Mother Hubbard's Tortilla Soup

Sunday's at the Hubbard house generally consist of decompressing from the weekend spent singing, playing and driving. As the weather becomes to cold to sit on the porch and watch the grass grow we like to hang on the couch with a fire going and football or music documentary's on the tube. We normally don't even leave the house and no one enters unless they already know the gate code. If we are going to dine on something other than the deli tray leftover from previous nights gig (like the one Ray stole from Casey Donahue's dressing room last night; sorry...ours only had broccoli and carrots, yours had meat!) then I usually cook up enough food to last all day and more times than not it's tortilla soup. I have worked on fine tuning the recipe over the years and I think today was indeed my best batch. Apologies in advance for the lack of proper measurements on several of the ingredients. You can't really mess this up so just go for it and send me an email if you have any questions or just want to let me know you made it and it was yummy!

5 Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 1/2 onions
3 Celery Stalks

Orrington Chicken Stock Base (Any chicken stock or broth will do but in my opinion this takes it from good to great)
Comino Powder
Chili Powder
Cayenne Pepper
1 Jalapeno Pepper
2 Cans Hominy
2-3 tomatoes
3 Avocados
1 garlic clove
soy sauce
1 lime
salt and pepper
1 cup shredded cheese (I prefer Monterey Jack or Cheddar/Monterey Blend)
tortilla chips

I like organic boneless chicken breast which I cut all visible fat off. Lay them in a big soup pot and generously sprinkle with comino powder, chili powder and cayenne pepper. Pour in just enough chicken broth to cover breasts add 1/ 2 chopped onion cover and cook on low/medium heat about 30 minutes until no longer pink inside.

While chicken is cooking mix together the following for your Pico Di Gallo and refrigerate:
2 or 3 chopped tomatoes
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro stems removed
1 jalapeno (the more seeds you leave in, the hotter it will be)

Once the chicken is done I throw out the cooking water as it has too much fat for me (actually I share the love and add it to the dogs food). Shred each chicken breast into bite size pieces by holding it on cutting board with a fork in your left hand and use your right to hold another fork and stab chicken and pull apart to shred.

Once it's all shredded return to pot and add about 3 stalks of chopped celery, juice from 1/2 lime and 1/2 chopped onion. Add about 6 or more cups of chicken broth and cover. Simmer on medium heat about 20 minutes while you are making your guacamole.

In another pan heat two cans of hominy

Mix the following ingredients for your guacamole:
3 avocados mashed
1 clove garlic chopped
2 teaspoons soy sauce
Juice from 1/2 lime
2 large tablespoons of your pico de gallo


Now it's time to assemble your serving line. Let each person serve themselves as they can adjust the portions of each according to their individual taste. Below is the order we spoon the goods into our bowls.

Hominy
Tortilla Soup
Shredded cheese
Guacamole
Pico de Gallo
Top with a couple of tortilla chips

Enjoy and if there is any left over it's even better the next day!