Chicken Tortilla Soup

 I actually got this from a Pampered Chef party--I didn't buy any products, but I've gotten many miles out of the recipe!

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (approx. 12 oz)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 cans (14.5 oz each) chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (4 oz) chopped or diced green chilies, undrained
tortilla chips
fresh cilantro, finely chopped
shredded cheddar cheese
thick slices fresh lime

Cut chicken into 1/2-inch pieces. Heat stockpot over medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray or add a little olive oil. Add chicken; cook and stir 3 minutes. Add chopped onion, garlic, chili powder and cumin. Cook and stir 2 minutes. Stir in broth, tomatoes and chilies. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Place a handful of chips in a bowl. Ladle soup over chips and sprinkle with cheese and cilantro. Garnish each bowl with lime slice to squeeze juice into soup (one of my favorite parts!).

I often make this when I have planned another dish during the week that uses chips and cilantro. I hate wasting ingredients, but if I don't plan for these ones in other meals, they'll go bad.

Oven Roasted Chicken

Found this one last year and I think it's the BEST. The chicken is always moist and flavorful, and the leftovers can be made into just about anything. I'm making it tomorrow and felt I just had to pass it along.

1 whole chicken
garlic salt
seasoned salt (any kind of seasoning blend works)
lemon pepper

Preheat oven to 325.

Rinse chicken with cold water and remove giblets from inside. Lay chicken, breast side up, in a baking dish (just big enough to contain it and has a lid). Sprinkle seasonings generously over chicken; flip to breast side down and season generously again. Cover and bake for 30 minutes per pound. (I've noticed that going over by as much as 30 minutes has never dried it out.)

Remove chicken and place breast-side up on a plate to serve.

Now, if anyone else has a good recipe for how to turn the 1-2 cups of juice left over after all this into a stock or soup, I'm interested. I've never been able to save it properly, but I know it would be great in other dishes.