Chicken Tortilla Soup

Back in college, my friends and I would take trips to Mazatlan, Mexico.  To say that we had a little fun is a bit of an understatement.  We baked in the sun, talked to other college students from all across the U.S. and went to clubs I wouldn’t be caught dead in now.  At the time, it was the best thing ever!

Believe it or not, one of the highlights I remember was a chicken tortilla soup served at a tiny corner restaurant.  I feel like we went there almost every day for lunch.  They would serve the soup with all the fixings on the side – avocado, crispy tortilla strips, cheese, etc.  Once it was loaded up with the fixings, it was heaven in my mouth.  The salty soup combined with the creamy cheese and crunch tortilla strips made my day.

Since 2002, I have been on the hunt for a recipe that did this soup justice.  What I couldn’t put my finger on was what the broth was made of; chicken broth, onion broth, or something I had no clue about?  The other thing that made it amazing was the crumbly cheese that melted just enough but still kept in tact when dropped into the soup.  It wasn’t feta or goat cheese, but had a consistency similar to those if you mixed the two together.

After over 10 years of searching, I’m convinced I finally found a recipe that brings me back to those days.  Once again, Food and Wine Magazine came through.  I now know the broth is a chicken stock & tomato puree and the cheese is crumbled queso fresco found in the Mexican section at the grocery store.  Duh.  I can’t get over how similar this soup is to what we ordered in Mexico over 10 years ago.  Now if I got some blue hair extensions and put on my backless shirt with hot pink shorts, I might think I was in Mexico while slurping on this soup.  Oh the memories 🙂

Recipe Source: Food & Wine Magazine
Recipe by: Rene Ortiz

What you need:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large white onion, thinly sliced
• 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt
• 1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes, halved
• 4 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 8 cups chicken stock
• Canola oil, for frying
• 6 corn tortillas, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 stick unsalted butter, diced
• 4 cups shredded chicken, from one 2 1/4-pound rotisserie chicken
• Crumbled queso fresco, dried chile, avocado and cilantro leaves, for garnish

What you do:

• In a saucepan, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add the onion, garlic and a generous pinch of salt and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until softened and starting to brown, 8 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, chipotle chiles and stock and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are very soft, 30 minutes.
  

  Roma Tomatoes

  

  Chipotle

• Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat 1/4 inch of canola oil. Add half of the tortilla strips and fry over moderate heat, stirring, until crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the strips to paper towels. Season with salt. Repeat with the remaining strips.
  

  Tortilla Strips and Queso Fresco

• Carefully ladle half of the soup into a blender and add half of the butter. Puree until smooth. Pour the pureed soup into a large saucepan. Repeat with the remaining soup and butter.
• Stir in the shredded chicken and gently reheat the soup. Season with salt.
• Serve the soup in bowls, garnishing with queso fresco, chile, avocado, cilantro and tortilla strips.

Turkey Carcass Soup (yes, seriously)

What’s my inspiration?

Leftover Thanksgiving turkey carcass.  Need I say more?  I don’t have to but I will because I can’t help it.  So how does one go about getting a turkey carcass when they don’t even host Thanksgiving?  Just ask.  I did.  My brother-in-law looked at me with concerned confusion and said “what?”.  I repeated, “Can I have the turkey carcass?”.  He followed with a questioning “sure” and proceeded to place it in a plastic Target bag.  Totally hilarious to me for some reason.  As he handed it over to one excited guest, he looked at me as if I had lost my mind.  Clearly, turkey carcass soup was not something on his bucket list of things to try.

 

Regardless, I understand turkey “carcass” sounds totally nasty.  But trust me, it makes a fabulous stock for your soup.  When you add more turkey, carrots, celery, noodles and seasoning, it’s truly delicious!  So go ahead, creep out your family and make them a fabulous carcass soup.  Mmmm!

What you need – stock & soup:

• 1 turkey carcass and some leftover turkey (for stock)
• 2 white or yellow onions (for stock & soup)
• 1 large bag of carrots (for stock & soup)
• 1 bag of celery (for stock & soup)
• 1 package sliced mushrooms (for soup)
• Parsley (for stock & soup)
• Thyme (for stock & soup)
• Bay leaf (for stock)
• Peppercorns (for stock)
• Salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, marjoram and chicken bouillon cube for seasoning soup
• 1/2 bag egg noodles (I use multi-grain)

What you do – stock: 

• Remove all the usable turkey meat from the turkey carcass  – set aside to add to soup later.
• Add to large soup pot: 1 onion (quartered), 1/4 of the carrots (chopped), celery tops, parsley, thyme, 1 bay leaf, and some peppercorns.  **Use your judgement when adding the spices, I would say about 1/2 teaspoon of each depending on how much stock you are making.
  
