Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is a soup that I tend to make when we have a lot of random things left over, and I don't know what I want to make for dinner. It is fairly quick to make. I think it is hard to mess up since you can throw a variety of things in and don't have to be specific to amounts or anything. I will try to give you estimates of how much I put in there, but I don't usually measure things when I make this soup. A few years ago, I was pretty unsure about cooking. I have always been more of a baker because baking comes with exact measurements. I had the hardest time learning how to cook things when people said "oh, just taste it and then add what you need." Well, after years of trying new things and continuing to try to cook more and more, I can say that I've become more confident with my cooking. I don't always measure things, and typically don't really follow a recipe word for word anymore. This recipe came about through that new confidence in cooking. There have been a lot of recipes or attempts that have failed, but I'll keep trying.

Two recipes I want to get down this year: an amazing cinnamon roll recipe & an amazing pho recipe. I've tried these before with ok, but not great results. If I get them down, then maybe I'll share them...

Anyways, here's how I make Chicken Tortilla Soup:

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken cut into cubes or small bites (we used tenders)
Spices to cook chicken with or just use salt & pepper
1-2 tablespoons oil
1/2 bell pepper diced(we had an orange one)
1/2 white onion diced
3-4 cloves garlic diced/minced
2 boxes of chicken broth (I only had one so I added water and bouillon cubes)
1 cup of corn (I used frozen)
1 can beans drained
1 can rotel (or you can use a fresh tomato)
About 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
About 1 tablespoon cumin
Salt
Pepper
Limes
Cilantro
Avocado
Sour cream (optional)

Instructions:
1) Oil a skillet, add your seasoned cubed chicken and cook until done- leave it to the side until needed

2) Place oil in a big pot for your soup, once hot, add diced bell pepper, onion, and garlic and saute until onion starts to become translucent

3) Add chicken broth and bring to a boil (if you didn't have enough chicken broth, fill with water and when it boils add the bouillon cubes and stir until they are dissolved)
4) Add corn, beans, rotel, chili powder, and cumin, bring it back to a boil

5) Add chicken to the pot, add big pinch of salt and black pepper, give it a big stir and let it simmer for a few minutes
6) Taste and add more salt or cumin if needed- if not, then you're done- scoop soup into bowls and top with chopped cilantro and avocados. Finish it off with a squeeze of lime and sour cream if you like. Serve with tortilla chips.

I like to put some lime juice into the soup as well, but you could just save it for the end. I also had some green onions that I needed to use so I chopped some up and added it in. To complete the meal, I made a mintade to drink with chopped mint, orange juice, and lemonade. If you wanted to just dirty one pot, then you could cook the chicken in the pot and remove it to a bowl to add in later. This soup is very forgiving so don't be afraid to just throw some things in there.