Tortilla Soup

Have you guys ever had the Chicken Tortilla Soup at Max and Erma's? If not, you should try it. It's so good. Anyway, I was at my sister's last weekend and she made a knock-off recipe version of it. Sooooo good and tasted very close to the real thing. I made some this week and thought I'd share the recipe. Just a fair warning that it did make a lot of soup. I would probably try to cut the recipe in half next time and I'd probably still have to freeze some. Also, I did not fry my own tortillas. I bought some 'Santa Fe' tortilla strip salad toppings in the produce section of the grocery store. It was so much easier. Also, I would recommend making this in a non-stick pot.

Max & Erma's Chicken Tortilla Soup
2 cans Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup
2 cans Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup
2 cans Campbell's Cream of Celery soup
2 cans Campbell's Cheddar Cheese soup
2 (15 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 cup Pace medium picante salsa
1 (4.5 ounce) can Ortega green chiles
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 teaspoon red chile powder, more or less to your taste
Salt and pepper to your taste
1/4 cup fresh, chopped cilantro
4 cooked chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
1 package flour tortillas
1 package shredded colby/cheddar cheese

In a large stockpot combine and whisk together until smooth all eight cans of soup. Add chicken broth. Add tomatoes, salsa, green chiles, onion, garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper.
Bring all ingredients to a full boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour.
Add cilantro and chicken breast chunks. Simmer another hour.

While soup is simmering, make your soup toppings: Cut flour tortillas into small thin strips and deep fry in hot oil until lightly browned.

To serve: Ladle soup into bowls, top with shredded cheese and fried tortilla strips