Tortilla Soup

I used Racheal Ray's wonderful recipe for tortilla soup as a foundation for the recipe below. Here's the link to her original recipe, but I made some changes to it for our taste. (Greg doesn't like pieces of onion or pepper, so I blend these up with the tomatoes. This also saves a little bit of time and chopping.)

This is great one-bowl meal for a cold evening and makes almost a gallon of soup, so would be fabulous for a crowd. Would be terrific as a tail-gate or Super Bowl party main dish.

1 - 1.5 pounds of chicken breast tenders or boneless thighs, seasoned and sauteed in about 2 T. olive oil (or diced/shredded chicken from a store-bought roasted chicken).

In blender or food processor put:
1 seeded red bell pepper
1/2 of 28 ounce can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
1 c. chicken or vegie broth
1/2 red onion
3 cloves garlic
2 t. poultry seasoning
2 t. cumin
1 T. brown sugar
1 to 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (medium to hot heat level), available in small cans in Mexican and Spanish food section of market (I keep the leftovers in a small Ziploc bag in the freezer and break off what I need to add depth of flavor and heat to other Mexican dishes).

Blend well in blender or food processor.

Pour this mixture into big soup pot and add 3 more cups broth and the rest of the can of crushed tomatoes.

To this add:
1 c frozen corn
the cooked chicken
1 zucchini diced

Simmer over medium heat until zucchini is tender and soup is heated through. Season with Steak or Grill Seasoning (or salt and pepper). To make a creamier soup, you can add 1/2 cup of cream at this point.

Vegetarian Version: Use pinto, Ranch or black beans in place of chicken. Vegans omit cheese and cream

To serve:

Put a handful of crush tortilla chips in bottom of each soup blow. Carefully ladle on soup, then top with your choice of:

grated cheese
chopped green onions
diced avocados
sour cream or Greek Yogurt
wedges of fresh lime
cilantro
Additional crushed corn chips