4-Can Tortilla Chicken Soup

No, I’m not gone forever. Yes, I’ve been gone from here. But to be fair, I have been active over at my new wedding planning side-business blog, moving into a new apartment, starting a new job…well, I’ve been doing life stuff.

4-Can Chicken Tortilla Soup

But now I’m back at least for the moment. And boy, this one is a hodge-podge recipe for the books.

Born out of utter laziness and a reluctance to turn on the oven to cook a massive pork roast or have the foresight (and energy) to use a crockpot this week, I decided to throw a bunch of cans together and see what happened.

This happened: a 4-can tortilla chicken soup that even my hot-food-hating husband liked.

Behold, the ingredients:

Ingredients: cream of chicken condensed soup, chicken noodle condensed soup, black beans, Italian style tomatoes, and neufchatel cheese.

It’s unfair how simple this is.

Combine all cans (drain only the black beans) into a pot. Add 2 oz. of neufchatel or cream cheese. Stir. Simmer 10 minutes.

Boom.

Serve with favorite toppings.

It’s just the right blend of creamy and tasty with no added spices and isn’t too spicy if you have picky eaters (or are one).

Recipe:

• 1 can cream of chicken soup (condensed)
• 1 can chicken noodle soup (condensed)
• 1 can Italian-style tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano (undrained)
• 1 can black beans (drained)
• 2 oz. neufchatel or cream cheese

Combine all canned items in pot. Add 2 oz. cream cheese. Stir. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with favorite toppings such as shredded cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, or Tabasco sauce.

Serves about 4.

Slow Cooked Santa Fe Chicken

Recipe from chef-in-training and skinnytaste.

This could be titled the easiest slow cooker recipe in the world. Its basic ingredients are chicken, black beans, tomatoes with chilies, and corn. Did I mention it’s also cheap?

I made this one before, straight up, and got rave reviews from our company and my husband. But this time around, I decided to make it the way Dad would.

Note the additional ingredients — mostly spices.

Drain the cans and put all ingredients except chicken in the crock pot or slow cooker. I didn’t drain the cans and found that there was just too much liquid. You could also omit the chicken broth and add enough water to cover the chicken instead.

Add chicken. Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 8-10. The longer it cooks, the more tender the chicken will become.

I opted not to shred the chicken and instead serve it whole.

No need to serve with additional veggies. This is a one-dish meal!

Serve with wine, if so desired.

This was for our six-month anniversary, so we served our favorite wines (Easley’s Orchestra Red and Easley’s Pink Catamba) in our wedding goblets, but it works just as well as a casual dish to feed a crowd.

My recipe:

• 1 ½ lb. chicken (3-4 chicken breasts)
• 1 can diced tomatoes with mild green chilies, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 8 oz. frozen corn
• 1 (14.4 oz) can chicken broth
• 1 tsp. EACH garlic powder, Penzeys Northwoods Seasoning or other chicken/fish blend, and Penzeys Arizona Dreaming (substitute cayenne pepper or other spicy blend)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients except chicken in crock pot. Lay chicken on top. Cook on low for 10 hours or high for 6.