Category: Soups

Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Soups · Uncategorized

Italian Chicken Vegetable Soup

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Isn’t it so much fun to create something that turns out really good from just things you already have in your house? This soup turned out to be a winner. I had half of a chicken breast left over and decided to try something different.

This made 4 bowls of soup.

1/2 large chicken breasts, cut into very small pieces
2 slices of bacon,cut into tiny pieces
Fry the chicken pieces with the bacon pieces (sprinkle garlic powder (about 1/2 teas) and oregano (about 1/4 teas) over the chicken as it cooks) in a small skillet until chicken is browned and almost done and bacon is crisp. Set aside.
In the crockpot, add the following:
1/2 chopped onion
2 stalks celery, chopped in small pieces (I like to use the inside of the celery stalk which has the leafy pieces as they add so much flavor)
2 carrots, sliced
1 ear of fresh corn, sliced off the cob
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
2 small russet potatoes, cut into small cubes
1 zucchini or mexican squash (I had mexican squash so I used that. Also, I cut out the very inside of the squash, as I like the outer portion with the skin as it doesn’t get squishy like the meat of the squash does when cooked for long periods of time)
1 (14.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes with oregano and garlic (if you can’t find this, buy either just plain diced tomatoes or italian flavored diced tomatoes)
1 can of chicken broth
1 can of water
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 envelope of McCormick Italian Spaghetti seasoning packet
If this is not enough liquid to cover the ingredients, add either another can of chicken broth or water until all ingredients are covered and there is plenty of juice

Add all ingredients to crockpot and then pour the meat mixture over the top. Stir and set temperature to low and about 6 hours, Check the veggies after about 4 hours and if still need to cook, I changed the setting to high for the last couple of hours. The soup was delicious. Served it with grilled french bread made with butter and garlic.

Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Soups · Uncategorized

Crock Pot Green Chile Enchilada Soup

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Yes, these are recipes that I have posted before but if you are like so many others right now, you might not have time to go scrolling through to look at recipes from years back. Because it is story and very overcast today, I thought this soup sounded like something that would taste good tonight.

4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (or a rotisserie chicken)
2 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
2 ((15 oz) cans mild green enchilada sauce
2 (4 oz) cans of diced green chiles
2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chile powder
1 teas onion powder (or diced onion, frozen or fresh)
1 teas garlic powder (I use 2 because we love garlic and we have heard that it helps ward off infections, don’t have a clue if that’s true, but it gives me an excuse to use a lot of it)
2/3 cup corn (if frozen, thaw out before putting in in crockpot)
1 (8 oz) bar cream cheese, cubed
Salt and Pepper to your liking
Monterrey jack Cheese

Place all ingredients into crock pot, except the Monterrey jack. Stir the ingredients until they have combine. Cover the crockpot and then ook on high for 3 1/2 hours. When ready to serve, sprinkle some of the Monterrey Jack over each serving bowl. (Actually I like to put it in the serving bowls first and pour the soup over it, allowing it to melt into the soup)

Daily Thoughts · Meats · Soups · Uncategorized

Indian Taco Soup?

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You are probably thinking I have totally lost it. But…hear me out. Saturday we were at Costco and of course if you have been reading my blog for any length of time or have read some of the stories in Princess on the Porch, you know that Mr. Adventure loves to go to Costco and see how many samples he can eat before they run him out of the store. Well, I do have to admit, this past Saturday was one of the best sample days we have had in a long time. First of all, they were giving away samples of CARAMEL APPLES! There were about 5 different flavors so I ended up hiding around the corner because I was too embarrassed to keep going back for another sample, but not Randy. He would ask me what flavor I wanted this time and would just head on over to the counter and take another sample and bring it to me. After about 4 times, I told him that he just couldn’t go back. But Oh my goodness, they were delicious. If you are wondering why I didn’t just buy one, I had just had the report from my doctor that my Bad cholesterol was 150 over what it should be, not to mention the total cholesterol of 311. So I had better just stick to samples until I can get my numbers down just a tad. BTW, the way this doctor got my attention was this; “well, Trudy, since you cannot take statins, will you promise me you will stay off fats and start exercise? Then three months from now, we will check your numbers again and see if you are a women of your word.” WHAT? A woman of my word? You are kidding me. So what am I suppose to do with the 6 lbs of butter in my fridge and the 3 lb block of cream cheese? Do I just pour my quart of whipping cream down the drain and use my 5 lb sack of shredded cheese for potting soil? Of course I’m a woman of my word. When I say that butter is my life, I truly mean it!

