Southwest Chicken Soup

It’s cold here.  It snowed again last night.  It was sleeting while I was drinking my pot of coffee this morning.  (Yes, I did say “pot”.)  Right now, we are experiencing freezing rain.  And I live in North Carolina.  This is not supposed to happen here… at least not two weeks in a row! My son went to school only 1 day this week and that day had a 2 hour delay….all because of the weather. The roads are not safe.  My husband is working out of the house today.  The local news reported that a salt truck (and probably the only one in the county) is in a ditch!!

I have no alternative but to stay home, read blogs, drink coffee, bake cookies, and make a big pot of soup!  One of my blog friends, Melanie, at Southern Comfort in a Northern Life,  blogs about her move from sunny Florida to the Kentucky/Ohio area where the snow has been a relentless and much worse that what we have had.   She and her family did the opposite of what we did….she moved from the South to the North and we moved from the North to the South…..I can so relate to that experience!!  It’s not easy!  Anyway, we both like to spend the snow days cooking and baking.  How about you?  Do you hunker down and break out the flour and sugar or the soup and stew pot??:)

Today is good day for another pot of soup.  I made a big pot last Saturday when we were snowed in and we worked on it most of the week.  We are having a Deja Vu kind of weekend so I am pulling out the soup pot one more time.

This one is tasty and it’s good for you! 

Southwest Chicken Soup

1 medium onion, diced

1 small red pepper or half of a large red pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cooked chicken breasts, pulled into pieces ( I use leftovers or Rotisserie chicken from the market)

2  32 oz. containers of chicken stock

1 can of navy beans or great northern beans, rinsed

1 can pinto or light red kidney beans

1 can of black beans, rinsed

1 can of corn

1 can or bottle of beer

4 squirts of Worcestershire sauce

1 packet of Taco Seasoning Mix

Black pepper

 

(And don’t forget the chicken…like I did when I took this photo.) :)

Saute onion and red pepper in the olive oil till soft.  Add the beans, corn, and chicken, black pepper and garlic to the pot.  Add the chicken stock, the beer, Worcestershire Sauce, and the Taco Seasoning mix and stir all together.   Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and let simmer for about an hour.  (This can also be done in the crock pot.)   This is a very forgiving recipe.  If you like corn, add another can of corn and  maybe another can of beans.  If you like, add some green pepper.

To serve, add some crumbled up corn chips to your bowl and place some shredded cheddar cheese on top.  I also like to serve this with Cheddar Corn bread.  Enjoy! 

(I just love playing around with Picassa’s Collage application!)  I am adding this post to Foodie Friday over at Designs by Gollum.  Lot’s of great recipes…Stop by!