Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

THE Original RECIPE for SLOW COOKER CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP
CAME FROM MELISSA DARABIAN ON THE FOOD NETWORK
I of course changed it a bit

Republished November 11,2024

Ingredients
3 chicken thighs, skin removed (i used left over turkey that was cooked & added it the last hour)

10-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (i rinsed mine before using)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth ( i used Swanson Chicken Stock for cooking 26 ozs)

1 1/2 cups water
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 jalapeno, finely chopped (i did not have a jalapeño so i used a large can of chopped chiles)

1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
Juice of a lemon
i used tortilla strips and crunched them on top of the soup
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (i used this cheese maybe a couple T per bowl)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Put 2 - 4 slices of ripe avocado on top of each bowl of soup

Directions
Place the chicken, tomatoes (and juices), beans, broth, water, onion, garlic, jalapeño (or chiles)  cumin, and chili powder in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours. (i cooked on low for about 6 hours. at hour 5 i added the turkey. i would use chicken thighs though)

Uncover the slow cooker and use tongs to remove the chicken from the pot. Once cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones and shred, then return the meat to the pot. Stir in the lemon juice. Crumble a few tortilla chips into each bowl and cover with some soup. Serve sprinkled with cilantro and grated cheese.

If you want it hotter, add hot sauce while it's cooking.

This was my Instagram post since it was the first time I made it and it came out SO freaking good!!

Per serving: Calories: 275; Total Fat: 8 grams; Saturated Fat: 4 grams; Protein: 22 grams; Total carbohydrates: 29 grams; Sugar: 7 grams; Fiber: 6 grams; Cholesterol: 56 milligrams; Sodium: 364 milligrams

Original recipe from Melissa Darabian

Healthy Vegetable Soup #Paleo #Diabetes #vegetarian #South Beach

Big batch of healthy vegetable soup!

One thing I have always loved is soups.  I have started making them in the crockpot and pretty much throwing in all the veggies I have and letting it be different every time. I eat it before dinner so that I get vegetables and it fills me up so I don't eat as much for dinner.  

I made a big batch of this the other day and then froze individual portions to have at a later time. I also sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top before I eat it.

I always put two things in for the base. One large can organic diced tomatoes,and one box Trader Joe's Organic Hearty Vegetable broth.

This is what I put in the soup this time.  Trader Joes sliced crimini mushrooms, a whole bag, two organic golden beets peeled and sliced, one organic sweet potato sliced, one sweet mayan onion sliced, one large organic broccoli crown broken up,  three organic carrots peeled and chopped, & three stalks celery chopped, some organic green beans cut in half, a couple of yellow summer squash and at the very end, a half a bag of organic spinach.  I like big chunks of vegetables in my soup so I do a rough large chop. I try to buy everything organic.  I season with S&P, lots of grated fresh garlic, Louisiana Hot sauce and  SPIKE .

This was the finished product in the crockpot! It's really good! Use your imagination. Cook on low in the crockpot 8 hours or 4 hours on high, depending on how crunchy you like your vegetables.

What IS for breakfast? Paleo conundrum!

Breakfast - it can get boring, but you can make a lot of variations of this dish.  This is what I had this morning.

Baked eggs & turkey bacon in a muffin cup 

Pre-heat oven to 375

I sprayed the muffin cups with non-stick spray and lined them with one piece of turkey bacon.  You could also use real bacon or canadian bacon or even some ham. I wanted to use up my turkey bacon, because I do eat real bacon.

I took 2 eggs, 1/2 cup egg whites, a handful of shredded cheese, Mt. Olive sliced jalapeno peppers, S & P.  Whipped that all together and divided amongst the four muffin cups. 

Sorry this is a bad photo, the muffin tin is one of those flexible ones, and it's red! you can take the extra ones out and put in a plastic bag to eat the next day or freeze them if you make a big recipe. Let hem cool for 20 minutes before you put them in the fridge (they will keep for a week) or freezer.

**You can also make these by dicing up a bunch of veggies like peppers, green onion, broccoli,mushrooms, & use canadian bacon or ham all diced and added into the sprayed muffin tin, then just beat the eggs that you have added the shredded cheese & S&P, i also add hot sauce, pour OVER the veggies & meat, and bake at 375 for about 20-25 minutes.   

What to have for lunch ... Paleo + diabetes

My biggest conundrum is what to eat for breakfast, lunch and snacks in order to keep my blood sugar from not dropping too low during the day with my meds. 

Once I make a big dinner, I have that left over for other meals, but I need to have more things prepared that I can grab and throw together when I'm starving. Which I am a lot of the time.

Today, I was in a lot of knee pain and not moving too quickly after running some errands, it was later in the day, so I had to find something quick . . .  with protein and veggies. 

I still had some of my veggie soup left that I made.  I hadn't blogged the making of the soup, since it was the first week of, during detox from grains, sugar, processed foods & bad crap.

This is what I did for the soup though, and you can use any vegetables you have in your house. . 

i put some olive oil in a big pot on the stove. 

Then I cut up veggies that i had in the house, all pretty chunky
fresh green beans
golden beets, peeled and sliced
Crimini mushrooms sliced
red onion sliced
yellow summer squash
broccoli flowerets
and sautéed them for maybe 5 minutes or so

i would have added a can of organic diced tomatoes, but all i had was a small can of tomatoe sauce and one box of Trader Joe's vegetable broth so I added that then let it simmer covered until it was done.

S&P, fresh grated garlic and a ton of SPIKE which is a seasoning.

For lunch, I had one leftover turkey meatball from the other day, so I chopped that up and put it into the soup and heated it up on the stove.  Voila!  Hearty, healthy, Paleo lunch.