Chicken tortilla soup! Low fat, Low carb, high protein

This week at work a vegetarian friend of mine was talking about the "chicken" tortilla soup that she and her husband make on an almost weekly basis and all of a sudden a light bulb went off in my head, I could make a delicious low carb, low fat soup!
So here it is:

Ingredients:

1 Jar of salsa-I use Trader Joe's Garlic Chipotle but any kind will do, homemade would be delicious
1-large box of chicken broth-I use College Inn light and fat free(vegetable broth for vegetarians)
2-1 lb packages of boneless, skinless chicken breast.  I find the think sliced kind is easier to shred in the    end or protein of your choice
2- fresh lime
1-jalapeno or pepperoncini pepper depending on desired taste
1-TBSP of Cilantro, lite house makes freeze dried spices that cook very well
1- clove or garlic or 1TBSP  garlic salt
1-package of taco seasoning mix





STEPS:
1. place chicken or whatever your choice of protein is into the bottom of a crock pot
2. Pour 3 cups of chicken broth into the pot, depending on the size of your crock pot and how much soup you would like you could use more.  I use 5 total, by adding 2 at the end.
3. Pour the entire jar of your chosen salsa into the crock pot
4. Cut 2 limes into halves, squeeze the juice in and add the lime itself to the mixture
5. Cut the pepper into a few pieces and add that to the crock pot
6. Add 1 TBSP of cilantro and 1 garlic clove/TBSP of garlic to the crock pot
7. Add 2 tsp of the taco seasoning packet depending on personal taste
8. Cover and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 90min depending on your individual crock pot
9. Add 2 cups of chicken broth depending on your personal tastes or needs.

Depending on how much of your diet you are actually tracking macro wise (carbs, protein, fats etc)  This last part is optional.
10. Remove the chicken breasts from the broth with tongs, place in a separate container.
11. Let the broth and the chicken cool so you can measure each one and shred the chicken.
12. Pour the broth into a large liquid measure cup- If you followed directions exactly you should have about 8 cups of broth.
13. Shred the chicken and portion according to the desired amount of protein you want in each serving of soup.
14. Store the broth and the chicken separately or portion accordingly and place in the fridge.

The reason I do steps 12 and 13 is so that I can know exactly how many carbs, fats and proteins are in each cup of soup that I consume and plan for it with my weekly meal plan.  I store the broth and the chicken separately and eat 1 cup of broth plus 3oz of chicken to meet my daily needs.

TOPPINGS:
You can top each bowl of soup with fat free cheese, sour cream, and of course tortilla strips.  I like to make my own tortilla strips by baking low carb tortillas in the oven and cutting them up with a pizza cutter but you could use store bought ready made strips as well.

Nutritional Information Per 1 Cup serving of Broth:
Fat-0
Carbs-4
Protein-1
Calories-20
Plus 3oz of boneless, skinless chicken breast
Protein 21 grams

ENJOY!