Chicken Tortilla Soup

What the heck is Chicken Tortilla Soup you ask? Apparently we've been missing out on an American staple. I've never ever had Tortilla Soup before, in fact, I don't think I've ever seen it on a menu. I follow many food blogs from people in the Southern US, and recipes like this one keep popping up. Well. LET. ME. TELL. YOU. It's glorious. Pretty spicy and pretty much like a taco in bowl.

If you've got left over roast chicken it's the perfect alternative to the same old chicken noodle.

Chicken Tortilla Soup (adapted from browneyedbaker.com)

Takes about 30 min if you've already got some roast chicken. Makes about 6 servings.


4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, minced
1 Serrano Pepper, seeded and minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons cornstarch
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups Roast Chicken meat, shredded or chopped
2 cups mild cheddar cheese, shredded
6 (6-inch)tortillas, minced
4 tablespoons lime juice
3/4 cup canned diced tomatoes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt


1. In a large pot heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion, pepper and garlic. Stir and cook slowly until translucent. About 8 min.

2. Whisk the cornstarch into the (cool) chicken broth, then add the broth mixture to the pot. Add the lime juice, diced tomatoes, cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano, and salt. Increase the heat to medium and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken, cheddar cheese, minced tortilla Give it a good stir. Let it simmer on med-low heat for about 15 min to let the flavors mingle.

3 Ingredient Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

I love pasta. Love it. When I tried this new sauce recipe I totally flipped! It's so simple and it's neither cream based nor tomato based. What could it be you ask? Roasted Red Pepper. Unreal. Seriously, unreal. It's basically 3 ingredients. You'll need a food processor or blender. I made my own fresh pasta for this, because I have too much time on my hands. Feel free to pair this with whatever pasta your heart desires!










5 Roasted Red Peppers (** see instructions below)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground good quality Italian sausage (Just the meat, if you're sausage is in casings, you'll have to squeeze it out. Lovely job.) Get good sausage for this that is well seasoned. If your sausage is bland, add some extra seasonings to the meat such as oregano, fennel seeds or Italian seasoning.
1/2 cup water or chicken stock
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp Olive oil

1. Heat olive oil in a large high sided skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add in sausage meat, breaking up with a wooden spoon. Let the meat cook about 3 minutes, making sure to keep breaking it up with your spoon.
3. Add in your garlic, stir.
4. Keep cooking another 10 minutes or so until the meat has browned.
5. Meanwhile, throw your roasted red peppers in the food processor or blender. Process until smooth.
6. Once the meat is browned, add the pepper puree to the skillet, along with the water/chicken stock. Stir well. Add some salt and pepper. Simmer for about 20 min, covered.
7. Taste the sauce and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.

Toss with hot pasta and top with fresh grated Parmesan.

Watch out. It's amazing.


** To Roast a Red Pepper:
1. Crank up your oven to 450 degrees
2. Rinse the peppers. Throw your red peppers on a baking sheet.
3. Bake for 20 min or so (until soft and blackened.)
4. Remove from oven and IMMEDIATELY place in large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap.
5. Let the peppers cool for at least 20 min until you can handle the. The skin will have steamed off so you can easily peel them with your fingers and remove the stem and seeds.
6. That's it! Easy peasy and way cheaper than the jarred ones.

Monkey Bread Muffins for little monkey's!

These days I have a little monkey bouncing around in my tummy almost constantly. I've learned that with a little sugar boost, the bouncing can turn into full on acrobatics. In honor of the little monkey's (or big ones!) in your life, make these pull-apart cinnamon bread muffins. Everyone will love them, they are fun to eat and your house will smell AMAZING!

Monkey Bread Muffins (12 muffins) (adapted from cookingclassy.blogspot.com)

2 cups + 2 tbsp Flour
3 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup unsalted butter (melted and cooled slightly)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
6 Tbsp unsalted butter (melted)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon


Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar (icing sugar)
1 tbsp milk (adjust to reach desired consistency)


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin tin.

