Chicken Enchilada Soup

While I was home for Christmas my family and I went to lunch at one of our favorite places, The Dairy Keen, a fast food (but better than regular fast food) place up in Heber City, Utah, owned by my aunt and uncle. They had a chicken enchilada soup that was really tasty. We didn't get the recipe from my cousin (though maybe we will still try?), so I set out to find one to try. (I love the internet.)

Here's the recipe I tried. It is really awesome. Even though in my regular enchiladas I prefer flour rather than corn tortillas, making this with corn is fine. It's pretty interesting actually, the corn tortillas actually provide a way to thicken the broth. Reviews I read online say that flour tortillas DON'T do that well, but that they end up more like glue than a nice soup. I haven't tested that. I might not because I like this way just fine.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
• 10 (6 inch) corn tortillas, cut into 1/2 inch strips
• 1 cup green enchilada sauce
• 1 (10 oz) can red enchilada sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 cooked, boneless/skinless chicken breast halves
• 1 cup half-and-half

Directions:

1. Combine chicken broth and tortilla strips in a large pot. Cook over medium heat until strips soften and broth thickens somewhat.
2. Stir in enchilada sauces and cumin.
3. Stir chicken and half-and-half.
4. Serve with tortilla chips. Optional garnishes also include: diced tomatoes, sour cream, cheese, avocado, jalapeno, etc.

Notes:

• I prefer making it with a little bit more broth. Maybe 1.5 cups.
• It says "large pot," but my saucepan was fine. A stock pot is too big.
  
• The time I made it, I used most the breast meat from a rotisserie chicken I bought, which a decent amount.
• I made it once with 8 tortillas instead of 10 and that worked fine too. Just a little less thick (but not that big of a difference).
• When the tortilla strips are soaking in the broth, don't stir it too much (if at all). Stirring will come later. Every time it's stirred, the strips break up a little more, so save your stirs. (And part of the fun is the chunks of tortilla strips.) Just make sure the heat is not so high that they burn.
• With fat-free broth and fat-free half-and-half, this soup is surprisingly calorie friendly. (Yet so creamy and satisfying!)
  
• Definitely serve with tortilla chips! Yum!
• Recipe says it serves 4, but with a little more broth and less tortillas, I got about 6 1-cup servings.
• Also makes good leftovers!