Homemade Tortilla Soup

I am generally not one for soups, at least not canned soups. Thus I've been playing around with making my own for a couple winters, and have come up with a few nice soups/chowders. A bowl of soup with some bread is a great winter meal; easy, generally cheap, healthy, and since they are mostly liquid, they can help maintain or shed some of those holiday pounds. With a nasty bug invading our home, I was getting tired of eating chicken noodle, so I whipped up what I'm calling tortilla soup.

My magic Blendtec blender played a roll, and inspired the recipe, but we made several modifications to the original recipe, so it definitely has the Debbie twist. If you don't have a powerful enough blender to blend all the ingredients up, you can use a food processor first, then the blender, and heat it all up on the stove.









Ingredients
4 small tomatoes, cut into 4ths
1 large carrot or a handful of small carrots
1/4 cup yellow onion, roughly chopped
3 slices of a small jalapeno (this will give it a mild to med spice)
1 2 x 2 cube of sharp cheddar
2 Tbsp taco seasoning
4 sprigs cilantro
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 cups hot water

Add In's
At the very end you can add in corn, beans, and anything else you'd like, and right before serving, add in some crushed tortilla chips. (I think some taco meat, sour cream, and extra cheese on top might be nice next time).

Directions
1. Place all ingredients (except add in's) into your blender, and blend until smooth.
2. Add in whatever extras you'd like, and pulse only once.
3. Top with tortilla chip pieces at time of serving.