• Break up the leftover bones of the carcass so they don’t take up too much room in the pot.
  
• Put the bones and skin into a large stock pot and cover with cold water.
• Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to bring the stock to a minimal simmer.
• As the soup simmers, skim off any foam that may float to the top of the stock.
• Cook for at least 4 hours partially uncovered.
  

  Reduced stock

• Strain the stock through a very fine mesh strainer removing all bones, vegetables, etc.

What you do – soup:

• Cook egg noodles and set aside
• With your stock already made, add chopped carrots, onions, mushrooms and celery in equal parts. Add some parsley, and garlic.
  
• Add seasoning – poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, marjoram and/or a bouillon cube.
• Cook at a bare simmer until the vegetables are cooked through.
  
• Add remaining shredded turkey meat to soup.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• At the very end, add the egg noodles and serve!

Try serving with beer bread!

Chicken & Bacon Wild Rice Soup – Yes, it’s awesome.

Source: Melissa’s Kitchen

Serves: 4-6

What’s my inspiration?

First of all, this soup is stupid good.  And when I say “stupid good” I mean that in a ‘I think I’m a cool teenager’ kind of way.  My husband and I usually eat very healthy.  I’m talking light yogurt with fruit & granola for breakfast, lean cuisine for lunch and an apple for a snack.  But every once in a while, you just need to be naughty when it comes to eating dinner.  And this soup more than fits that bill.  This is perfect for a chilly fall or brutally cold winter day.  Regardless of when you eat this, I promise you will be impressed.

P.S. There are no promises you won’t eat this and fall asleep on the couch after.  It’s heavy, rich and a sure-fire lazy maker. 

What you need:

• 1 lb chicken – diced
• 1 medium onion – diced
• 1 – 13oz can of mushrooms –  sliced (you can use fresh)
• 3 cups wild rice (make the real stuff verse canned – takes about 1 hour)
• 6-8 slices of bacon – cooked and crumbled
• 1 1/2 cups velveeta cheese – cubed
• 2  – 10 1/2 ounce cans cream of potato soup
• 2 cups skim milk
• EVOO

Tips: 

• It tastes just fine if you use skim milk vs. 2% or 1%. You can use any of them.
• I use a ton of mushrooms ‘cuz I love them!  Feel free to cut in 1/2 or omit if you don’t like them.  Or, try carrots instead.
• Sometimes I can’t find the big brick of Velveeta so I have used Velveeta slices and 1 package works great.
• Don’t like bacon (p.s. your crazy)?  You don’t need it.  I have made this with and without it and it’s amazing either way.
• Don’t have cream of potato soup?  While this way is stellar, you can substitute cream of mushroom, cream of chicken or any mix of the three. Slightly different taste but same difference.
• When at ALL possible, use the low sodium version of the soups.  There isn’t any need to eat over-do the sodium when this is already SUPER high in salt.

What you do:

• Pre-cook wild rice (if needed) – set aside
• In a large pot, saute onions & diced chicken in a little bit of EVOO until onions are soft and chicken is cooked through – drain if needed
   
• Add mushrooms, crumbled bacon and wild rice – stir until combined
• Add both cans of cream of potato soup, milk – stir until combined & warm
• Add Velveeta cheese and cook on medium heat until cheese is melted and everything is blended (DO NOT cook on high heat or cheese will burn)
• Season with pepper to taste (Skip the salt, there is way too much sodium in here already!)
   
• Turn to low and simmer soup stirring frequently until heated through and ready to eat
   

Serve with store-bought Pillsbury crescent rolls or homemade beer bread.

Seafood Jambalaya Over Rice

Source: Melissa’s Kitchen

What’s my inspiration:
It’s no secret that my husband and I love seafood.  I will eat it any way I can get it and Jambalaya is one of my personal favorites.   You can make it with any combination of seafood you like and add as much spice as you want.  And, I can make this meal using only 1 dish…SCORE!  Less clean up only adds to the joy of cooking.

