Tortilla Soup

Officer Hottie and I went to Cancun for our honeymoon and it was wonderful. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort that had a little Mexican themed restaraunt that you could go to during one night of your stay. They also had an Italian restaraunt. Anyway, we did our night at the Mexican restaraunt and loved it so much we begged the front desk to let us trade our night at the Italian one for another at the Mexican one. I'm not sure if it was the oodles of tequila shots they had everyone take or the mariachi music or the fact that it was on the beach (perhaps all three?) but I'm sure most of the credit goes to the food. It was fabulicious. For the first time in our lives we had tortilla soup. Weird, right? But it was a first for us and as soon as we got home I was bent on finding a recipe that would give us the same warm fuzzies.
I found one, made it a few times but since I thought it was difficult I haven't made it in quite a few years.
Officer Hottie's sister is in town and asked if I could make it for her. I was seriously surprised she even remembered it, but since I hadn't made it in so long decided to oblige her. Oh. My. Goodness. It was like being transported to Cancun again. I cannot for the life of me remember why I thought it was a difficult recipe as it really didn't take too long to make and any effort that is put in is well worth it - more than worth it in fact.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do ... and I'll be making it again, very soon!

2 dried ancho chilis (or 1 T ancho chili powder...good luck finding that)
2 T oil
6 corn tortillas
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
8 c. chicken stock
2 c. tomato puree
1 T cumin powder
1 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp salt
2 limes - juiced

Remove stems and seeds from chilis. Place chilis in a saucepan, cover with water and cook until soft (about 10 minutes.) Drain, let cool, and puree in a food processor.
While the chilis cook, cut up two tortillas into small pieces. In a large pan (or dutch oven), saute tortillas, onion and garlic in 2 tsp oil until the onions are soft. Add the ancho chili pepper puree, chicken stock, tomato puree, cumin, oregano and salt to the pan.
Bring soup to a b oil, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Puree soup with an immersion blender (or in a food processor) and return it to the pan. Stir in lime juice and reheat...
Chop the remaining tortillas into thin strips. Fry (or bake for you health nuts out there) and drain on a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt.
Scoop into bowls and add oodles of shredded monterrey jack cheese, diced avocado, sour cream and cilantro.
Eat.
Die from food happiness overload.