Chicken Tortilla Soup

So this is a recipe that my sister found from Joan Lunden for Chicken Tortilla Soup and I just love it! And on with the show! And yes, I am totally in love with soup!

1 Chopped Medium Onion
2 tsp Minced Garlic
2 tbls Vegetable Oil
4oz Green Chiles
15 oz Italian Style Stewed Tomatoes (chopped and in their own juices)
4 Cups Chicken Broth
2 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Groind Cumin
1/2 tsp Hot Sauce
4 tbls Flour
1/2 cup Water
1 lb of Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (I used a roasted chicken from the grocery store)
1/3 cup Sour Cream

In a large stock pot saute the onion and garlic in the vegetable oil over low heat for about 5 minutes or until the onion is soft. Then add the chiles, tomatoes, chicken broth, worcestershire sauce, chili powder, cumin, and hot sauce. Simmer for about 20 minutes. In a small bowl whisk the flour and the water together until smooth and add to the soup. Add the chicken after it has been cut into small pieces. Simmer for 5 minutes and then stir in the sour cream and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with tortilla chips (use those instead of a spoon!)

Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This is hands down my favorite soup of all time! If you want, you can use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Heck! I've even made it with turkey legs! Everybody who tries it loves it, and when I make it, even though it fills my huge stock pot I usually eat the whole pot in a week. It works very well for freezing. All that I do for freezing is put it in the Ziploc "cups" with the screw on caps.

Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

1 pkg of Chicken Wings
1 Package of Shredded Carrots
4 Ribs of Celery
1 Small Onion, minced
2 Cups Half&Half
3 Cups Grated Cheese
1&1/2 Cups Uncooked Wild Rice
6 tbls Butter
6 tbls Flour
Chicken Bullion to taste

Cut the little meatless part off the chicken wings and then wash them off. Put them in a stock pot full of water. Add a bunch of salt, chicken bullion, carrots, celery, and onions.
Cover and boil for about 1&1/2 hours or until the skin on the chicken starts to split. Remove from the pot and allow to cool.
While this is boiling cook wild rice according to package directions.
After chicken has cooked remove skin and remove meat from bone and put in the soup. Add half and half.
In a frying pan melt butter and flour until smooth and add to bubbling soup. Then add 3 big handfuls of grated cheese of your choice. Let that melt and then eat it all.

Whole Wheat Beer Bread

This is the first time that I've tried this, but I've been meaning to try it ever since I learned how to make beer bread! It for sure had a different flavor than the regular beer bread and its a little harder, but it still good!

Whole Wheat Beer Bread
3 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
1&1/2 Tsp Salt
3/4 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Sugar
12 Oz Beer (I even found some wheat beer for this one!)
2 tbls Melted Butter or Margorine

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a loaf pan and set aside. In a large bowl mix together the first 5 ingredients. Once that's well combined add the beer and mix well. The mixture will be pretty sticky. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 52 minutes. The pull it out and pour 2 tbls of melted buter or margoring over the bread and bake for another 3 mintues.

Notes:
*Do not add the butter at the begining as this will result in a very hard, dark crust.
**If you do not want to use the whole wheat flour then your ingredient list will be:
3 cups of self-rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
12 oz of beer
2 tbls melted butter

Roasted Zucchini

Well, I thought that I would try this out because its always something that I think is pretty good when I get it at restaurants. It turned out wonderful and my husband can't get enough of it!

Roasted Zucchini

5 Small Zucchin or 2 Large
2 Tbls of Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Wash and cut the ends off of the zucchini and slice it in 1/2" pieces. Toss in olive oil (add more if you need to). Spread evenly on a cookie sheet and salt and pepper to your liking. Bake at 450 degrees for 7 to 15 minutes, or until they are tender. Then eat them all!

Tater Tot Hot Dish!

Sometimes, my Minnesotan shows through! I got this recipe from a roommate He was homesick for it, so he called his mom and got the recipe so I could make it for him just like her. It is now one of our favorites! It freezes really well, too! Just an FYI, Hubbin requested that I double all the "guts" so we could have more lef overs. If this is too much for you, just halve everything!

Tater Tot Hot Dish

2 lbs of Ground Turkey (or Beef)

2 Cans of Lake Cut Green Beans

2 Cans of Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup

1 Package of Onion Tater Tots (Ore Ida makes these)

2 Tbls Dried, Minced Onions

Salt and Pepper


Preheat oven to 325. Brown the hamburger with the onions and some salt and pepper. Put that on the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking dish. Drain the beans and empty both cans of beans on top of the burger. Then spread the soup on top of the beans as evenly as you can. Put the tater tots on top of the soup and salt and pepper to your liking. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes or until the tots are golden brown.

