Max & Erma's Chicken Tortilla Soup - Sue's Original Clone

Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 2 (10 3/4 ounce) cans campbell's cream of mushroom soup
• 2 (10 3/4 ounce) cans campbell's cream of chicken soup
• 2 (10 3/4 ounce) cans campbell's condensed cream of celery soup
• 2 (10 3/4 ounce) cans campbell's cheddar cheese soup
• 2 (15 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup picante salsa (pace brand medium hot)
• 1 (4 1/2 ounce) can green chilies (ortega brand)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 fresh garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon red new mexico chile powder (note -- this is not the same as ordinary red chili powder. it can often be found in specialty foods)
• salt and pepper, to your taste
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 4 cooked chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
• 10 flour tortillas
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1/2 lb colby cheese

Recipe

• 1 in a large (8-10 quart) stockpot combine and whisk together until smooth all eight cans of soup.
• 2 add chicken broth. add tomatoes, salsa, green chiles, onion, garlic, chile powder, salt and pepper. bring all ingredients to a full boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour.
• 3 add cilantro and chicken breast chunks. simmer another hour.
• 4 while soup is simmering, make your soup toppings: cut flour tortillas into small thin strips. heat oil and deep fry tortilla strips until lightly browned. shred cheese.
• 5 to serve: ladle soup into bowls, top with shredded cheese and fried tortilla strips.