Chicken Tortilla Soup

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Place the chicken in a roasting pan, season with salt and pepper, fill pan with water to approximately halfway up the chicken, roast at 350 F for 2 hours or until the chicken is done. When done remove pan from the oven and set the chicken onto a plate to drain. Keep the stock in the pan. When chicken cools, use two forks to shred chicken. Set the chicken and the stock aside.

Heat olive oil on a large pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion, and peppers and cook until tender (about 7 minutes). Next add the dried spices to the pan and stir. Stir in the black beans, corn, tomatoes, chicken, and 12 cups of stock (use the reserved stock from cooking the chicken, then use store bought to round off the 12 cups). Then cover the pot and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add the cilantro, lime juice, and lime zest. Simmer the soup for about 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the soup simmers put 1 inch of canola oil in a pan. When oil is hot fry tortilla strips in batches until they’re crisp. When done remove them to a plate (if you don’t want to fry the tortillas you can just serve the soup with regular non-fried tortillas, but I like the crunch from the fried tortillas).

Serve the soup, garnishing with tortilla strips, avocado, sour cream, and shredded cheese as desired.