Mexican Style Meat and Vegetable Stew - Azteca's Molcajete

Fry the bacon in a large skillet until crispy; remove from pan, reserving drippings, cut into small pieces, and set aside.

Add the oil to the bacon drippings over medium temperature, then sauté the chicken and beef strips until browned, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes.

In another large saucepan over medium heat, stir together the boiling water and bouillon granules until dissolved.

Add remaining ingredients (including reserved bacon) and the cooked meat strips, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Garnish, serve, and enjoy!

Note: to make the seafood version of Azteca's Molcajete, omit the chicken/beef and instead have 1/2 pound shelled and deveined shrimp, 1/2 pound scallops, and as much skinned and deboned whitefish fillet pieces as you'd like (about 1/4 pound or more) which you will add in during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Note #2: we've also added a can of black beans to the recipe, to good effect. If the soup isn't as thick as you'd like it to be, try adding a can of refried beans - it works well! We've also served it with crisp tortilla strips and a dollop of Mexican crema instead of monterey jack. It's a versatile recipe, so experiment and enjoy yourself! :) If you have made the Rich and Delicious Enchilada sauce recipe of mine, you might recognize many of the soup ingredients - to make the sauce into soup, use 2 cups of the sauce, add 1 cup hot water and 1/2 teaspoon chicken stock granules, then add the cooked chicken and garnish ingredients as usual.