Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

I decided to try a different slow cooker soup recipe. And after the disaster that was the cheesy sausage and potato stew, I think it's a brave choice.

I settled on this slow cooker enchilada soup recipe. I had most of the ingredients, which as you can tell by now is kind of a prerequisite for me, and I thought my man would enjoy it.

Mmm. I don't know that I dislike any soup that you put cheese on.

Now, I don't like beans.

I can't stand the texture.

The only time I'll eat them at all is half a spoon of baked beans at summer potlucks because I know I should have something besides a hot dog, hash brown casserole and carrots on my plate. (There is usually more than that, but those things do tend to show up at every single family summer party.)

So instead of using a can of beans, I added more peppers. Because I love peppers.

I had gone shopping for the one ingredient I needed -- the enchilada sauce. There was one size can, so I figured that had to be the right size.

Not so much. The enchlada sauce I had was a 15 oz. can, and the recipe called for a 10.75 oz. can. Really 10.75 oz.? That seems like a strange figure.

Anyway, what I did to balance it out was add less milk.

I chopped up everything that needed to be chopped. I put all the veggies in the ceramic component of the slow cooker, and put the chicken on top as required. Then I put the lid on and put it in the fridge. I mixed up all the liquid and kept it separate since I think that was one of the reasons that last soup didn't turn out well.

Putting the slow cooker on is really the last thing I do in the morning before I leave for work. So I got the pot out and took off the lid to add the liquid component.

And the smell of the covered onions hit me so hard, I burned out my nasal passages.

Not literally, I'm sure, but I'm serious. For the rest of the day, it felt like the inside of my nose had been stripped.

Unpleasant.

Well, I dumped in the liquid, put the lid back on, turned it on low and went to work.

When I got home, I was ecstatic to find that it had not burnt! I took out the chicken and cut it up per the instructions. I turned it down from low to warm since my man doesn't get to my place until around 7:30.

That's the queso fresco on top.

I made some simple cheese quesadillas to go along with the soup. Something to dunk that doesn't grilled cheese. I put out queso fresco (which kind of reminds me of riccotta), monterry jack cheese and sour cream to garnish. I don't know that any of those really added anything. It might have needed more salt.

I liked it. He liked it. I don't know that I feel the need to make it again immediately, but I would totally make it for large groups, or maybe if Saints Helping Saints needs meals.

Conclusion: When working with onions in the slow cooker, lean back when taking the lid off. Consider salt after the dish is cooked.