Farewell Party For Nicole

We wanted to have a pot luck lunch at work today.  Michelle made this amazing chicken tortilla soup (click HERE for the recipe, or see below) and then we all brought different things to go w/ it like chips and cheese and sour cream.  It was a super scrumptious lunch.

SPICY CHICKEN SOUP

INGREDIENTS

2 quarts water
8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 tablespoon onion powder
5 cubes chicken bouillon
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (16 ounce) jar chunky salsa
2 (14.5 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes
1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
2 (16 ounce) cans chili beans, undrained
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

THIS MAKES A LOT OF SOUP SO HALF IT IF IT IS FOR ABOUT 4 PEOPLE. I halved the recipe but did not have any canned tomatoes so i used about 5 fresh tomatoes, it was AMAZING. Patrick and I loved this. if you want it more like salsa tasting, leave out the chili powder. i only added one tbs of it. so it was not too chili-like! We loved it!!!

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot over medium heat, combine water, chicken, salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, onion powder and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1 hour, or until chicken juices run clear. Remove chicken, reserve broth. Shred chicken.
In a large pot over medium heat, cook onion and garlic in olive oil until slightly browned. Stir in salsa, diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes, tomato soup, chili powder, corn, chili beans, sour cream, shredded chicken and 5 cups of the broth you set aside. Simmer 30 minutes

I was in charge of bringing a dessert, so I made sheet cake éclairs.  I forgot to take a picture of it before we cut into it.  Thanks to Aunt Sandy for reading me off the ingredients over the phone so I could buy what I needed yesterday.  This recipe makes a TON of food.

We are SO SAD to see Nicole leave us.  She was SO WONDERFUL to have here for the summer.  She was such a hard worker and she will be missed for sure, but we wish her the best of luck in college.