Lime Soup

I first had lime soup when Alayna made it in France for a dinner party. Because we used to live in France and have dinner parties where I would shove white candles in old Champagne bottles and the guests would do all the dishes. Insert sigh here.

Either way, if you happen to have a cold, or feel a cold coming on, Lime Soup is the thing to do. Because by your third spoonful you'll notice your nose is running. And by the end of the bowl you're all cleared up.

Alayna would like to insert a tip here: "I hate doing dishes [she does, it's true], so I like to chop all the fruits/veggies/herbs first then the chicken. That way I don't have to switch knives, meaning I use my favorite knife the whole time and only one chopping board!"

Nice tip. For those of you who don't get why that's a tip it's because you don't chop raw chicken with the same knife you are going to use for the other stuff. Duh.

Okay, aprons on! Here we go:

Start by taking 3 to 4 tortillas and cutting them into strips, set aside.

Dice 6 to 8 cloves of garlic and sauttee in olive oil in your soup pot with 3 to 4 whole dried chili peppers

Chop 1 large yellow onion and add to garlic

When onion is getting translucent, dump in 1 large can of plain diced tomatoes with juice

Add 2 more cans of water and chicken bullion (or chicken broth)

Put on medium heat and allow to slowly come to a boil.

Chop a generous handful of cilantro and set aside until soup broth is hot, then add

Slice 2 small limes into wedges and set aside

Cut open another 4 limes (that's 6 limes you'll need total) for squeezing into the broth and do so immediately

Slice up 1 avocado and set it aside.

Chop 3 chicken thighs into bite size pieces and sauttee in a separate pan in olive oil until cooked through, adding a few shakes of salt and some black pepper.

Since this is all kind of happening at the same time, watch your pot! Once the broth is getting hot, add your cilantro, and then once it's really hot and the chicken is cooked through, add the chicken to the broth (Make sure you've left enough space!)

Let it all cook together on med-high for five minutes

Bring the temp down to med-low and throw in the lime slices for the last five minutes

Top: Frying the tortilla strips / Bottom: Adding fresh limes to soup

Don't wash your chicken pan! Instead, put in some more olive oil and fry up your tortilla strips (rotating once) until golden and crispy

Lay them on a paper towel to soak up extra oil, this will probably take a few batches to get enough done (and they are delicious).

Once you have all the elements of your soup, put the soup in bowls, shred pepper jack cheese in the soup, some sliced avocados on top of the cheese and the tortilla strips on top of that (so they don't get soggy fast!)

It all sounds complicated, but it isn't! I promise!

Important Note: If you're storing the soup to eat through the week, take out the extra lime rinds they can make the broth bitter when they're re-heated.

Alayna in a work outfit she was proud of, with soup, in living room.

Note: Mary Lorraine chose not to be featured in this week's soup post because she realized she wears the same orange sweatshirt every Monday night.