To die for Chicken Tortilla Soup..

Ok now it is rare for me to find something that steven will like esp if it is Mexican or something different but I must say this soup on a cold day is prolly one of the best things!! We would rather eat this then chicken noodle any day!!

Now WARNING this soup is not for someone who isn't going to be home all day to cook it.. it is a soup that takes forever but the outcome is worth it!! WAYYYYYY worth it!!

Here are your ingredients:
First the ingredients for the stock:
1 Lg roasting chicken around like 4 lbs or more...
1 Lg Onion chopped (don't worry about the consistency of your chopping a rough chop is fine)
1 cup diced celery
4 cloves garlic.. again roughly chopped
1 teas crushed red pepper
8 cups of water
LG stockpot!
Now for the actual soup:
Corn or Flour tortilla (i like corn in these)
Vegetable oil for frying
2 cups chopped onions.. (here you want them chopped right)
salt and pepper
1 teas dried Oregano
1 tablespoon chopped garlics
1 Jalapeno seedless and chopped (if you want alittle more spice you can use 2..)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
then if you want a avocado sliced..

Directions for stock:
Clean and salt your chicken place in stock pot with the 8 cups of water and the rest of the stock ingredients.. Season with about a teaspoon of salt. Place pan over Med heat and bring water to a boil.. Reduce heat to Med low and simmer until chicken is tender about 2 hours give or take depending on the size of your chicken. Carefully remove the chicken from the pot and set aside. Strain liquid from pot into another pot and set the strained liquid aside. Discard of all the vegetables that was in the stock... Going back to your chicken remove meat from bone and remove all fat.. Cut you chicken into bite sizes pieces and again set aside.
Directions for soup:
Preheat oil. Cut part of your tortilla into quarters, then rest into thin strips. Then fry all of them until golden brown set all aside. In a separate pot add a small amount of oil (just to almost coat the bottom of the pan..) add your chopped onions season with the salt,pepper, and oregano. Saute them til they are soft about 2-3 minutes. Stir in garlic, jalapeno and continue to saute another minute. (now after this step I like to spoon Little of the stock you made into this and put it all in a blender or food processor and blend til almost smooth... it just makes it better so each bite taste almost the same..) now combine the stock and the mixture you just made into one pot; crush your tortilla quarters into the soup (leaving your thin pieces alone..) bring this back to a boil and boil for 30 minutes.. reason to taste then add your chicken and cilantro simmer for a additional 5 minutes..
Your soup is ready to serve!!
Ladle into lg bowl top with your tortilla strips, and if you want the avocado, Little extra cilantro.. and maybe alittle cheddar cheese!!
And lastly enjoy!!! :)