2. In a bowl mix the flour, 3 tbsp white sugar, baking powder and salt.

3. Pour in the buttermilk, milk and 1/3 cup of melted butter into flour mixture. Stir with a fork or your hands just until mixture comes together (don't overmix!)

4. In a separate bowl add 1/2 cup brown sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon and mix together.

5. Scoop dough out a teaspoon at a time and drop into the bowl. Toss dough balls to coat.

6. Put 6 cinnamon/sugar coated dough balls into each muffin cup. Repeat this process until all muffin cups are filled.

7. Mix together the 6 Tbsp of melted butter with the rest of the brown sugar and cinnamon. Pour a tablespoon or so of this brown sugar mixture evenly over each muffin.

8. Bake 17-19 minutes until golden. Cool 5 minutes then remove the muffins with a fork and place on plate.

9. In a bowl whisk together powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp milk until smooth. Pour mixture into Ziploc bag, cut off the tip (to make a "piping bag) drizzle glaze over each muffin.

I find these are best eaten immediately or reheated for 30 seconds in the microwave.

Southwestern Cream of Chicken Soup

I admit it. I'm a soup girl. There is something so satisfying and convienient about a bowl of homemade soup. A small part of me is very sad every May when soups take the back shelf in lieu of salads and grilled fish. But for now. It's February, so Soup's On!

Another great soup coming from my kitchen. I'm continually suprised by many of the soups I make. I track down the recipes and choose them because I like the ingredients and I think they will add up to something great. In this soup I don't know what ingrediant takes it over the edge, but let me tell you, it's delicious.

Southwestern Cream of Chicken Soup (adapted from fortheloveofcooking.net)

1 tbsp oilve oil
1 tbsp butter
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and diced very fine
1/2 cup onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp corriander powder
1/2 tsp salt and pepper
6 tbsp flour, divided
3 cups milk
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup dry rice
1 cup Montary Jack cheese, shredded
2 cups roasted chicken, shredded or diced
4 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
3 tbsp of sriracha hot sauce (adjust depending on the heat you want)

1. Melt butter and olive oil in a large pot. Add in the bell pepper, jalepeno, onion, chili powder, cumin, corriander, salt and pepper. Sweat for 5 min.

2. Add in garlic, cook 1 min.

3. Whisk in 3 tbsp flour and cook 3 min.

4. Add in broth and milk, whisk until smooth.

5. Add rice, simmer while covered for 20 min.

6. Toss shredded cheese in the remaining 3 tbsp of flour. Add the cheese a bit at a time to the soup while whisking.

7. Add in chicken, sriracha and cilantro. Cook 3 min. Check your salt and pepper and the spiciness of the soup. Adjust if nessasary.

A Tale of Two Soups

The Challenge: Using a basic recipe for Creamy Vegetable Chowder, create a delicious concoction worthy of the winning title.

Challengers:
Brandy: a timid recipe follower with a meat and potatoes background.
Kristine: a vegetarian recently taking new chances in the kitchen.

The Recipe (adapted from fortheloveofcooking.net)

2 tbsp Butter
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
2 tbsp flour, divided
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups potatoes, diced
2/3 cup milk
2 cups broccoli florets
1 - 2 cups sharp Cheddar, shredded
1 sprig thyme
salt and pepper

1. Heat butter in a large pot over med heat. Add onions, carrots and celery and thyme. Saute 3 min.

2. Add garlic, cook 1 min.

3. Add 1 tbsp of flour, stir well.

4. Add stock and potatoes. Cover and let simmer for 20 min.

5. Add broccoli and let simmer 10 min more.

6. Add 1 tbsp of flour to the milk. Whisk well and then add to the soup along with the cheese.

7. Add salt and pepper. Check seasoning.

The Results:

Brandy: This soup was made with vegetable stalk (so our resident vegetarian could sample it...) Nice gesture on Brandy's behalf, but I must say I prefer the chicken stock with this recipe. Brandy cut her vegetables in larger dice, which was great because they held together well through the long cooking time. I was particularily impressed by the broccoli, it still had a "bite" to it, which is difficult to achieve. I must say the most impressive part of this soup was the addition of some hot sauce during cooking. Brandy took initiative here and played around with the recipe. I LOVED it. I will definitely be adding the spicy kick to my next batch.

