Taco Soup

After making tacos for dinner, who doesn't have a little of this and a little of that leftover? I have made it my quest to make over leftovers. It saves the moans and cries of, "we have to have that again?" and usually the food gets gobbled up.
Taco Soup:
In a large pot-preferably 8 quarts-add the following:

1 quart can of tomato juice, any brand-if you don't have tomato juice use a can (15 ounces) of tomato sauce and add enough water to equal 1 quart.

Any leftover taco meat
1 can of corn-unless you have some corn left from the night before
1 can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 T dried cilantro or a handful of fresh cilantro chopped fine
2 cups of left over spanish rice-you can omit if you didn't make any
1/2 C fresh onions diced fine or 1/4 cup dried onions
salt to taste.

To the juice, add the onions, cilantro, taco meat, and rice. Let come to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer. Add the corn and the beans.
Let it simmer for 15-20 minutes until all the flavors are combined.
Add additional water if needed. No other seasonings are needed because the rice and meat should already be seasoned from the night before. If you need an extra kick to the flavor, add a tablespoon of taco seasoning.
While simmering, fry up some tortilla strips for the topping.

Tortilla Strips:
Cut 3 taco size fresh corn tortillas with kitchen shears into very thing strips.
Put some Vegetable Shortening into a skillet (I use my cast iron skillet for this. A stainless skillet will work too. I have not used non stick to fry like this in so I am not sure what the heat does to the surface.) to equal about 1/4 of and inch of liquid when melted.

Let it heat up.
Take the handle of a wooden spoon and place it in the oil to see if it bubbles up. The shortening is hot enough when this occurs.
Drop some tortilla strips into the oil and let them fry for a few minutes. About 1 1/2- 2 minutes. Put some paper towels onto a plate, 4-5.
Using a slotted spoon, take the strips out of the hot oil and place on the paper towels to drain. Repeat until they are all fried up.

To serve, ladle soup into the bowl, top with left over cheese, tortilla strips, and left over diced tomatoes. Add a dollop of sour cream and your tummy and your family will beg for more!