A Soup for Labor Day.

In honor of Labor Day, I have pretty much done absolutely nothing all day. Well, as far as house chores are concerned. I have spent the entire day enjoying my husband, my children, my nieces & nephews, my cat.....all the important people. It's been great. I would love to spend tomorrow just the same way, but that's not going to happen now is it. So, in keeping with the relaxed atmosphere of the day, I decided to make my kids their all time favorite soup for supper. Soup is a staple in my home in the Fall & Winter. Oh, how I am ready for Fall. Maybe that's another subconscious reason why I made soup for supper. I digress. I would love to share the recipe for this soup, I call Chicken Tortilla, but I've never really followed a precise regimen in making it. Here's basically what I do: Buy a family pack of bone in chicken breasts and boil in large pot until cooked. I usually throw in a nice heap of salt, a quartered onion, and maybe a few stalks of celery in the pot with the chicken. It flavors the broth. Remove cooked chicken and shred it, then strain broth. Return strained broth back to pot and bring to boil.  Add in 1 1/2 cups instant rice (I use brown) and a large onion that has been chopped. Cook until rice is ready and onion is tender. Now this is the tricky part. I usually have to add a large container of chicken broth at this point, depending on how much of the broth the rice has absorbed. Throw in 2 large cans of petite diced tomatoes with juice, a can of chopped green chiles, a can of shoepeg corn, and the shredded chicken. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If I have it, I will squeeze the juice of one lime or lemon in as well. It brightens the flavor in an unbelievable way. Cook over low flame until heated through. Remove from heat and add in 1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup monterey jack cheese, and 2 Tbsp. dried cilantro (ofcourse, use fresh if you have it). Lightly crush some tortilla chips in bottom of soup bowl and ladle soup on. Sprinkle with a little more cheese if desired. Watch your kids run to the kitchen when you tell them what's on the menu. This was kind of long to explain, but really the hardest part is boiling the chicken. And how hard is that? This makes a large pot and it's perfect to have for leftovers for the rest of the week. And believe me, I know a thing or two about leftovers.