Skinny Tortilla Soup

I guess there are some problems, with the site today, because my blog is not appearing on the news feed and some, from my friends list, are not seeing it at all. So, since it appears the message boards are working I thought I would post, here, what I posted on my blog because this was truly a delicious soup.

SKINNY TORTILLA SOUP is what is for dinner tonight and let me tell you that this is quite the comfort food with the blizzard that we have going on. This recipe comes from the Taste Of Home Light Everyday Meals cookbook.
Skinny Tortilla Soup

7 Servings
Prep/Total Time: 30 min

Ingredients

1 can (16 ounces) fat-free refried beans
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
1-1/2 cups frozen corn
3/4 cup chunky salsa
3/4 cup cubed cooked chicken breast
1/2 cup water
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese, divided
28 tortilla chips, divided

Directions

In a large saucepan, combine the first seven ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add 1 cup cheese; cook and stir over low heat until melted. Crumble half of the tortilla chips into soup bowls. Ladle soup over chips. Top each serving with two crumbled chips; sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Yield: 7 servings.



Nutritional Analysis: One serving (1 cup) equals 290 calories, 7 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 30 mg cholesterol, 987 mg sodium, 36 g carbohydrate, 9 g fiber, 23 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 2-1/2 starch, 2 lean meat.


MY NOTES:
First I took four chicken breast tenderloins, cut them into bite size pieces, sprinked 2 teaspoons of Mrs. Dash Chipotle seasoning on them, and cooked them, in the same stock pot as the soup, until they were done.

Then you can add the other ingredients into the pan and go from there.

I found Bush's low sodium black beans so look for that, or something similar, to help cut down on the sodium levels.

As most of you know I used the Herb Ox No Sodium Chicken Bouillon, found where you find other chicken bouillon. This has no sodium. You would need two packets for this so make sure you make it ahead of time. I made it when the chicken was cooking and then set aside until I was ready for it. If you can not find the Herb Ox No Sodium Chicken Bouillon look for something low in sodium and then adjust that in your food diary.

I used Birds Eye baby white and gold frozen corn because it has a little bit of a sweet taste too it because it is baby corn. I really like this corn.

I have recently found Newmans Own Mild Chunky Salsa and I am using it like crazy. Two tablespoons are 10 calories and 65mg of sodium. Awesome! So, I used that.

I used Weight Watchers shredded Mexican four cheese blend. You can stay with the reduced fat cheese for the 1 cup that gets melted into the soup as it won't hurt the taste or texture. The weight watchers melted into the soup great. Then, if you want to "splurge" a little, top your soup with regular cheese but only use like 2 tablespoons.

Instead of using packaged tortilla chips I took Mission white small tortillas, cut them into 8 sections, each. I sprary a cookie sheet with a light spray of pam, with olive oil, cooking spray, put the tortilla triangles on the cookie sheet, and sprayed a light spray over the tortillas pieces. I then baked them in a 425 degree oven for 7 minutes. That will depend on your oven. Bake until crisp, 7-8 minutes. One tortilla is 55 calories and 5mg of sodium and makes 8 little triangles. That is plenty for one bowl of soup and lot healthier than the store bought chips.

Nutritional info for the same 1 cup of soup:
Calories=191 Carbs=26 Fat=3 Protien=17 Sodium=562 Fiber=6

Then, I put another 2 tablespoons of weight watchers cheese on the top of my bowl and used 1 Mission tortilla and it only added 90 calories and 100mg of sodium to my dinner. Nice! Still lower than the original recipe!

BON APPETIT!