For Squirrely....

Chicken tortilla soup. I swear it's easy, even if there are "ingredients".

I usually make this with what is leftover from a whole roasted chicken. This week, I had a plethora of bone-in chicken breast, 'cause it was on sale for something like $0.77/lb, so... that's what I used. It only took one for this recipe.

Ingredients:
Chicken - I used about 1-1 1/2 cups shredded
1 Green bell pepper
3 stalks celery
1 med onion
5-6 cloves garlic
1 tsp chili powder
2 Tbs dried parsley
1 1/2 c crushed tomatoes (ish - I just used about half of a 28 oz can)
3 c chicken stock (ish, again - I just pour until it looks right?)
Salt and pepper to taste

So. Season chicken - salt and pepper. Brown in about 1Tb of olive oil, in a heavy bottomed soup pot.. thing.

While that is browning, chop up the bell pepper, celery, onion, and garlic.

When the chicken is browned, remove from pan, and add the vegetables. Add parsley and chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Sautee until onions turn translucent.

Add the chicken back to the pot, and add crushed tomatoes, and chicken stock. I usually have my own chicken stock on hand, but since I didn't make this out of leftover chicken, I don't... in those cases, I love this brand... Low sodium FTW!
The liquids should just barely cover the chicken.
Bring to a boil, and lower heat to med. Continue to simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove chicken from the pot, and shred. Re-add the chicken, and simmer another 5-10 minutes.

I usually fry my own tortillas, but this time I had a bag from Trader Joe's... lazy all around. Serve topped with shredded cheese, salsa, and tortilla chips.
All told, about 45 minutes until complete.

Just for kicks, here's a cost break down on this...

Chicken - $1.25
Bell pepper - $0.49
Celery - $0.99 for the whole... thing, and there's still 2/3 left, so.. $0.33?
Onion - $0.25
Crushed tomatoes - half can - $0.75
Chicken stock - $2.00
Garlic - full head was $.33, so... $0.15?

I'm not adding in the stupid things, like salt, pepper, chili powder, 'cause.. it's stupid.

We could have had this for dinner twice, so counting Baby as a half meal each time, total of 9 meals came out of this.

Total, about $5.22. Round up, even, to $5.25, and it comes out to $0.58 per meal. Not bad!

Even taking into account the fact that I frugally sucked this week, and the leftover soup is sitting in my fridge and needs to be tossed, it's only $1.16 per meal.

AND, when you consider that this is usually made with leftover chicken, and home-made stock, well. It's practically free.