Chicken Tortilla Soup

So a couple years ago my brother bought me a subscription to Taste of Home magazine for Christmas. Also, my check out line weakness is always their recipe card books! 100 recipes for $4! I am there! Anyway, between my subscription and my check out addiction, I have accumulated quite the collection of recipes! But I've probably only used a handful. So...this week I picked out a bunch of recipes from all my Taste of Home whatnots. You'll have to comment and tell me which of them seem the best. (I think they all sound yummy...or else why would I put them on my blog)

Our first recipe is chicken tortilla soup. This is one of my favorite soups, yet I'd never made it myself. (Maybe that's why I liked it so much. Who knows!) Anyway, I like soups that basically require me to open things and stir. I suppose sometimes I can chop things too if I need to. This recipe was really written to cook quickly on the stove. I decided to do it in a crock pot and it came out great that way too. I've included both sets of instructions so you can choose which way you'd like to cook it. Also I thought it'd be good with some crispy tortilla strips and sour cream. And I was right! :-) So I included those on the list of ingredients as well.

Truth be told I was cooking chicken in my crock pot for Chicken Satay wraps. But today was freezing and I felt like soup. Luckily I had this on my menu for later this week. True story! But the reason I am telling you this incredibly boring story about my day to day life is to point out how incredibly quick it was to make. I walked in the kitchen decided I wanted to eat soup, mixed the soup together, and was back out in the living room before my kids even realized I had been making dinner. So the making dinner time melt-down was completely avoided! May this recipe keep peace in your kitchen too!

Chicken Tortilla Soup
2 cans condensed cream of potato soup (undiluted)
2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup (undiluted)
2 cups 2% milk
1 can reduced-sodium chicken broth (I just had the regular so thats what I used)
1 can Mexicorn, drained
2 cups cooked chicken (I used frozen chicken tenderloins and cooked it in the crockpot)
1 can (4 0z) chopped green chilies (I used frozen)
3 flour tortillas (cut into 2 in. by 1/2 in. strips)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Additional cheese (to top)
Sour cream (to top)
Crunchy tortilla strips (to top) (remember you can find these by the croutons and salad toppers)

Stove top directions:
Cook and shred chicken. In a large saucepan, heat the soups, milk and broth, stirring frequently. Add corn, chicken and chilies; bring to a boil. Stir in the tortilla strips. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Stir in the cheese until melted. Top with additional cheese, sour cream and crunchy tortilla strips.

Crock pot directions:
Cook chicken on high 3-4 hours or on low for 5-6. When chicken is completely cooked, shred it and add all other ingredients. Let cook for 2 more hours on high or until soup is heated through and flour tortilla strips are soft like noodles. Top with additional cheese, sour cream and crunchy tortilla strips.