Chicken Tortilla Soup (Feed an Army)

3 quarts chicken broth (buy, make, or use bouillon)
2 cans black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 sm onion (chopped)
3 stalks celery (chopped)
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes (drain a little)
1 sm can Rotel (tomatoes w green chilies) (drain a little)
1 sm bag frozen corn
3 bags Success rice, or (what-ever left-over rice you have) = 4-6 cups
1 chicken (cooked & deboned) -or- use 2 cans chicken
1 T butter
tortilla chips
sour cream
cheese

Directions: In stock pot- spray w Pam, cook onions & celery in the butter until tender. Add chicken broth and turn heat to medium. Dump in black beans, Rotel, diced tomatoes, and corn. Debone chicken & add. Add cooked rice. when it boils...it's done. Set out tortillas, sour cream, and cheese to allow kids to add what they like on top.

Truth: Here's what I do- Don't laugh....OK maybe a little- This is one of those cool recipes that can feed an army QUICK because most things I have in my pantry. I love it because it's hearty and filling and my husband LOVES it. You can make it as simple or as difficult as you like (ok- make it difficult) LOL. I buy a BIG rotisserie chicken at Walmart, or use the canned chicken from Costco- you can bake a chicken in the oven for an hour if you want to...ok I just laughed a little. I dump my 3 quarts of (store bought) broth into my stock pot (I was in a hurry so I grabbed store bought this time...but if you have chicken base, it's just as quick to make your own and tastes better). While my kids open the cans... I debone the chicken. Rinse beans in colander, add to pot. Dump tomatoes into colander ( I don't rinse them but just let the juice drain a little) add to pot. Dump frozen corn into pot. Dump deboned chicken into pot. Dump rice into pot. Bring to boil. Done. OH- I 'forgot' the onion, dang-it...I 'forgot' to chop the celery...double-dang-it. Next time. LOL. No-one misses it and I just saved 10 minutes of washin, choppin, & saute'in. Hehe. But if I have company...I'll do the onion & celery. (I also slap myself with a couple of puffs of flour in the face to show 'e' for effort.) As far as the tortillas, cheese & sour cream...my family would rather have a fresh roll and some butter, so go with what you have. Also, if your family likes things really spicy, add 2 cans of Rotel instead of 1 of each. We like it milder so I do 1 can Rotel to 1 can of tomatoes. My husband prefers rotisserie chicken to canned so thats what I do...but canned works great. I like to make this when I have left-over rice from another meal. But I have the Success rice in the pantry. You need approx 6 cups so I use 4 cups of white and 2 cups brown. Thats what I like about this soup...you can't make it wrong. You can use white rice, brown rice, Minute Rice, or left-over rice. You can also dump all the ingredients into your crock-pot and cook on low for 4 hours, or 2 on high. If you want to add REAL rice...just increase your liquid accordingly. You cannot break this recipe!

Now go, dump, cook, enjoy!

~Aunt Sandi