thin
• sour cream

Heat oil in large stock pot. Add onions, cook until soft, about 5-8 minutes. Add carrots, peppers and celery. Cook 5 minutes, add garlic. Cook 1 minute. Add chicken stock, water, tomatoes, beans and spices. Stir in chicken. Season with chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper (season to your liking). Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes.

While soup is simmering, heat oven to 350 degrees, arrange tortilla strips on baking sheet and bake until golden. 5-10 minutes.

Serve topped with a dollop of sour cream, diced avacado, tomato, radish slices, cilantro and tortilla strips.