Peaches & Honey: Chicken Tortilla Soup, Delicious Seasonal Beer, and What the Hell, South?

It is the week of Thanksgiving, which, where I come from, means there should be snow, blustery winds and soup days. I love Chicken Tortilla Soup, and it is a surefire way to ensure my son will eat a lot of a good meal, so I went through with the soup day despite the 94% humidity and sweaty temperature that greeted us today.

You can Google Chicken Tortilla Soup and read recipes until you’re blue in the face. I’ve never made the same Chicken Tortilla Soup twice. Mostly, I can’t remember what I did the time before last, and I probably don’t have the same ingredients. But, that’s the genius of this soup! You can make it any ol’ way you fancy.

Tonight’s version, which was quite delightful:

A glug or two of olive oil

Two mini orange sweet peppers, finely chopped

One onion, finely chopped

One stalk of celery, finely chopped

Chicken, shredded (I like using a rotisserie chicken for ease)

1 tsp Mexican-spice blend

Cilantro

Two cloves of garlic, finely chopped

Half a jar of tomato-based salsa

One can of black beans, drained and rinsed

Frozen corn to your liking

Chicken broth to your consistency liking

Salt to your liking

On medium heat, pour a glug or two of olive oil into your pot. Sauté peppers, onion, celery, garlic, and chicken until the veggies are soft.

Add the spice and salt to the pot and sauté for a minute more.

Add corn, black beans, salsa and broth.

Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Add cilantro (cilantro flower tip below).

Top with shredded cheese, avocado, sour cream and tortilla chips.

I usually add diced tomatoes. However, tonight, we were out, and I only had half a jar of salsa in the fridge. So, I added it to get the tomato part. Sometimes I dig a tomato-less tortilla soup. My son prefers it to not have tomatoes, so there you have it! You can use pinto beans instead. You can use green peppers, red peppers, add jalapeno, use canned corn, use chili powder, use cumin…

The possibilities are endless!

Cilantro flowers: I hate wasting fresh herbs, so when I buy cilantro, since we cannot use the entire bunch before it goes bad, I put it all in a food processor with a bit of water and puree it. Then, I put the puree into silicon ice cube trays and freeze it. The next day, I pop them out of the tray into a baggie and keep them in the freezer to use when needed. Easy peasy. Works with any herb.

Getting back to speaking of where I come from, we also like a cool beer with our meal. Shock Top Seasonal Sampler? Done and done. The Twisted Pretzel Wheat was a fabulous accompaniment to my meal, really bringing out the notes of… I can’t even pretend to be fancy here. You’re lucky I had it in a glass for the picture. Where I come from, we drink it straight from the bottle, and if a man is wearing a sweater vest, khakis or pink, he’s not looking for a filly. And yes, the beer was exceptionally tasty. I’m already counting down to dinnertime tomorrow when I can try the Shockolate Wheat.

Lastly, what the hell, South?! I opened the door to my back porch this afternoon (a door that is opened all of the time) to go play ball with the beasties, and this guy was right there, face level.

For Pete’s sake!

I consider myself a friend of spiders. I mean, I have ground rules, like they have to be near a door, showing keen effort in returning to the outdoors from which they came, and I will gladly help the poor little guys back to nature, alive and happy. Notice how I use “little guys” and not monstrosity like the fellow pictured. My neighborhood seems deserted, which I thought was due to Thanksgiving. On second thought, I think this guy ate everyone. I’m counting my lucky stars that the dogs actually returned from going outside.

I know what to do if a bear crosses my path, and I’ve stared a rattlesnake in the eye as I’ve slowly backed away, but this… I used my son’s boot to sweep at the web and then I threw my own shoe at it. The shoe bounced back at me, and this guy merrily hopped down, on his way to planning his next human meal. I didn’t have the guts to go looking for him. Also, as the solo-parent, my welfare must be taken into consideration.

And, this is why I ask, what the hell, South? Why is this spider so huge? They don’t have spiders in the snow.