Chicken Enchilada Soup

Yes, you are seeing things correctly -- those ARE in fact Fritos floating on the top of this soup.

Let me explain.

At one point in my obsession with collecting cookbooks, I had one called something like, "Best Recipes From The Back Of Jars And Boxes." Or something like that. I tried to find it the other day in my ever-expanding cookbook collection. I love my cookbook collection, but it has gotten big enough that it is kinda hard to find any one particular thing you are looking for.

See what I mean?

By the way, I just noticed that there is a book called Family First Aid Book right in the middle of all the cookbooks. I wonder if someone is trying to tell me something?

Anyway, I can't seem to lay my hands on that cookbook, but I know I have it somewhere and today's recipe is in that particular culinary genre: the "back of the box" category. And all I can say is, don't knock it until you've tried it, because this recipe (among various others in my motley collection) is a rocking good soup. I think I got it from the back of the Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce can and then doctored it up a bit (the Fritos are my own addition, thank you very much!). It's a great thing to do with leftover chicken, and is one of those last minute dishes that you can whip up very quickly if you have the right stuff in the pantry.

I don't deny that some of the back-of-the-box recipes out there are God-awful, and you will never catch me doing anything that involves cream of mushroom soup or those fried onions in a can (not that there is anything wrong with that!) but every now and again you do run across what we call in our house "a keeper." This one is a keeper. So with a nod to my friends at Old El Paso...

CHICKEN ENCHILADA SOUP

Serves 6

• Two 10 oz cans cream of chicken soup
• One 10 oz can enchilada sauce
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Shredded chicken -- as much as you like! (I like a lot)
• 1/2 cup broken Fritos

1. Mix all ingredients except Fritos in medium saucepan

2. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until thoroughly heated and cheese is melted

3. Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with Fritos

4. If you want to get REALLY elegant, you can also top with chopped tomato, or avocado, or sour cream. But nothing really tops Fritos if we are being totally honest, right?