Canning Chicken Tortilla Soup

One of the recipes I cook on a regular basis for our family is Chicken Tortilla Soup.  In fact it was my Dad's favorite meal for me to prepare when he visited.  Usually I throw all my ingredients in the crock pot on low and then come home and voila, dinner is served! 

My goal today was to have family size servings of our favorite soup that could be heated and served.  The biggest hold up in having the soup is all the chopping.  So while Abigail and Frankie worked on school work I got to work.  

My brilliant idea was to lay the soup in my quart jars like a beautiful sand art project.  To each Ball Wide Mouth Quart Jars I layered: 

1 cup roasted chicken

½ cup diced tomatoes (drained)

½ cup black beans (drained)

½ cup corn (drained)

1/3 cup diced green peppers

1/3 cup onions

¼ cup diced banana peppers

1 T Green chilies

1 T jalapenos

 2 T sliced black olives (drained)

Aren't the jars beautiful! I mean seriously that's a pretty picture on top.  The ingredients I had on hand were enough to fill six quart jars and all my extras I put in the crock pot for lunch!  Next I made my broth to top off each jar: 

12 cups water  *  4T chicken bullion   *   4T taco seasoning

The taco seasoning in the broth gave the jar a little bit of an orange tint, but it's still pretty.  Because there is meat in each jar they have to be processed in a Pressure Canner at 10lbs pressure for 90 minutes.   

To serve, I can heat up a jar in the Crock Pot or stove along with 2 cups of chicken broth.  Be sure to add on the toppings: tortilla chips, sour cream, onions, avocado, cheese, or fresh cilantro!  Not too shabby, next time we're hungry for warm soup we can heat and eat yummy homemade goodness! 

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!”  Genesis 25:29-30