4 Layers of good, ol' fashioned comfort!

Banana Bread

All right, my wonderful husband loves to eat bananas, but no matter what size the bunch is that I buy, there are ALWAYS 3 bananas sitting on my counter that are too brown to eat. No problem, good thing I love banana bread! This recipe makes a very moist and dense bread.

Banana Bread

3 large ripe bananas
1 cup sugar

1 egg

4 tablespoons butter or margarine,Melted and cooled

1&1/2 cups flour (I used whole wheat and didn't notice any negative difference)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat over to 325 degrees, lightly grease a 9x5 inch Loaf pan; set aside. In a bowl, mash bananas. you should have 1 cup. Beat in sugar,then egg and butter. In another bowl, stir together flour, salt and baking soda; add to banana mixture and stir just until all flour is moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until wooden tooth pick is inserted and comes out clean.

Kielbasa Bow Tie Skillet

This one will be labeled a success with a few minor changes. On a side note: I was taking some photos for the blog while I was cooking only to look up to see my husband giving me the wierdest look from the living room.

Kielbasa Bow Tie Skillet

from the Jan/Feb '08 issue of Simple and Delicious

8 oz uncooked Bow Tie Pasta

1lb fully cooked Tukey Kielbasa, cut into 1/4" slices

1 can of sliced Mushrooms

2 tsp minced garlic

2 tbls butter

1 tbls cornstarch

1&1/2 cups milk

1&1/2 cups fresh or frozen snow or sugar snap peas

1 cup (4oz) shredded cheddar cheese

Cook and drain pasta. Meanwhile, in a large skillet saute the garlic, mushrooms, and kielbasa in the butter.

Combine the cornstarch and milk and whisk until smooth. Gradually add to the skillet. Bring to a boi; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add the pasta and stir. When well mixed add the cheese and peas then stir. Its ready to go when the cheese is all melted.

The changes I would make: I'm not a huge fan of cheddar, so next time I would use probably some monterey jack and little more than 4 oz. Also, the peas were my favorite part so I would add a bunch more.

Angel Lusk Berry Trifle

My dad's ever-so-thoughtful girlfriend must have overheard me talking about wanting a trifle dish. For my 23rd birthday she suprised me with a beautiful antique one! Well, dying to try it out, and never having a trifle before, I made my own recipe from a mix of my new favorite summer cake and some recipes on allrecipes.com. The following was a huge success and I will make this every summer!

Angel Lusk Berry Trifle
1 pack (4 serving size) Vanilla Instant Pudding MIx
1 Can (20 oz) Crushed Pineapple In Juice (undrained)
1 Package of Cool Whip
1 Round Angel Food Cake, cut in bite-sized pieces
Fresh Strawberries (cleaned and halved)
Fresh Raspberries
Fresh Blueberries

Mix the dry pudding with the whole can of pineapple, then mix in cool whip. Layer into your trifle dish in the following order: Angel food cake, pudding mix, then berries. Do this until you fill it up, making sure the berries are on the top in a pretty design. Tada! Serves 8-12 (or dessert for yourself all week!)

Where do I begin? A "forward" about the cook

Well, where do I begin? I didn't have an intrest in cooking until about 6 months after I moved out of my parents house. I learned that Mac and Cheese and Spaghettios every day just doesn't satisfy . I began easy with hamburger helper and the "just add chicken" kits. Then I made my mom cook all of my favorite recipes one weekend and I wrote down everything she did. After mastering most of her recipes I got brave and starting checking out recipes on the internet. I met my husband and started trying new foods that he liked and added a bunch of new tastes and flavors to what I love. Now that we are married and living in a town where we don't really know people I find myself cooking a lot, using him as a usually willing guinea pig. I've had many "keepers" and maybe almost as many failures.


The purpose of this blog is going to be mostly for me to just keep track of all the things that I've tried. If it helps or intrests anybody else, go me! If not, oh well. I had fun!

This is my first attempt at meatloaf. I got a bad recipe off of Allrecipes.com and I also forgot the eggs. I also just happened to be feeding my husband, my little sister, and a roommate, so it gets brought up a lot when I talk about my cooking.

This is my first trifle! I am labeling it a succes! The recipe for this is to come because its just that good!

This is a photo of our first Thanksgiving all by ourselves. Roast Turkey, homemade bread, stuffing, green bean casserole, homemade garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, and my husband's favorite: can shaped cranberries! I was also very excited to use all of our new dishes from the wedding