Back to Costco. One of the samples on Saturday was Tasty Bite Madras Lentils. Absolutely delicious. Both of us agreed that they were so good, and I’m sure very healthy, as they are lentils for petes sake, that you could actually use them as a topping for cheese enchiladas. (oops, there I go again, stop it Trudy, you cannot have cheese anymore) So we bought a box of them. They tasted just like a really good chile, but with no meat, just lentils.

This morning, trying to make up for the caramel apple samples I had on Saturday, oh, and the Mexican breakfast of huevos rancheros yesterday… and the Kentucky Butter Cake last night, I thought maybe a low cholesterol taco soup would be good for us tonight before I go to Bunco and snack on the bowls of M&M’s the ladies always have at the tables. So I gathered up all the veggies in the fridge and even used a 1/2 lb of ground turkey instead of beef. After all, us high cholesterol gals need to learn to eat turkey in place of beef, right?

So here was my taco soup with ground turkey, onions, celery, yellow squash, fresh spinach, chopped cabbage,carrots, a little left over rice and added a can of Rotel tomatoes with green chiles, plus a 2 cups of waterAdd your garlic, cumin and chile powder, and wa la….you have taco soup. But wait; what if I added a packet of the Madras Lentils to it? Wouldn’t that just add a little more spiciness and flavor? So I opened it up and poured it in and put the pot of soup in the oven. Baked it at 300 for 2 1/2 hours. The soup is delicious. But then I looked at the packet of the Madras Lentils to see all of the ingredients.  It is actually an Indian food! Really? Either Randy and I have totally lost our taste buds or Indian food taste a lot like Mexican food. All I know is that it added such a great flavor to the taco soup that we will make all our taco soups with it. Isn’t Madras a Spanish word? You have got to try these Madras lentils. Now for the kicker. They might sound healthy, but when you look at the ingredients on the package, (which I guess I should have done before adding them to the soup), they have butter and cream in them. Now my low choldestol taco soup isn’t very low cholesterol, but it sure is good.

Lesson learned from this Costco trip. Indian people use Spanish words in their foods. Caramel apple samples are not the kind of apples that “one a day keeps the doctor away.” If I don’t want to disappoint my doctor by my character, I guess I’m going to have to stay away from Costco Sample Saturdays!

Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Soups · Uncategorized

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

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Last week a dear sweet new friend of mine, Marilyn, from church knew that I was struggling with bronchitis and brought this great soup over for our dinner. To say it was great is really an understatement. It was so good, I kept standing at the counter eating it out of the container it was in even before dinnertime. She said I could post it after telling me that she combined about 3 recipes to get this result. Of course with whipping cream in it, what did I expect except a most wonderful soup.

1 box (6 oz) long-grain and wild rice mix, prepared according to directions on box.

2 cups diced cooked chicken

1 table oil

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup sliced celery

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 3/4 cup chicken broth

1/2 teas dried tarragon

1/4 teas dried thyme

1/4 teas pepper

1/2 teas salt

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tables cornstarch

2 tables white wine

Saute mushrooms, onion, celery and garlic in oil until tender. Add rice, broth, chicken, tarragon, thyme, pepper and salt; bring to a boil over medium heat. Combine cornstarch and small amount of heavy cream tomato a smooth paste. Stir into vegetable mixture along with rest of heavy cream and wine.Cook 3 to 5 min until soup is thickened.

Serves 4 to 6 depending on size of bowls you use

Soups · Uncategorized

Mexican Wedding Soup

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Randy and I love Italian Wedding soup, so when I saw this in the new Taste of Home Magazine, I got excited to see that I could have a recipe that would make it with a whole new taste. Am looking forward to having this soup over the weekend. Thanks Taste of Home!

