Tortilla Soup with Chicken and Corn

We love all of the ingredients in this soup, and we love soup, but for some reason we rarely make tortilla soup.  For a recent family dinner at our house, we made this version, which has some shredded chicken in it, but that could be eliminated for a vegetarian version of this soup without it suffering at all.

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4  garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium jalapeno pepper, chopped
• ¹⁄₂ medium red or green pepper, whichever
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cups frozen corn
• ¹⁄₂ cup water
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon  chili powder
• ¹⁄₄ teaspoon cayenne
• 6 c. broth
• 2 (14 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
• 2 cups tomato juice
• Top with fried tortilla strips, fresh onion, sliced avocado, fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Sauté onion, garlic, jalapeño and green pepper with olive oil in a large pot until soft.
2. Add all the rest of the ingredients to the large pot and bring to a boil.
3. After about 15 minutes, remove the chicken breasts and shred.
4. (Two forks work well to pull the chicken apart!).
5. Return shredded chicken to the pot and simmer an additional 45 minutes.
6. Serve, topped with various toppings as desired.