Macy Mexican Soup

Even ASHLEY ate this and she is the pickiest eater in our house! If you've been reading my blog for long, you will know that I have a few rules when it comes to recipes and cooking in my house. 

1) It cannot need more than 5 main ingredients (this does not include seasoning) 
2) It cannot require more than chopping up of 2 items max (0 would be preferred) and 
3) It cannot take any longer than 30 minutes to cook (exception is baked chicken that sometimes takes 40 mins)
4) I have to already have the ingredients on hand, and it cannot require something I wouldn't normally purchase

So, in keeping with my rules, this was of my own creation for lunch yesterday.

Macy Mexican Soup 
(Actually, any seasoning you like will work, does not have to be Mexican. You can add other flavors to kick up the spice or none at all for a more basic chicken soup flavor)

• 32 oz chicken broth (I always have on hand a box of Pacific Natural Foods Organic free range chicken broth - bought in a 4 pack at Costco)
• 1 can diced tomatoes (I always have on hand the Kirkland brand organic ones since I use that in my home made spaghetti sauce on a regular basis)
• 10-12 oz of cut up chicken meat (if I have leftovers, I just use what I have, otherwise I use a can of Kirkland brand chunk chicken breast - yes, LAUGH at the irony of using this while the first two ingredients are organic)

• seasoning as desired:

salt (broth is usually pretty salty to begin with)

pepper

crushed red peppers

garlic

thyme, dill, parsley, oregano, rosemary, whatever you have on hand will work just fine!

For Mexican: taco seasoning packet

• fresh, canned, or frozen veggies as desired:

Now here is where whatever I have on hand is important. This time I used about 1/2 a pack of mushrooms, thus it was the only thing I needed to chop besides the chicken.

Here are some other suggestions:
for Mexican: corn, chopped peppers, chopped onions, black beans
for authentic chicken soup: green beans, chopped carrots, chopped celery, chopped onions
other options: mushrooms