Chicken Lime Soup

“Chicken Lime (No tortilla) Soup”

(Whole 30 Compliant)

So, I’ve been trying to get off all processed food for about 8 months now, but it’s not easy with the little treasures my husband keeps bringing into the house.  Most of the time I can say no, but there is one thing I have a particular weakness for…It’s Tortilla Chips.  And with that, I also LOVE tortilla soup.  I used to work at Houston’s restaurant in NYC and they had the most delicious tortilla soup.  Tortilla soup day was always my favorite day of the week to work.  However, as I said, I’m trying to break up with my tortilla addiction and this soup is a great help.  First of all, it’s delicious, and with the addition of string beans, you don’t miss the tortillas.  Trust me.  I wouldn’t lie about this.  And my husband agrees, so that’s at least 4 thumbs up.

Let me know what you think!

(Photo below taken on my Android phone. Sometimes you are so hungry, you only get a quick picture before diving in 🙂 )

 

Ingredients:

Ghee

1lb Cooked Organic Chicken, chopped into small pieces

2 Cups Carrots, shredded (After peeling, I threw them in the food processor to shred as I was short on time and also lazy.  I highly recommend it)

3 Celery Stalks, diced

½ Jalapeno Pepper, diced finely

1 Onion, diced

2 Cloves Garlic, minced

32oz. Organic Chicken Broth (try to make your own or buy from a specialty shop so there are no additives like caramel color)

18oz. Jar Organic Crushed Tomatoes (I like Jovial brand and prefer jarred over canned because of the absence of BPA and soy)

1 Cup Fresh String beans, halved or quartered

½ tsp Chili Powder

½ tsp Cumin

½ tsp Garlic Powder (optional)

1/8 Cup Cilantro, chopped finely (you can add more if you like cilantro)

Juice of 2 limes

Salt and Pepper to taste

 Directions:

Set two pots on the stovetop. One a soup pot and the other a sauté pan.  Add a touch of ghee to each pan.  To the sauté pan, add the diced chicken (and salt and pepper to taste)to cook through.  To the soup pot, add carrots, celery, jalapeno and onion and cook 3-4 minutes, or until just tender. When the chicken is cooked, shut off the heat and let sit. Add garlic to the cooked veggie pot and cook 1 minute more. Then pour the now cooked chicken, broth, tomatoes, string beans, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, cilantro, lime, and salt and pepper to soup pot. Heat to a bubble and allow to simmer 10-15 minutes to let the flavors gel. If you can, let the flavors marry overnight or for several hours in the refrigerator. Then re-heat on the stove before serving.

This recipe is also a great way to use leftover chicken.  Just skip the step of cooking the chicken 🙂 .

Additionally, as my husband and I are not huge fans of cilantro, we usually have a ton leftover and we just chop it up and freeze it in ice cube trays.  That way when we need it for this and other recipes, all we have to do is toss the cilantro ice cube in the soup and it’s just as good as fresh.

I usually serve this with a wedge of lime on the side and a big green salad dressed with lemon.

What do you serve it with?