Chicken Tortilla Soup

There must be more than 100 recipes floating around right now for chicken tortilla soup. Everyone likes to put their own spin on it. My husband and I recently ate lunch at McAlister's Deli. He had their chicken tortilla soup and loved it. He asked me if I could duplicate it at home. A challenge indeed.

After a long search, I found this copycat recipe from Food.com.

Was it a dead ringer for the soup that my husband had eaten? No. However, it was very good. With a few tweaks, we will have it again. The taste was close to McAlister's but *something* was missing. This soup was not as thick as the tortilla soup from that day. You also couldn't see the chunks of salsa or chicken in the restaurant soup. None the less, the whole family liked it.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

3 garlic cloves, minced
1 onions, chopped
3 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 (14 ounce) cans chicken broth
4 cups half-and-half
1 (10 3/4 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup salsa
1 (15 ounce) cans creamed corn
3 cooked boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 1/2 tablespoons fajita seasoning mix
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
16 ounces tortilla chips
8 ounces Monterrey jack cheese, shredded
1/8 cup green onions, chopped (I omitted)

In a large pot over medium heat, saute the garlic and onion in the butter or margarine for 5 minutes.

Add flour and stir well, cooking for 1 minute more.

Add the broth and half-and-half. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Add the soup, salsa, corn, chicken, cumin, fajita seasoning and 2 tablespoons cilantro. Stir and continue to heat for 15 minutes.

Crumble tortilla chips into individual bowls, add 1/2 ounce shredded cheese to each bowl and ladle in soup. Top each bowl with more crumbled chips, remaining 1/2 ounce cheese and remaining 1 tablespoon cilantro, few chopped green onions and serve.

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