I have made Jambalaya several times before.  Each time was good, but something was missing and it wasn’t quite right.  The recipes I used in the past had you cook the rice in with all the other ingredients.  It tasted great for the first serving, but by the time you went back for 2nds, the rice had absorbed way to much water and was a nasty, mushy mess.  This time around, I cooked the rice separately and served it with the Jambalaya. I can’t take full credit for this.  It was actually my husbands idea to make it this way.  So, we Googled a couple different recipes and ended up combining  a few ideas and creating our own Minnesota made Jambalaya.  It was A-MAZING!!!  As per usual, I made way too much for 2 people so next time around I’ll use 1/2 as much stuff or just have people over.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

cornbread

What you need:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 andouille sausage links (raw & meat removed from casing)
• 1 yellow onion (diced)
• 1 tablespoon garlic (diced)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (or to taste)
• 2 tablespoons Creole seasoning (or to taste)
• ½ teaspoon cayenne (omit if you don’t like much spice)
• Black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 green bell pepper (diced)
• 1 red bell pepper (diced)
• 2 – 16oz cans diced tomatoes
• 2 – 16 oz cans water
• 2 – 16 oz cans light red beans
• 1 – 16 oz can corn
• 15-20 raw jumbo shrimp (remove tail)
• 1 pound dense fish (catfish, halibut, swordfish, etc)
• 1 pound mussels (omit if you don’t like)
• 4 cups rice (uncooked)

Tips:

• When feeding only 2 people, just reduce the amount of andouille, seafood and rice by ½.
• Rice: I use instant brown rice.  The brown rice seems to hold its texture a little better than white rice.  But if you don’t like brown rice, just use white.

What you do:

• Heat vegetable oil heated in large cast iron pot
• Add onion, garlic, and sausage – sauté for about 3 minutes
  
• Add Worcestershire, Creole, Cayenne (if desired), pepper and tomato paste – mix until combined
• Add all peppers
  
• Sauté all ingredients until onions and peppers are just softened (About 5-7 minutes)
• Add tomatoes and 2 -16 oz cans of water
  
• Let it come to a boil, then add beans and corn
  
• Bring back to a boil – taste and add additional spices if needed
• Add shrimp and fish – simmer for 15 minutes
  
• Add mussels – simmer for 5 minutes or until mussels open
• Serve over rice
  

Texas Style Chili with beer

Source: Food & Wine Magazine

What’s my inspiration?

I enjoy trying new versions of the same old thing.  In this case, it was Chili.  I know there are a million ways to make chili, and every family seems to have their own recipe and I am no different (my chili).  But this version in food and wine magazine was really intriguing to me and I was excited to make it.

This recipe seems straight forward, but I had a very hard time finding all the chiles.  Specially the pasilla and guajillo chiles.  I searched Cub, Rainbow, Target and Kowalski’s for them and they didn’t want to be found.  The ancho chile was the easiest to find and all of the grocery stores carried them.  I racked my brain trying to figure where I could find the pasilla and guajillo chiles.  I was bound and determined to find them even though I knew they were most likely out of season, and not likely to be found in Minnesota.

I started to google the peppers and found a fantastic marketplace, El Burrito Mercado, on the West side of St. Paul.  I took the short drive over the Mississippi River to find El Burrito Mercado located in a part St. I hadn’t been to before.  I walked into the store and instantly felt like I was in Mexico, shopping with the locals.  I was so impressed by this store, which seemed to carry any kind of Mexican cooking product you might need.  It also had imported Mexican home goods and a restaurant with traditional Mexican dishes.  I could have spent a lot of time in there browsing, and can’t wait to go back.  To my surprise, they did carry dried pasilla chiles (I did have to re-hydrate them for this recipe).  Unfortunately, they didn’t carry the guajillo chiles so I skipped them and just used what I had.

The chili was fairly easy to make once I found the peppers.  Re-hydrating the pasilla chiles was a bit of a pain, but worth the end product.  If you really want the guajillo chiles, I found a website where you can order then online: Guajillo Chiles.

Be warned, the canned chipotles give this dish quite a kick!  When served with warm corn tortillas, it was quite amazing.

What you need:

• 2 ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 2 pasilla chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 2 guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
• About 2 cups boiling water
• 2 canned chipotles in adobo, seeded
• 1 cup brewed coffee
• One 12-ounce bottle pale ale
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 pounds boneless short ribs, cut into scant 1-inch cubes
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup masa harina or fine cornmeal
• 1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• Chipotle hot sauce

• Shredded cheddar cheese, chopped red onion and warm corn tortillas, for serving

What you do:

• Heat a large skillet. Add the ancho, pasilla and guajillo chiles and toast over moderately low heat, turning, until lightly charred, about 4 minutes. (NOTE: If you use dried chiles, you can still toast them before re-hydrating)
• Transfer the chiles to a heatproof bowl. Cover with the boiling water and let stand until softened, about 20 minutes. (NOTE: If you use dried chiles, skip this step and just re-hydrate them.  After they are re-hydrated, remove seeds & stem.  I also remove the skin.  Proceed to next step)
  

  Re-hydrate Peppers

   

• Drain the chiles and transfer to a blender. Add the chipotles and coffee and puree until smooth. Add the ale; pulse until blended 
• Heat the oil in a large, enameled cast-iron casserole. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper and add half to the pot. Cook over moderately high heat until browned all over, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a plate. Lower the heat to moderate and brown the remaining short ribs. Return all of the meat to the casserole and cook until heated through, about 1 minute.
  
