Salsa Verde Brown Rice Chicken Tortilla Soup (Dairy Free)

…..Do you ever feel………like a plastic bag?

Sorry, but I’ve been wanting to randomly start a post with that dumb line of song lyrics for ages and since I’m drawing a bit of a blank today it seemed like a good plan before I did it. Now…..not so much. It’s just, I feel like I’ve fallen into a major rut you guys. No really, there are so many things that I’d like to change or start doing that I keep putting off for “later” and not realizing that what I’m really doing is chickening out. And here I’ve always thought I was more outgoing than that.

Liv told me recently that whenever she reads my blog she feels inspired to do some writing herself and, I don’t know, that really blows my mind. The thought that anyone doesn’t cringe as many times as I do while reading a my posts doesn’t compute in my brain (like errrrrrr). Trust me, I did not start this blog for the writing portion. I’ve never claimed to be a good writer or even thought it. In fact, I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s quite the opposite. I look at writing blog posts as just a necessary measure required for me to be able to share my recipes with you guys, which is what I really enjoy. I think deep in my subconscious I’m always sort of hoping that you all skip the posts and just go for the photos and recipe.

But it’s time. I’m resolving right now that with this change in season is going to come some new things. Playing it safe is both vastly overrated and getting boring. I need more spontaneity! I’m mostly referring to my writer’s block here but this applies to a lot of stuff (i.e. my terrible Spanishing). I just have to find some better motivation. Ooooh, and speaking of new stuff you guys, I’m so, so, so excited that I might be getting a new lens for my baby camera! It’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a while but I felt like I still needed some more time to get used to working with the ones I already had.

It’s really funny, I remember in my pre-food-photographer days; whenever I would hear people talking about getting a new lens for their camera I’d think it was so silly and that all lenses were basically the same and that they were just bad photographers. Boy, was I way off. Now that I’ve become familiar (even if I’m still only an amateur) with cameras I can completely appreciate the difference. It can be night and day.

So does anyone have plans for Easter? We don’t really have anything special planned this year, except I definitely want to make some more hot cross buns! Yep, nothing is really planned for this Sunday though, but I think tomorrow we’re going to have our typical Friday family dinner with our friends a day early. I’m probably going to be making either this or these  because, like I mentioned last weekend, they were both huge hits and everyone is demanding more(not really, but really)! I’m leaning towards the latter because, like a loser, I still haven’t tried my new deep-frier and I think they’d be the perfect thing to start with! Which brings me to an announcement that I’ve been ordered to give to the world being that; said deep-frier has been dubbed “Tuck” by my big sis’s brilliance. Isn’t that the best idea ever? An teeny tiny example of one of the many reasons why I love her so much!

Okay, but all sidenotes and randomness aside, I have almost completely forgotten to say anything about this soup. Yeah, that would be helpful to mention, right? Is anybody planning to celebrate Cinco de Mayo this year, because Easter’s already almost here and passed. That means May will be right around the corner before you know it and this is the perfect thing for a fiesta! Hey, who says you have to be a Mexican to celebrate their nationality. It’s not stopping me that’s for sure! Hello tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and Mayan lava cakes all next month! You guys in? Correct answer=YES!

Can you believe that before this I had never tried making a tortilla soup before! Which, does anyone find the fact that traditional tortilla soup doesn’t contain any actual tortillas, but is only served with them, kind of confusing or hilarious? I even cheated there and used tortilla chips instead of plain old tortillas because the crunch they add totally makes this soup.

But back to how I’ve never made this, what’s wrong with me? It’s like the ultimate marriage between two of the worlds greatest things, tacos (one of my fam’s favorites) and one-pot meals (one of my favorite things ever)! Obviously I have a mental disorder to have waited this long. It may have taken me forever to catch on, but that’s why I feel like I have to make sure you don’t wait another second longer than you have to before you try this! It’s bomb peoples!