Mexican Spiced Soup

Real Mexican pozole is one of my favorite soups.  This soup is my attempt to recreate some of those unique flavors in a recipe that is way easier and faster to make.  Also, this is a great way to use up leftover chicken.

Mexican Spiced Soup

• Leftover, cooked chicken (Up to a full breast), diced or shredded
• olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 Anaheim chile (seen below), chopped
• 1 box [low sodium] chicken broth
• 2 ears corn, cut from the cob (careful - this can be dangerous)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
• 1-2 tsp chili powder
• black pepper
• 1 lime
• 2 tbsp cilantro, roughly chopped
• toppings of your choice - tortilla strips, sliced radishes, cheese, sour cream, etc.

1.  Heat a tbsp or so of olive oil in a medium sized pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until translucent.
2. Throw in the garlic and cook for a minute.  Add in the pepper and cook for another minute.
3. Pour in the chicken broth, bay leaves, oregano, chili powder, and black pepper and bring to a boil.  Lower heat to a simmer.  Throw in the corn and let simmer until cooked through.  This should only take a couple minutes.
4. Add in the chicken and juice from 1 lime and continue to simmer until the chicken is warmed up. 
5. Remove from heat, pull out the bay leaves (never serve bay leaves!  choking hazard!) and stir in the cilantro.  Serve with your choice of toppings!

  Anaheim chiles are about the size of a bell pepper, but generally longer.  They are fairly mild, but add a little spice to this soup.  I also throw them into fajitas with regular bell peppers to mix things up a bit.