Week 11 - Chicken Fajita Soup

I made Chicken Fajita Soup this past Friday night. This was a relatively simple recipe; it turned out quite well actually. I can't think of anything that I would change aside from perhaps using regular diced tomatoes instead of fire roasted. (Read below for a contradiction of that statement). The fire roasted tomatoes did not adversely affect the flavor; however, it felt like I was attempting to choke down an inedible stem of some sort.

The ingredients for the recipe are listed below:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 1 (1.27 ounce) packet fajita seasoning
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1 poblano pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1 large onion, cut into thin strips
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 (15 ounce) can seasoned black beans
• 1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 dash hot sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

As I think about it a bit more, I have concluded that it would be interesting to attempt building the fajita seasoning from scratch. It would also be worthwhile to try adding more broth and/or water. The spices were very concentrated yet the dish seemed to lack a depth of flavor. The heat of the peppers hit me and then that was that. I certainly didn't mind the flavors but there was something about the concoction that seemed overly processed.

The original recipe indicated that it yielded 10 servings. HA! There was hardly enough there for two meals. In actuality, there were 2-3 servings at most.

With that being said, I will definitely make this again sometime. It's probably not a recipe for those that aren't able to tolerate spicy cooking. I will give this recipe a 7 out of 10 stars.