Tortilla soup

This is a wonderful, traditional Mexican dish.

Sometimes I make tortilla soup with chicken, and sometimes without.

We start by cutting corn tortillas into strips, cutting along the grain of the tortilla.

Set aside the tortilla strips.

Next, boil chicken breast meet, and keep the resulting chicken broth for the soup.

Add two cubes of tomato bullion to the broth.

Shred the cooked chicken breast into bit sized pieced and set aside.

Fry the tortilla strips until crispy, making sure not to burn them.

Take one large tomato or two small tomatoes and  one quarter of an onion, four cloves of garlic,  and a cup of the chicken broth you have mixed with tomato bullion and blend together.

Pour blender contents into a hot pot, preparing the pot first with just a touch of olive oil.

Let the mixture heat up. This seasons and cooks the tomatoes.  

Bring the mixture to a light bubble, and add the rest of the chicken broth.

Let soup simmer for a few minutes. Add salt to taste.

Now, prepare individual servings with soup, chicken, and on top, add the crisp tortilla strips.

Garnish with crumbled Mexican cheese, sour cream, avocado, and cilantro.

Add hot sauce if desired.

This is a light, yet filling meal. Our family loves Tortilla soup for lunch, or a late dinner.

Tostadas !!

This recipe is very similar to some of my other recipes, but in Mexican food, Tostadas are a unique plate.

Some of my Mexican recipes are for special occasions. Tostadas are more for every day kinds of meals.

I begin this recipe by boiling a nice rump roast in water, with a piece of white onion, salt and pepper. I let the roast boil for up to three hours.

Then I shred the roast in to fine, bite-size pieces.

Once I have my meat prepared, I begin with the tortillas.

Start by toasting the corn tortillas by frying them in oil. You want them crisp but not burnt. Now they are tostadas, and not tortillas anymore.  Set them aside.

Then I like to boil carrots and potatoes. I put chicken bouillon in with the boiling water.

The carrots and potatoes are cut into cubes.

I put the carrots in the boiling water first, because the potatoes take less time to cook.

I boil the veggies for 5 or 10 minutes, or until soft. The veggies need to be soft.

Drain the veggies and set them aside.

Add two cans of tomato sauce to the broth that was left over after boiling the roast. This juice will top the tostadas when we’re done.

Now we put together our tostadas.

Sometimes I start by spreading re-fried beans on the tostadas. I don’t always do this, but it’s good with the beans.

Then add a nice pile of shredded roast on the tostada.

Then add a layer of fresh shredded lettuce.

Then add your boiled veggies.

Top with grated cheese of your choice, and half-cream. ( I use Mexican cream).

At the table, add hot sauce to taste, and have each dinner guest spoon on the juice (broth) that has been served to each diner in a nice cup.

Tostadas! 

A fantastic Mexican meal.

Chips and lime.

This is possibly the most important entry on this blog.

Chips and line are a STAPLE food in our house. If we’ve rented a movie, if it’s someone’s birthday, if someone’s coming to visit, if someone needs a snack, ANYTIME I can think of, someone in my family will make chips with lime.

Nothing, and I really mean nothing, could ever be more simple than this. But you’re going to love it. Anybody who’s ever tried chips and lime in my house has gone on to make it regularly in their own house. Many people tell me they make chips and lime better than I do now.

We’ll see.

This is a Mexican treat, and this is the way folks in Mexico like to eat potato chips. In fact, many bags of chips in vending machines or at convenience stores in Mexico, come with little foil packets of lime juice and hot sauce.

People who try this in my home return to their own homes and try to make Chips with Lime almost immediately. So I’m going to teach you. Pay close attention:

Here’s what you do:

Step One: Get a bag (start with a regular family size bag) of REGULAR potato chips. (This recipe can be done with corn chips, but I believe that makes this an entirely different recipe).

Step Two: Dump the bag of chips into a large serving bowl.

Step Three: Cut a lime in half and squeeze it over all the chips.

Step Four: Generously squirt hot sauce over the whole mess. We like Tapatio hot sauce, but I relucantly will tell you that you can use any hot sauce you like.

Now, at this point, I consider the chips ready for consumption. But my kids disagree. Each one of my kids have developed their own take on chips and lime. When my sons make chips and lime, they put a plate over the serving bowl and shake it all up to evenly distribute the lime and hot sauce.

Finally, remember these Chips with Lime rules:

You can’t use lemons.

You can’t use powdered chili.

You can CHOOSE how much lime to use and how much hot sauce to use.

You can CHOOSE how much to shake them before serving.

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