Beginner cook: Easy Southwest Chicken Soup

Lots of people these days aren’t much on cooking, but now they may need to know some basics because they can’t get their frozen/processed favorites or they need to make food stores last longer.

It doesn’t mean cooking has to be time-consuming or complicated, though. This recipe uses things from a pantry/freezer and some convenience ingredients to make a healthy dinner in about ten minutes.

In a large Dutch oven, put in:

16 ounces roasted or rotisserie chicken cut up. You can also use canned chicken breast meat, frozen chicken breasts or, to really go with the Southwest theme, frozen fajita strips warmed up first!

32 ounces low-sodium chicken broth.

1 14.5 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

1.5 cups frozen corn kernels -or- 1 14.5 ounce can of whole kernel corn.

2 cans of Mexican diced tomatoes with green chiles. I use Rotel.

1/2 of a medium onion diced.

2 tsp minced garlic -or- 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt (less if using canned ingredients)

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp chipotle powder, less if you want milder soup. You can substitute this with cayenne or a couple of dashes of Cholula or Tabasco hot sauce.

Cook on the stove on medium high until it boils, then lower the heat to simmer. Serve when it stops bubbling (careful! Hot!)

If you like, top it with some sliced avocados crushed tortilla chips or a Mexican blend shredded cheese.

That’s it.

Normally, I make a more involved Southwest chicken soup, but this is for those days when we’re in a hurry, or “Oh come on—the meat for what I was going to make still isn’t thawed!” Or, more likely, “Crap, I forgot to take out that pot roast from the freezer!”

It takes no more time than putting on pasta and opening a jar of (ew!) processed sauce, and it’s a whole lot healthier than that.