Homemade Tortilla Chips

On the menu for tonight is Chicken Tortilla Soup, which is a family favorite. Not only is it simple to prepare, it's also low in calories!

To a dieter, that's music to the ears.

The tummy is singing too!

One of the guilty pleasures of this dish however, is the tortilla strips. I don't like to use store-bought with this. I like homemade.

And I control the sodium, not Frito-Lay.

Although, I do love Frito-Lay.

Hence, the diet. (This would be an "aha" moment)

While the soup is cooking, cut up some 6" corn tortillas. You can use store-bought, or you can make your own. For the sake of time, I bought my corn tortillas.

In a cast iron pan, heat enough peanut oil to fill the pan about a 1/2 inch deep. I use peanut oil because I'm scared of canola oil. Google it. It changed my life. Seriously.

To test if the oil is hot enough, drop a small piece of tortilla into the oil. If it starts bubbling, it's ready. Don't add the tortilla strips too early though, they can get soggy. Cut the corn tortilla's into 1 inch wide strips. Carefully, place a few in the hot oil, leaving enough room for them to "swim" around.

That may have been too much room, but you get my point, right? You want to be able to turn them without getting burned in the process. After about 30 seconds, flip them over for another 30. Then remove them with a slotted spoon and lay them on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels.

Keep frying them in batches until you have a nice little pile. Of course, you'll want to taste a few, just to make sure that nobody has poisoned them. It's for the good of the family.

Trust me.

Here's where you get to decide whether to salt them or not. If I'm putting them into tortilla soup, I don't salt them. But, if the plan is to devour them with a fresh bowl of homemade salsa...well, you must salt them.

It would be criminal not to.

*I didn't do too well on my meal plan yesterday. We went out to dinner and I had fried seafood. Since fried seafood is a rare occasion, I'm not too upset about it. I did manage to come home and pedal 4 miles on the stationary bike.

While eating Ben & Jerry's FroYo Chocolate Fudge Brownie.

A girl has needs. And this girl needed Ben & Jerry. I only ate what I burned on the bike though...which was exactly 8 bites. But they were big ones!

Today's calorie count will come in at 1230 calories. And it will include another turn on the bike. Maybe this time though, I'll go cold turkey and forgo the frozen yogurt.

Just this once.