Canadians Can Celebrate Cinco De Mayo Too

I love food, and my boyfriend is very aware of this. So for my birthday this year, he bought me a healthy food cookbook called "Lighten Up" by Jill Dupleix. I really love it! The recipes inspire me to try new foods that I would never otherwise think twice about eating. For example, anchovies.  We made the spaghetti puttanesca together and one of the ingredients was anchovies. Hesitantly, I agreed to include them, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was delicious! The photographs are also really enticing! Our goal is to cook all the recipes in the book together (me and my boyfriend that is). So far we've done four, and one of those we tackled this evening.

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo (a Mexican/American holiday), we decided to make the Chicken Tortilla Soup with Avocado. I'm not a huge fan of either mexican or meat, but I was willing to give it a try! The soup was also really comforting on this cold, rainy, miserable day.

 

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Avocado:

(from "Lighten Up" by Jill Dupleix) 

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

1 finely sliced White Onion

4 finely sliced Garlic Cloves

4 chopped Tomatoes

1.2 litres Vegetable Stock (or chicken stock)

1 teaspoon ground Cumin

2 tablespoons Tomato Paste

1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

1/2 teaspoon Sugar

1 sliced mild Green Chilli

1 Chicken Breast (skinned and boned)

1 sliced Avocado

1 small finely sliced Red Onion

Handful of Coriander (we used parsley)

Handful of Corn Chips

1 quartered Lime

Heat the olive oil in a pan and cook the onion (the white one) for 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. Pour in the vegetable stock. Add the cumin, tomato paste, salt, sugar and chilli and bring to a boil (while stirring). 

Slice the chicken breast finely, add to the pan and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Divide the soup among the bowls and top with the avocado, red onion, and coriander (or parsley). Heat up the tortilla chips in the oven, and scatter on top as well! Squeeze some lime juice over top and feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Makes about 4 sevings

 

(calories: about 330 calories per serving)
 

This bowl of soup definitely made up for the disgusting weather today. The soggy, cold feeling I felt whilst waiting at the bus stop has pretty well vanished. Almost. But the sun is peering through the clouds, and is ready to make it's appearance once again. Thank goodness! Come on warm weather, come back to us!