You say ‘tore-tea-yah’ I say, ‘Dern good!’

Have you seen that cooking show on Discovery Health called Just Cook This with Sam the cooking guy? I love the way he just cooks like I would in the kitchen except without the thick eyebrows and black rimmed glasses. When I was flipping through the channels one day, I stopped on him cooking a 5 min. tortilla soup. He timed himself without film editing to see if he could make a simple soup in 5 min. or less. He did it with a good 45 seconds to spare. I couldn’t believe how simple it was to put together. Now some of the ingredients you have to have prepared and on hand like shredded chicken and flour tortillas to crisp up as a garnish on top.  But the rest was a no brainer.

I got a little hungry around 9pm and decided I didn’t want another sandwich as a late supper. God forbid I would ever, EVER eat a bowl of cereal for dinner. I don’t even like cereal for breakfast let alone dinner. I happened to have some rotisserie chicken leftover in the fridge from earlier in the week because I knew that picking one up at the store on Wednesday would help stave off the last minute hungries. I was right! I got the bright idea to make myself some Tortilla Soup ala Sam the Cooking Guy. Here is what I came up with…

1/2 a jar of Pace Picante Organic Mild Salsa
about 1/4 of canned black beans
1 tsp. minced garlic – to taste
Mexican pinto bean seasoning ( I got this at WalMart a while ago to make my own re-fried beans) to taste; a couple of shakes
2 cups water with chicken bullion or 2 cups chicken broth. ( I used what I had on hand and used enough bullion to flavor the water, but not too salty)
2 small handfuls of cubed rotisserie chicken, about 1/2 cup or more if you like a lot of chicken.
shredded cheese
tortilla chips (didn’t feel like crisping one up in a pan, so I crushed some up and put it in my bowl)

In a small saucepan, put salsa, broth, beans, garlic, and seasoning in together. Heat to simmer. Add chicken and turn heat off.
In bowl or large mug add cheese and chips and ladle in soup. Enjoy!

It’s that simple! I didn’t have any sour cream or avacado, but those would be yummy in it too! I was surprised at how flavorful it was and dare I say, better than some restraunts I’ve been to recently! And I used what I already had on hand. I think it would be just was good with a pico de gallo or any other type of your favoritie jarred salsa.

This would be a great recipe to throw together for an improptu dinner party or pot-luck. You could make the broth and have each person put in the toppings of their choice.

Obviously you can adjust the recipe to feed more people. It’s very versatile.

Sadly I did not take a picture of my soup. But believe me, it was delish! Maybe I’ll venture into food blogging like Pioneer Woman and do a step by step tutorial. Nah.. I’ll leave that to her, she’s waaay better at it than me anyway!

Try it some time…let me know what you think!