Dinner...from a few weeks ago - whoops!

I know you all would rather be reading about the awesome things my kids are doing, but you will just have to wait until another day for that.

Now onto the post - the other night we had some of our lovely friends over for dinner.  I never want to 'stress out' about making dinner for friends, or put too much pressure on myself, but I do like to make it a little different than just another dinner with the kids.

We got a whole stack of Paleo cookbooks for Christmas and I have been using those quite a bit lately.  I also have been searching pinterest for some different flavor combination inspiration.  I am all about EASY meals, that don't require a whole grocery list of ingredients, but I still want it to taste like I slaved in the kitchen all day.

The original recipe came from Rachel Ray.  I copied most of her post, but added a few notes and took out/added a few different things.  It fed 4 of us for dinner, plus Paul had a little leftover for lunch the next day.

Chicken Lime Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 onion, finely chopped (I threw this into the food processor)
• 1 or 2 Jalapenos - I only used 1, but it could have used a bit more heat (also threw this into the food processor)

• 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced - we keep a whole bunch of garlic in the fridge, and I used a heaping tablespoon from the jar

•  9 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into strips (Paul likes meaty soups, and not a lot of broth)

• 2 of the small cans of green chilies 

• 6 cups chicken broth

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, I might have added a little more..also, I loosely chopped these

• Juice of 2 limes - the limes we got were huge!  After I juiced both of them it was over 1/2c. of lime juice

• Salt and pepper to taste at the end...you could also spice it up with red pepper flakes or hot sauce

• Avocados, sliced, for topping the soup

Directions

1. In a large saucepan (I used my le creuset that I cook everything in), heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, lower the heat to medium and cook until the onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes.  Toss in the Jalapenos.  Increase the heat to high, push the vegetables to the side of the pan, add the chicken and cook, stirring, until golden, about 7 minutes. Add the chilies, then stir in the chicken broth. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the cilantro and lime juice towards the end.  I heated it for about 5-10 more minutes after I added these.  
2. Serve and top with avocados.  And for a non-paleo treat, you could add some tortilla chips.