Chicken Enchilada Soup

Happy New Year!! Most of the blogs I read posted their Most Viewed/Top posts of 2013, but I’ll save that for the end of January to celebrate my first blogiversary! So – how did everyone ring in the New Year? Instead of waiting hours to see the Times Square ball drop, without food/warmth/bathrooms, KK and I hosted a party at our place.  We ordered dinner from Grimaldis, and munched on homemade goodies like buffalo chicken dip, spice cupcakes, pumpkin bread, and brownie batter dip.  Since my friends were all eager to bake, I just provided the basics – wine, cheese and crackers, hummus, a veggie platter, and Archer Farms Butter Toffee Caramel Clusters courtesy of Target (YUM!).  We were having too much fun catching up that we weren’t prepared with our champagne toast and noisemakers when the ball dropped.  Whoops! Thankfully, KK rewound the DVR so we could properly ring in the New Year (just a few minutes late!).  Sadly, I had to return to work today, but it’s already Thursday so the weekend is just around the corner!!

This cheesy soup was simply divine, and we even had all the ingredients already on hand! Usually, soups take awhile to simmer and come together, but this only takes ~20 minutes.  I recommend nuking the cream cheese in the microwave for 15 seconds to soften it up before blending together the sauce mixture.  This will help create the soup’s smooth consistency.  The original recipe lacked a bit of flavor, but that was quickly solved by added heaping teaspoons of cumin and chili powder.  Instead of seasoning the soup with salt while cooking, the chips added the right amount of saltiness at the end.  In fact, I continuously added crumbled tortilla chips to my bowl, making the crunchiness last throughout the entire meal!

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Adapted from Some the Wiser

Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 tsp canola oil

1 lb. chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

10 oz. can enchilada sauce

15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 ½ cups frozen corn, thawed

10 oz. can diced tomatoes

¾ cup milk

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

Tortilla chips, for serving

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.  Cook chicken and onions 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until chicken is cooked through.  Add garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute.

2. Use a hand mixer or immersion blender to blend cream cheese and enchilada sauce together in a small bowl.  Mixture should be smooth.  Once chicken is cooked, pour cheese sauce mixture into the skillet.  Stir in beans, corn, diced tomatoes, milk, cumin, and chili powder.  Simmer over medium-low heat until heated through, about 7 minutes.  Serve warm, topped with crushed tortilla chips.