Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is one of our fav meals. It DOES make a ton of soup, so you might want to plan on sharing some or freezing some (or both!). It looks like a lot of ingredients, but all you really do is dump stuff into a crockpot and let it cook. Also, I often dump 'extra' chicken in to cook it for the week ahead - since it's already been cooked in a "marinade" it tastes GREAT in tacos or enchiladas, etc.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb. boneles, skinless chicken (2-3 lbs. if cooking extra)
1 15 oz. can tomatoes (diced/crushed work best)
1 can Ro-tel tomatoes & chilis
1/2 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1.5-2 cups chicken broth (or 1 can)
1-2 cups frozen corn (or 10 oz. frozen pkg)
1 can black beans - rinsed & drained (pinto or kidney beans would also work)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1-2 TB cilantro
water

Tortilla chips
Optional: cheese, sour cream, taco garnishes


Directions:
1. Dump chicken, tomatoes, ro-tel, veggies and beans into pot.
2. Stir spices into chicken broth until well incorporated, then dump in.
3. Add up to 2 cups water to pot until at least 3/4 way full.
4. Put lid on and cook on low 6-8 hours, or on high around 4 hours.
5. Before serving, remove chicken and shred on a dish, then return to the soup. (If you made extra chicken try to take it out as whole as possible and let it cool while you eat dinner).
6. Top soup with crushed tortilla chips, cheese and other toppings.