1 tables veggie oil or canola

2 medium carrots, chopped

2 medium celery ribs, chopped

1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed

1/2 cup chopped onion*

1/2 teas garlic powder

2 qts chicken stock

1 cup soft bread crumbs

1 envelope reduced sodium taco seasoning

1 large egg

1 lb ground chicken

1  cup acini di pepe pasta

2 tables minced fresh cilantro

1/4 teas salt

Cubed avocado and sour cream

In a Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, onion and corn; cook until tender. Stir in stock. Add garlic powder, if desired. Increase heat to high; bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, combine breadcrumbs, taco seasoning, egg and chicken; mix lightly. With wet hands, shape into 1 1/2″ balls. Reduce heat to simmer. Gently drop meatballs into stock. Cook, covered, until meatballs are no longer pink, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in pasta. Simmer, covered until pasta is tender, 6-8 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro and salt. Serve with avocado and sour cream.

*I added about 1/2 teas garlic powder and the onion to the soup.

Daily Thoughts · Soups · Uncategorized

White Bean With Italian Sausage Soup

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Found this in an old Southern Living Magazine. Will be perfect for sitting outside on the porch (oops, excuse me, I forget out here they are called Arizona Rooms), watching the sun go down and having a bowl of soup with garlic french bread. The recipe originally called for Chorizo, but I don’t like it so I used Mild Italian Sausage

1 lb mild Italian Sausage (our preference, but they make it in hot if you like that option better, feel free to use (after all, the Sausage Police won’t come get you if you do), casing removed

2 tables olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped (about 2 cups)

2 medium carrots, chopped (about 1 cup)

1/2 lb small red potatoes, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teas paprika

1 teas kosher salt

1 tables tomato paste

2 (15 oz) cans great Northern beans, drained and rinsed

1 container (32 oz) chicken broth

1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped

Cook sausage in a Dutch oven over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until browned and crumbled, about 8 minutes.

Drain all on paper towels. Wipe Dutch oven out with paper towel, to remove grease.

Heat the oil in the Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add onions and next 5 ingredients and sauce until tender. About 5 minutes.

Stir in tomato paste and cook 1 minute, stirring.

Add beans, chicken broth and sausage; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes. Stir in parsley, and serve!

Soups · Uncategorized

Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight

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Even though this is the title to an old song it describes our weather here in Phoenix today and all this week. Since today is father’s Day and we are having a pretty heavy meal of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy and hot rolls for dinner,I wanted it to and on the cool note so I made the frozen strawberry pie with whipped cream for our dessert. After the dinner fiasco last Wednesday night I have actually made myself get back in the kitchen, get my recipes out and began to cook again. Friday night I made an Italian spaghetti soup that ended up delicious with olive bread toasted and then last night we had pineapple cheeseburgers for dinner. Since the heat is forcing us to stay inside more I figured that The best thing I could do was cook and bake. The strawberry pie recipe is under Valentines Strawberry Pie recipe from February, 2015 posts. Here is the recipe for the soup:
Italian Spaghetti Soup
3 links of mild sweet Italian Sausage (take out of the casing)
1 small onion, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
3 ribs of celery, chopped
1 16 oz can of chopped tomatoes
2 cups of chicken broth
1 zucchini cut into 4 vertical pieces then cut into small bite size pieces
2 carrots
1/3 cup of chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup of butternut squash,cubed very small or can of white navy beans, drained
1 teas Italian Seasoning
3 garlic cloves, chopped

Spray a Dutch oven with Pam. Sauté and crumble the sausage as it cooks until no longer pink. Add the onion and rest of ingredients to pan. Stir until well combined. Add lid and bake in 300 degree oven for 4 to 5 hours or until veggies are tender. When soup is done, remove from oven and cook, according to directions, about4 oz of thin spaghetti, breaking noodles as you add to the boiling water. When spaghetti is done, drain almost all of water, leaving a little to add with the spaghetti to the soup mixture. Salt and pepper soup as desired. Serve with toasted garlic kalamata olive bread and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of soup.

