The Original Kim Blanchard Chicken Tortilla Soup

Source: Kim Blanchard (the original ... with a couple of additions by me, Kim Blanchard II)

Ingredients:
1 onion, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used a couple of shakes of garlic powder since I didn't have real garlic)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 can Mexican mix canned tomatoes
1 can chicken broth
1 cup water (we used 1 can)
1 can corn, drained
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro (Kim says optional, but I say don't leave it out!)
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chiles
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces (Gregg and I like it shredded)
crushed tortilla chips
sliced avocado
shredded cheese
chopped green onion

Directions:
In a medium pan, heat oil and saute onion, red pepper and garlic till soft. Stir in chili powder, oregano, tomatoes, broth and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Stir in corn, chiles, beans, cilantro and chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes. Ladle soup into individual bowls, top with crushed tortilla chips, avocado, cheese and green onion.

Notes:
Um ... yum! This soup is fantastic! The only thing I added that wasn't on the recipe from Kim was the red pepper ... just because I was feeling adventurous. I liked it. The cilantro was so good! I think we added about twice as much as the recipe called for, and that might have been too much, but just barely. Wow. Just a super yummy dinner! Gregg and I even thought that the chicken was a minor ingredient ... it would be fantastic without since there are so many other flavors and textures going on already.

(P.S. I couldn't find that anyone had posted this recipe on the Bistro Blog yet, so hopefully I didn't miss it and now we have a duplicate post. If that's the case, I'll delete this one!)