Call It What You Will

Good day, Kitschies!  Other than a big parenting FAIL (we thought Nate went back to school today but it's really not til tomorrow), it's been a pretty good day.  I went to my first derby practice last night in what feels like at least a month and I'm a little sore but nowhere near how I thought I would be.  Work was super busy this morning which was also a nice change.  And now I'm home with Nate. 

I have a really, really good recipe to share with you today.  I've made this before but it got pushed to the bottom of my recipe rotation and hadn't made it for quite a while.  I made this the day I was waiting for my new stove to be delivered/installed since I didn't know exactly what time they'd get here.  I got this from good 'ol allrecipes.com and you can argue whether it's a chili or a soup, but whatever it is, call it delish!

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup
1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts
shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
crushed tortilla chips (optional)
  
Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours. 

Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired. 

NOTES:  I used Heineken because I know that's a beer the hubs will drink.  I don't touch the stuff.  They sell small bottles of "cooking" wine, why not cooking beer?  I'm just sayin'.

I don't usually say this, but I can't wait til my next office potluck because I know what I'll be bringing.

And like most soups, this is even better the next day.  It makes plenty for a night's dinner, but there's plenty leftover, too.  Don't let the idea of the beer in this recipe scare you - I don't like beer and I can't taste it at all in this soup.

If you've got some cold weather in the forecast, I definitely recommend picking up the ingredients for this soup.  You won't be sorry!