Chicken vegetable soup

Sadly my divine cuisine has been kind of... stunted since we joined weight watchers on January 23rd 2012. We are both eating healthier and feeling SO much better, but no fancy cream sauces or anything lately for us. I've been examining some of our favorite recipes and seeing if I could make them Weight Watchers friendly.

This is one of our favorite soup recipes and the conversion wasn't to hard. It started out as "El Torito Chicken Tortilla Soup". I would call it "El Torito Chicken Vegetable Soup" now :-) It's a bit spicy the way I did it. If you want it less spicy leave out the jalapeno. The Chipotle Chili in Adobo is important to give it a smoky flavor though so I would try to leave that in if you can. I used a tablespoon of it not a teaspoon! SPICY!!

El Torito Chicken Vegetable Soup

Makes 4 servings

Serving size: approximately 2 cups

WW Points Per Serving: 5

Ingredients:

9 1/2 oz Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast

6 cups O Organics brand Chicken Broth (I used it because it's 0 points, you can use what you would like)

1/2 Medium Red Onion, diced

1 Large Carrot, diced

1/2 Medium Red Potato, diced

1/4 cup Canned Tomato paste (I used Safeway's O Organics brand)

1 Bay Leaf

1 Tbsp Minced Garlic

1/2 tsp Canned Chipotle Pepper in Adobo Sauce, Pureed (I just chopped it with a knife until it turned to mush)

 1 Tbsp Fresh Jalapeno Pepper, minced

1/2 tsp Dried Mexican Oregano

1/4 tsp Ground Cumin

1/2 Medium Zucchini, diced

1/2 Medium Yellow Squash, diced  (I used Chayote Squash because I didn't like the look of the yellow)

1/2 Medium Red Bell Pepper, diced

1 Tbsp Lime Juice

1 Tbsp Sweet Sherry

1/2 Tbsp Cilantro, chopped

1/2 Tbsp Mint, chopped

Garnish:

1/2 Medium Avocado, sliced into 4 pieces

4 tsp Cilantro

Method:

1. Poach chicken breast in simmering chicken broth until done through, about 10 minutes.
2. Set aside until cool enough to handle and shred.
3. Combine chicken broth, chicken, red onion, carrots, potato, tomato paste, bay leaf, garlic, chipotle and jalapeno chilies, oregano, cumin and salt and pepper in large saucepan.
4. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
5. Correct seasoning, if necessary.
6. Add zucchini, squash, pepper, lime juice and Sherry.
7. Bring again to boil.
8. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
9. Add cilantro and mint.
10. Stir, then remove from heat.
11. Ladle soup into each bowl.
12. Garnish each bowl with avocado slice and a teaspoon of cilantro. Serve at once.