Zesty tortilla soup. Photo: umamigirl, Flickr.

In a refreshing alternative to the tired go-to chicken soup, tortilla soup is just as simple a concoction thanks to the addition of a few lively ingredients, namely jalapeno, lime, cilantro and tomatillos. Here, Flickr user umamigirl prepared Serious Eat's "kitchen sink style" Quick Tortilla Soup recipe, which we can only hope to be as gloriously colorful in flavor as it is in appearance.

Though this tortilla soup makes use of a plethora of ingredients, the beauty of the brothy soup is its flexibility, both in terms of taste as well as the clever cook's "what-do-I-have-on-hand-that-may-go-bad" approach. Have an affinity to garlic? Throw in as many cloves as your heart desires. Are there bell peppers going soft? Toss them in at liberty. Distaste for cilantro? Substitute some parsley in its place. Either way, with a base as simple as a can of diced tomatoes, broth and cooked chicken, tossing in whatever additional ingredients you crave guarantees to lead to a delicious bowl of soup.

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Had enough of tomatoes? Try a tomatillo!

Tomatillos, despite their name, are not actually tomatoes, though they are members of the tomato family. They are members of the nightshade family and grow all over the western hemisphere, thriving in the southern United States and Mexico. The plant was originally domesticated by the Aztecs, well over 2,000 years ago, and was brought back to Europe by explorers and settlers, where it continues to flourish in Mediterranean climates.

Tomatillos are typically one to two inches in diameter and are green in color. They have a thin, papery shell on them, called the husk, that the fruit actually grows into as it matures. By the time the fruit is ripe, it may have split the husk open, though it is sometimes held in place by a slightly sticky coating. Peel back the husk before using a tomatillo and wash the fruit gently in soap and water to remove any unwanted residue. When selecting a tomatillo in the market, look for one that has a husk in good condition, rather than one that is shriveled. A fruit that is small, but heavy for its size is likely to be sweeter than a larger one.