Valerie's Creamy Mexican Soup

This is a recipe that I made based on one I found on All Recipes, called Amy’s Mexican Soup. It sounded so good, but when the rubber hit the road, I changed it so much that it seemed silly to keep her name for it. So I named it Valerie’s Creamy Mexican Soup. To see the original, go look it up; it‘s too much to list all the changes here. You just *know* I added a boatload of veggies to it. ;-) As for what this soup is now, stay tuned and I’ll show you what I did. ;-)

So, let’s get cooking!

Prep the veggies. Remove the seeds and dice the jalapeño peppers small. Remember to use gloves, and wash your hands well afterwards. And the knife, And the cutting board. ;-)

Dice the sweet onion, celery, and green bell pepper. Mince the garlic. I use my garlic press most of the time for that.

Peel and dice the carrot into small pieces.

Cube the chicken breast. I like to make the pieces rather small; it spreads it further in the recipe. Sauté in a large pot with a little oil. Then set aside.

In the same pot, use a little oil to sauté the celery, bell and jalapeño peppers, onions, garlic, and carrot until tender, about 8 minutes or so.

Drain and rinse the kidney and black beans. Add to the sautéed veggies, along with the chicken, diced tomatoes, chicken stock, chili powder, and cumin.

Bring to a boil and turn down the heat to simmer for 30 minutes.

Cut the cream cheese into chunks. Turn off the heat and add the cream cheese to the soup, whisking in until thoroughly combined. Serve with shredded Fiesta Blend cheese on top if desired.

Enjoy! ~TMMF

Valerie’s Mexican Soup

1 lb chicken breast
2 lg jalapeño peppers
½ green bell pepper
1 sweet onion
2 stalks celery
3 cloves garlic
1 carrot
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
4 c chicken stock
1 14.5 oz can kidney beans
1 14.5 oz can black beans
1 Tbl chili powder
1 tsp cumin
8 oz cream cheese
shredded Fiesta Blend cheese