Kristine: This soup was made with a Vegetarian Chicken flavored bouillon and I thought it worked really well. I loved the texture of this soup as it definitely was very thick and chowder like. I also really liked the size and texture of the potatoes. They were not too gritty and definitly not overcooked. Kirstine's broccoli fell apart quite a bit. That along with the choice of cheese used, lent to a more broccoli/cheese style soup. Good thing broccoli cheese is one of my favorites too!

The VERDICT:

Overall both girls did a very impressive job on their recipes. It's neat to see how one recipe can be adapted so differently. I'm hesitant to declare a winner because as far as I'm concerned (wait for it,...) when you toss out the canned soup and make it from scratch EVERYBODY WINS!. But, alas, in the spirit if the competition I declare the winner to be......





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BRANDY! Who edged out the win with the brilliant addition of the hot sauce!

My Favorite Soup of ALL TIME

I've made this soup dozens and dozens of times since I first tried it over a year ago. The original recipe came from Jamie Oliver, The Naked Chef Cookbook, although I've changed it enough that I now call it my own.

You need to be brave though, since chickpeas and leeks are the main ingrediants. Most people don't cook with either of these things very often. But trust me, if there ever was a recipe that is greater than the sum of it's parts, it's this soup. The icing on the cake is that this recipe is super duper healthy and filling.

*A note about Chickpeas. I firmly believe that dried chickpeas taste a million times better than canned ones. Personally, it's all I use. If you want to try the dried ones, a little prep is nessasary. You'll have to soak the dried beans in water overnight and then cook them in a huge pot of boiling water for about an hour until they soften. I usually do a huge bag of them and then throw them in a Ziploc in the freezer, then they are ready to use any time. They keep forever.

If it's you're first time with Chickpeas, you can used the canned ones (I would recommend the Organic ones, make sure you rinse them really well.)

LEEK AND CHICKPEA SOUP

12 oz Chickpeas (canned, rinsed /or dried, soaked and cooked.)
5 med Leeks (white and light green only, rinsed, sliced lengthwise and then crosswise into small halfmoon shaped pieces)
1 tbsp Olive Oil
knob of Butter
2 strips good quality Bacon (left in whole rashers)
1 sprig fresh Rosemary
2 cloves, Garlic (minced)
salt and pepper
4 cups chicken stock
Parmesean Cheese

1. Heat olive oil and butter in a large pot on med heat. Add the 2 rashers of bacon. Cook for 2 min.

2. Add leeks, garlic and sprig of rosemary to the pot. Add some salt and pepper. Cook for 6 min until tender. Do not brown the leeks.

3. Add the chickpeas and 2/3 or the stock. Bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 15-20 min until chickpeas are tender.

4. Remove the bacon and rosemary.

5. Puree half of all of the soup (I like to puree only half so that it still has some texture.)

6. Add the rest of the stock. Check for seasoning and add more salt or pepper if needed.

7. Add some fresh grated parmesean and stir.

8. Serve topped with a drizzle of good olive oil.

Butterscotch Pecan Cookies!

Looking for something other than the same old Chocolate Chip Cookies? Try these incredible, super simple, butterscotch pecan variety. (I recommend doubling the recipe right from the get go, you'll be glad you did!)


This makes about 12-15 cookies.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp softened butter
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add brown sugar, white sugar and butter to large bowl. Cream together with an electric mixer. Add egg and vanilla. Cream together well.

Add in flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well.

Add in butterscotch chips and pecans.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop tablespoonfuls of dough, about 12 per pan.

Bake 12-14 min.