RECIPE TIME!!

Paleo Comfort Food's Chicken Tortilla-less Soup

Yield: Approximately 8-1o main course servings, more or less depending on how hungry we are! And Whole30 friendly!


Ingredients

• 3 pounds chicken breasts (you can use bone-in, skin-on if you’d like, or boneless skinless. The goal is to have somewhere close to 2 or more pounds of cooked chicken at the end)
• 3 tablespoons of oil of your choice, divided (we used coconut oil)
• 2-3 teaspoons of fajita or taco seasoning (use a mix of ground cumin, chili powder, garlic powder and cayenne if you don’t have)
• 1 large or 2 medium onions, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 jalapeno peppers, diced
• 1-2 poblano peppers, diced
• 2 quarts (8 cups) chicken stock
• 1 28 ounce can of fire roasted tomatoes (if you can’t find fire-roasted, you can either fire-roast your own, or just use regular canned tomoatoes**)
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 cup cilantro, chopped
• avocado and fresh cilantro for garnish

** – according to Muir Glen, they started using BPA-free cans in their 2011 packaging cycle. You can read more here and here.


Instructions
1. Preheat your oven 375 degrees Fahrenheit (350 for convection). Place your chicken breasts in a large baking pan, and pour one tablespoon of oil over all, coating well. Sprinkle your fajita seasoning over the chicken, coating well, and place in the oven. Cook for about 30-45 minutes (depending on the size of the chicken pieces) until cooked through and liquid from chicken runs clear. Using two forks, shred the chicken (while this is not so easy to do while the chicken is hot, I find I get a better “shred” if I do so while the chicken is still hot). Alternately, you can just chop the chicken into small pieces.

2. Meanwhile, in a large dutch oven over medium heat, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, and when hot, add in the onions. Cook until onions are translucent, about 4-6 minutes.

3. Add in the garlic and peppers and saute for about 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.

4. Pour in the chicken stock and fire roasted tomatoes and bring to a medium boil.

5. [THIS STEP IS OPTIONAL] If you want a slightly thickened soup, strain out some of the tomatoes, onions and peppers to a blender or Magic Bullet and puree. Pour back into the broth mixture. I did this with about 1/2 of the solids in the soup.

6. Add the chicken, cilantro and lime juice to your bubbling cauldron of goodness. Taste to see what you’re in need of (salt? pepper? more of a kick?) and adjust as need be.7. Serve nice and hot with some fresh cilantro and chopped up avocado to go on top. Maybe a wedge of lime if you’re feeling pretty tart, or some extra diced up jalapenos or poblanos if you need more heat. Heck, get out the hot sauce if you really want some zing!

The above recipe was found in my new favorite cookbook. During a recent trip to Costco I was pleasantly surprised to find Paleo Comfort Foods on sale for less than $20! Double score. Check it out and let me know what your favorite recipe is.