I lamented on Friday about the difficulty that is making weeknight meals (and gave you a stir fry recipe).
I’ll cut to the chase today. During the cooler months, this soup is on my table usually once a week. I typically throw it together in the morning and throw it in the crockpot on warm, so at any point we can sit down to a hot meal. This is especially great when you have practices at night and you want to be able to walk through the door and eat.
I always have shredded chicken in my freezer. Either I intentionally cook extra chicken at home and shred it up and divide it into portions to freeze, or I buy a rotisserie chicken at the store and shred it up and freeze. This a great trick for quick meals. From the shredded chicken, I can make BBQ chicken sandwiches, chicken tacos, quesadillas, chicken caesar wraps, chicken tortilla soup, chicken noodle soup, chicken and dumplings, enchiladas, a hearty salad and more. Pick yourself up a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store next time!
One of the ways I try to be a bit healthier, and pinch pennies is that we don’t eat that much meat. I can stretch one rotisserie chicken for 3-4 meals for a family of 5 (2 of which are growing boys, and WOW can they eat!). If you are big on meat, feel free to up the meat amount in this recipe.
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Shredded chicken (1/2-3/4 pound, or about two handfuls)
1 tablespoon neutral oil (I use olive oil or grapeseed)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
1-2 cloves minced garlic
1 can tomato paste
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 can rinsed and drained black beans
1 bag of frozen corn (Trader Joe’s sweet is my favorite and SO good!)
Jarred roasted red peppers (I usually use 1 large, or 2 smaller peppers) chopped
1 box kitchen basics unsalted chicken stock (this also happens to be gluten free)
Optional Garnishes: shredded cheese, sour cream, rice, tortilla chips
Heat large pot to medium on stove. Add oil and let heat. Add onion and zucchini and sauté until translucent. Add in spices, tomato paste and garlic. Stir together and let cook until you start to smell the garlic. Add in chicken, corn, beans, red pepper and crushed tomatoes. Stir to combine. Add in stock in 1 cup increments until you reach desired consistency (I end up using most of the box). Stir and let simmer. Taste and adjust seasonings before serving.
Alternatively: You can sauté onion and zucchini on stove top, then add everything else in the crock pot and leave the crock pot on low (No more than 4 hours) or warm until ready.
As I mentioned my boys eat a lot, so they usually add rice to help bulk it up (and I have one who doesn’t like the consistency of soup so it helps that issue as well). We go through a whole bag of tortilla chips with this meal too, again, because boys.
I always double this recipe. Leftovers are an easy healthy lunch on weekdays for me, or kids lunches, and it’s great to throw in the freezer. This is also one of my favorite meals to take to someone!
I hope the last couple of recipes help encourage you to keep Doing the Hard Thing and making weeknight meals. I know for me most nights is feels like a burden and “have-to” and not a joy and an opportunity to serve. I’ve loved this quote from Shauna Niequist’s book Bread and Wine (that book is my heart!) and it sums up so much of what I want for family meals:
“The table is the life raft, the center point, the home base of who we are together…That’s what this is about. This isn’t about recipes. This is about a family, a tribe, a little band of people who walk through it all together, up close and in the mess, real time and unvarnished.”
We occasionally say please and thank you around our table. On good nights, we might asked to be excused. There are typically a lot of apologies around our table…more often than not from me. We pray, and talk about our days, the “favorite” parts and the “hard” parts. We gather. It’s not always pretty…in fact it’s usually really messy and often rushed, but for a moment we sit and breathe, feel a sense of belonging and are nourished.
The table is our home base, and I hope you are encouraged to keep gathering your family there as well, as much work as it often entails.
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This post is part of the #write31days challenge hosted by The Nester.
Click here to read all the posts in the 31 days of Doing the Hard Thing series.