Soups · Uncategorized

Happy New Year Stew

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Happiest of New Year’s to all! We are in anti-shopping mode for a few days after the last 2 weeks of shopping for gifts, then taking back a few items and then spending some of the gift cards we received. So the thought of going even grocery shopping just has me wanting to do cook anything that is left in the frigid to avoid going grocery shopping. This morning I thought about how long had it been since we really had just plain ole (when you live in the south, you can use that term, “plain ole”) veggie soup. So after going through every drawer in the (oh my gosh, I almost said, “ice box) fridge, I found enough veggies to actually make vegetable soup. No meat, just veggies. To add some extra flavor I added a can of mild green chile sauce and chicken base granules. Lots of garlic to ward off any winter colds and WA-la, you have a great soup. Since I had some fresh black eyed peas which I was going to cook today for good luck, I threw those in also.

Ingredients

1 cup of frozen chopped onion, celery & green bell pepper (I buy those little bags of the creole frozen combination at Kroger for about $1.27)

1 tables olive oil

1 zucchini, diced

1 cup chopped carrots

2 peeled and diced potatoes

2 cups chopped cabbage

1/2 cup fresh black eyed peas

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can of mild green chile sauce

2 tables chicken granules

12 cup frozen Lima beans (I know, I know, you can omit these if you don’t like them, like so many don’)

Sauté the onion, celery-pepper mix in the heated olive oil. Add garlic to your liking and stir until onion is tender. Add all the rest of the ingredients and bake in a 300 preheated oven for about 2-3 hours, or until vegetables are tender.

Serve with corn bread muffins. Ours is in the oven while we are off to the movies. Have a glorious and blessed New Years! image

Soups

Potato Bean Stew

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When a friend of mine called the other day to tell me how great this soup was, I almost didn’t even write the ingredients down, as it sounded like something that I probably would never make. How glad I did. She found the recipe from Trisha Yearwood’s website. She had made it and said it was delish!  When I told Randy the ingredients, he informed me that I could make it, but he would just pick out the lima beans. I did just make it and Randy didn’t pick out anything. In fact, he kept saying, “this is really good, I’m glad you made it.” So here it is. It makes a great cool weather meal with cornbread!

5 small red potatoes, peeled and chopped in small pieces

2 carrots, pealed and slices

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tables olive oil

1/2 small purple onion, diced

1 can Rotel Mild Tomatoes & Green Chilies

1/2 of a 16 oz bag of frozen lima beans

1 (32 oz) box chicken broth or vegetable broth

1 (14.75 oz) can cream style corn

In a Dutch oven, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is tender. Add rest of ingredients and add salt and pepper to taste. Place in preheated 350 oven and bake for 2 hours or until potatoes and carrots are tender.

Chicken · Soups

King Ranch Chicken Soup

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Windows are open, more apple cakes are in the oven and looking through the newly delivered Southern Living magazine, this soup caught my eye. Our adult kids love King Ranch Casserole, but never thought about transforming it into a soup. Thank you Southern Living, that’s why we love you!

2 tables butter

1 cup chopped yellow onion

1 cup chopped green bell pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

2 (10 3/4 oz) cans diced tomatoes and green chiles

1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of mushroom soup

1 (same size) can cream of chicken soup

5 cups chicken broth

1 (1 1/2 to 2 lb) whole deli-roasted chicken, skin removed and meat shredded

1 teas dried oregano

1 teas ground cumin

1 teas chile powder

8 ((6 inch) fajita size CORN tortillas, cut into 1/2 inch strips and then halved *(I like mine fried crisp in a little oil instead of leaving them soft, which if you do this, you can do this by frying the strips in hot oil and drain on paper towel while soup is cooking before adding at the end)

Garnish: salt, shredded cheese and cilantro

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions and peppers and sauté 6-7 minutes or until tender.

Add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Stir in diced tomatoes, cream of mushroom soup and cream of chicken soup; combine thoroughly. Stir in broth and next 4 ingredients.

Still on medium-high heat, cook until soup is begging to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, about  minutes. Stir in tortilla strips and simmer  2 more minutes. Add salt to taste and garnish as desired.

makes about 4 quarts