belated catch up.

I've been neglecting my posts. I misplaced my camera and couldn't find it to add pictures to my post so I decided to wait until I found it. I did have a lot of fun cooking though.

So I'll start with my recipe Chicken Tortilla Soup. It's one of the things I cook a lot. Soup is easy and it lasts a few days so if I don't have time to cook if I make a batch and enjoy for a few days. It keeps me from eating the junk food I crave so much.

I also made those delicious chocolate Nutella cookies. You can see them cooling behind my bowl of soup. I halved the recipe because I didn't need to eat so many cookies. I forgot the extra hazelnuts though. I wish I had them I think they would have added the extra crunch that they needed. When I make them for Christmas I'll have to make sure I add them. I also thought rolling them in coconut might be nice.

 The finished product didn't last very long. Eric (DH) and I ate most of them and only had 2 left over.

I also made the Chicken Tiki Masala. It was really good, a bit to spicy for me though. I cried through dinner. Eric liked it though. Neither one of us had ever had anything like it before. I think I will make it again just hold off on some of the spice. I lost my camera at this point so I have no pictures. :(  I then I had to use my phone.

 

This photo is a bit washed out. It doesn't show the wonderful golden color of the cheddar, scallion, turkey bacon scones. They are one of my favorite things that have been posted so far. I've been eating them all week. I can't wait to make them again. I do have to say though that they reminded me of the biscuits you get at Red Lobster. 

Last but not least. Pumpkin Pancakes!!! I absolutely love pumpkin. I will seek it out this time of year, bread, coffee, pancakes, if it has pumpkin in it I will try it. I was so excited to make these on Sunday Morning.  I did have to do a change up since I didn't want to open a whole can of pumpkin for pancakes. Instead of Pumpkin puree I used some Trader Joe's pumpkin butter in the batter. It didn't have as strong of a pumpkin taste as I would like but they were still really good.

Soup for a cold day

I finally got a chance to make the chicken tortilla soup. It was great!

I'm always a little surprised when these recipes call for cooked meat, but don't instruct you to brown the meat and deglaze the pan. But anyway, I started off by browning the chicken.

Then I made the roux in the same pot, cooked the base veggies as instructed and threw everything else in. I couldn't find Mexicorn so I just used canned corn. I may have overdone it with the fajita seasoning... actually, I used the whole pack. Next time, I think I would also throw in some rice.

Fire burn and cauldron bubble

I garnished it with some sliced avocado and cheddar cheese. The avocado balanced the seasoning in the soup really nicely. Sour cream would have been great too, but I don't use it often so I didn't want to buy it just for this. Actually, I really liked how all of the ingredients in the soup balanced each other out.

I liked the recipe! I'll probably make it again, but I would have to plan for it (as opposed to it being a quick throw-together meal) because some of the ingredients aren't on my usual grocery radar.

Fall and soup are two of my favorite things!

I love fall and I LOVE soup! I always try through the fall and winter to make soup on a Sunday so that I can eat it for lunch all week...Not only is soup an easy lunch, but I also tend to use it to clean out my fridge of anything that I didn't get a chance to eat over the week. This soup was no different--which means I didn't follow the recipe super closely.

First of all, I added yellow and red peppers to my soup since I had about half of each one left in the fridge. I also used ground turkey breast instead of chicken because I had it. I used the rest of the ingredients in the recipe, but I made the soup nice and thick so it came out as a mix between a soup and a white chicken chili. It was delicious for dinner Sunday night and I ate it every day this week for lunch! Perfect!

Oh, and lest I forget...what else would I have for a perfect fall dessert...Apple crisp! Yep, perfect meal.

Soup Time

My husband loves soup; we have it once a week. This one was so quick and easy, it's going into the recipe file.

The only changes I made were to the seasoning. I tasted it as it was simmering and decided it needed some more heat, so I added chili powder. As I was eating it, I decided that it was too smoky for my taste, so next time I will cut the cumin down and up the chili powder.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Down here in South it finally feels like Fall. I've been waiting for it and the weather here after a blistering summer has become cooler. This makes it the perfect time of year for making soup. This recipe is one of my favorites because of its ease and tastiness. It's also reasonably healthy which makes it even more of a plus. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup diced sweet onion

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

 3-16  oz chicken broth boxes 

1 (10-ounce) can Mexicorn (corn and bell peppers), drained and rinsed

1 (14-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (-ounce) can green chiles, drained (the smallest can possible I can't recall how big but the can is tiny)

1 tablespoon minced garlic (or 1 teaspoon garlic powder)

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or sliced ( If you have a carnivorous husband use 3)

2 teaspoons fajita seasoning blend or to taste

2 tablespoons ground cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnishes, see below

In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add celery, carrot, and onion. Season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until veggies begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables, and stir. Flour will form a paste; allow paste to cook for at least 2 minutes. Gradually add chicken broth, whisking. Heat the mixture until it begins to simmer and thicken, approximately 7-8 minutes.

Note: At this point, you have the base for pretty much any chicken soup you want to make! Add mexicorn, beans, green chiles, and garlic. Mix and return to a simmer. Add cooked chicken and spices, seasoning the soup to taste. Simmer over low heat, covered, for 20-30 minutes.

After flavors have had time to meld, the soup is ready to eat.

Garnish Ideas:
Shredded cheese
Jalapenos
Chopped fresh cilantro
Fat free sour cream
Salsa
Sliced avacado
Corn tortilla chips
Your favorite cornbread

Serve with your favorite garnishes and enjoy!

** disclaimer I don't really use recipes so if something seems a miss and you want to add more go for it. I never really make anything the same way twice.**

~So I've been stewing on my portion sizes all day so I came home and made it. I changed a few things around since this morning. I was to gung ho about posting I guess. Maybe I should also look into writing recipes down. ~