Santa Fe Chicken Enchilada Soup

Last week, I decided that I wanted to make something with the can of black beans from my pantry so I went on allrecipes.com and found this recipe.  It was submitted by Philadelphia (the cream cheese company) and called for a container of one of their new "cooking cremes", which I have been meaning to try.  Besides the cooking creme, I already had everything in the recipe...

I also had to run out and get some cilantro, which was totally worth it.  (We love love love cilantro!)  Okay, enough chatter---here's the recipe:

4 (6 inch) corn tortillas, cut into strips
1 teaspoon oil
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 (10 ounce) tub of Philadelphia Santa Fe Blend Cooking Creme
1 cup milk
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed
1 (11 ounce) can corn with red and green bell peppers, drained (aka "Mexicorn")
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup chopped cilantro


Directions:
- Heat oven to 400*
-Toss tortilla strips in oil; spread into a single layer on baking sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crisp, stirring occasionally.
-Meanwhile, cook chicken in large nonstick saucepan sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat until chicken is done (about 8-10 minutes), stirring frequently.  Stir in cooking creme, milk, beans, corn and tomatoes.  Simmer on medium-low heat for 6-8 minutes or until heated through, stirring frequently.
-Serve soup topped with tortilla strips and cilantro.

So...of course I did a few things differently, as I usually do.  :)

First, I already had a bag of white corn tortilla chips that we are trying to eat up, so I did not make the tortilla strips like the recipe calls for.  I have, however, made them in the past and they are super easy and super delicious so I do recommend making them if you don't have tortilla chips on hand.  Secondly, I cooked the chicken in the crock pot for this one and then just transferred it over to a smaller pot on the stove when it was closer to dinner time.  A couple reasons why I did this:

1. In soups like this, I love when the chicken is more pulled/shredded than chunky.  Probably just me, so go ahead and cook it like the instructions tell you to if you want.

2. It's so easy to cook chicken in a crock pot!  I put the whole chicken breast in there with some water and chicken bullion and let it cook for about four hours on low.  By then, all I had to do was break it up a little bit and it was ready to go!  Once the chicken was transferred to the stove, it seriously took about 10 minutes to get the soup ready.  Talk about awesome!! 

Here's a little peek at the end result.  I put cheese on mine, and didn't add any chips. 

By the way, the soup wasn't spicy so even my toddler had two helpings of it.  And don't skimp on the cilantro!  It really does add a delicious flavor so it's well worth making a trip to the store if you don't already have some.  Enjoy!!