THE THIRD LITTLE.....

The third little blessing (the tail end of the Counting Little 1, 2, 3... post) is a warm tasty soup on a cold night during the week. I pass the recipe on to you  since I was reading that one of my readers was always wondering about this soup.
This is how I got to know this soup. One time a friend and I were having lunch at Marie Calenders Restaurant. Since we were both poor students, my frugal friend had a rule to keep her expenditure on lunch less than $5. She talked me into trying Tortilla Soup. 
It was even better the French Onion Soup, which used to be my favorite! I loved it and found a recipe from Pilsbury (I believe). I eat it as a main dish and serve it with toasted tortilla strips and fresh cilantro on a cold night during the week!

NOTE 
For people not familiar with cilantro (on pic). It is also called Chinese parsley. It has a different fragrance than Italian parley, and its leaves are softer and wilt more quickly.  
Whitemist's blog alerted me that "a small percentage of the population has a genetic variation that makes cilantro taste like soap." (I'm feeling sorry for these people!)
If corn tortillas are not available where you live, flour tortillas is a good substitute. It becomes harder when they do not sell any kind of tortilla. On the pic I put a tortilla  on a small plate,so you can see how they look like -a thin flour pancake (a little bit chewier than the soft puffy cake-like pancake of Mac Donalds!).
You can see that I use sweet potatoes, not yams (doctors orders for hubby whose white bloodcell count is low, are dark veggies.)


TORTILLA SOUP


Ingredients
1.   2 cups of onions, slice
       4 garlic cloves, minced
2.    4 medium yams, peel and cut in cubes
       6 cups of chicken broth
       1 teaspoon cumin
       1 teaspoon oregano leaves
       1 teaspoon chili powder
       1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper (or cayenne)
3.     28 ounce can of green chili peppers, undrained
        2 cans of stewed tomatoes, undrained
        2 cups of corn
4.     6 6-inch corn tortillas
        6 tablespoons of fresh cilantro
        Jack cheese, grated


Work sequence (corresponding with numbers above)
1. Saute in hot oil till tender 5-7 minutes

2.  Stir in, bring to a boil. Cover an simmer 10-15 min.

     To toast Tortillas:
     Put oven on, 15 min. before serving the soup
     Cut tortillas in 1 x 1/2 inch strips. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Bake 8-12 min. on 375 degrees Fahrenheit -till light brown and crisp

3.  Add to soup and cook 5-7 minutes.
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to compare with some other recipes: 
Latina.com adds chicken, 2 tsp. cumin and 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano, 
Swanson adds salsa and 2 Tablespoons lime juice, and 
Betty Crocker adds a Jalepeno  chili and Avocado
Serve with Toasted corn tortillas, fresh cilantro, and Jack cheese.
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Enjoy my friends!

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