Recipe Rescue: Easy and Quick Zesty Chicken and Bean Soup

Last night I literally starred into my fridge with the look of a dog pretending to understand what you are saying to him. Hmmm.... what do I make for dinner? My James had a late lunch so hadn't resorted to eating the kitchen towel yet, so I had a little time. What I found was leftover rotisserie chicken, tomatoes, an onion, celery and tomato sauce. And what I did with these ingredients turned out yummy yummy good. So, I invite you to follow me through my easy and quick zesty chicken and bean soup.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

Olive oil (about a 1/3 of a cup), two Roma tomatoes (cut each into 4 pieces), 2 celery ribs, 1 small onion, 3-4 garlic cloves (peeled and smashed), 2 cups of tomato sauce, 1 tsp of chicken base, 1 cup of shredded or diced rotisserie chicken, half a cup of water and a can of white beans.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:

Add the olive oil to a medium saucepan (for every extra portion, this will feed four, add one extra ingredient, as in another tomato, another rib of celery etc...) to the olive oil add the smashed garlic cloves, swirling around a few times cook on low for 3-5 minutes, to this now add the onion, celery and tomatoes, let simmer for another 5 minutes on low then add the rest of the ingredients, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

BONUS: CHICKEN QUESADILLA WITH AN FRESH AVOCADO PICO DE GALLO

I took two flour tortilla's and charred them on a gas stove burner on each side, lightly buttered one side and added a Mexican blended cheese with the Pico, added a bit more cheese (not too much), topped it with another tortilla that I had also slightly buttered one side (you wan the buttered side up), cook on medium-low heat until the ingredients inside are warm and the cheese is melted. *don't forget to flip it when the one side browns up! :)

For the fresh avocado pico de gallo, really simple. One avocado diced, one Roma tomato diced, half of a small onion diced, dried or fresh cilantro (I didn't have any fresh, but did have some dried) and the juice of half a lime. Oh, I sprinkled it too with some garlic powder. Not only did I put it in the quesadilla, but a top the soup too.