• Add the onion and garlic to the casserole and cook over moderately high heat until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the coriander, cumin, cinnamon and cloves and cook until fragrant. Add the chile-ale mixture and the chicken stock and bring to a simmer, stirring. Cover partially and simmer over low heat until the meat is very tender and the sauce is slightly reduced, about 2 hours.
• Ladle 2 cups of the sauce into a heatproof bowl and whisk in the masa harina. Whisk the mixture into the pot and simmer until the sauce thickens, 15 minutes. Stir in the chocolate. Season the chili with salt and hot sauce; serve with cheddar, onion and corn tortillas.

White Chicken Chili

What’s my inspiration?

And as the weather gets colder and the brown fall grass is now covered with a layer of white snow, it seems like a bowl of comforting soup has been on my mind.  Like usual, I was on a kick to try something new so I decided to try a twist on an old classic, chili!

Since I love using my crock-pot for roasts & dips, I figured why not it for soup?   This recipe was adopted from my Betty Crocker cook book and it’s not only tasty, it’s also quite healthy.  I cooked this on high in the crock-pot for 5 hours, but If I make it again, I would go with the low and slow method.  Seemed that the soup developed more in flavor and texture the longer it cooked.  This recipe provided tons of leftovers and I have to say, the soup was almost better re-heated the 2nd day!  Serve with some bread and you have yourself a great meal, lunch or dinner!

What you need:

• 3 – 15oz cans Great Northern Beans (can sub Pinto beans)
• 2 ½ cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 chopped green pepper
• 1 chopped red pepper
• 2 fresh jalapeño peppers – seeded and diced
• 2 tablespoons garlic (fresh or jarred)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• 3 ½ cups chicken broth
• Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese (for topping)
• Chips – tortilla (for serving)

What you do:

• Cook chicken – let cool and shred. (Works great to boil the chicken.  It shreds very easily after cooked this way.)
• In 4-quart crock-pot, combine drained beans, chicken, onion, peppers, jalapeño, garlic, cumin, salt and oregano.  Stir in chicken broth
• Cover and cook 8-10 hour on low or 4-5 hours on high (I recommend cooking on low so the soup has time to develop)
• Top with Monterey Jack cheese and serve with chips

Football Sunday – GO VIKES!

What’s my inspiration:

I love Sunday’s, especially during football season.  It’s the time of year where I finally feel like it’s OK to be inside and I don’t feel AS guilty for not spending the entire day outdoors.  I started cooking mostly because my husband likes to spend the day watching the games and I needed something to do.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Vikings fan (even during the tough times).  But…I don’t care to watch the other teams unless it’s playoffs.  More and more I found myself in the kitchen most of the day testing out recipes and using my hubby as my official taste tester.  I usually make a couple appetizers during the day, dinner, and on extra ambitious days a dessert.  This particular day, I made Chips & Hot Salsa Cheese, Buffalo Bites, Sunday Chili and Beer Bread.  Today, the Vikings won – WOOT WOOT!  So just maybe, this is a luck combination.  Enjoy!

Sunday Chili

Source: Melissa’s Kitchen

What’s my inspiration?
Football Sunday – GO VIKES!

What you need:

• 1 pound ground beef
• ½ onion, diced
• 4 tablespoons chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon cumin
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper or red pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco
• 14 oz diced tomatoes, drained (Try Rotel with Basil, garlic & oregano)
• 14 oz stewed tomatoes, drained
• 1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
• 1 can chili beans with sauce
• 1 can light red kidney beans, drained
• 24 oz tomato juice
• Shredded cheese & Sour Cream for topping

What you do:

• Sauté onion on stovetop in EVOO
• Add ground beef to onion and brown meet
• Combine onion, ground beef & all ingredients in a crock pot (NOT Cheese & Sour Cream)
• Stir until combined
• Cook in crock-pot on low 4-10 hours
• Serve with shredded cheese & sour cream

Tips:

• You can use any kind of beans you like.
• You can use any kind of tomatoes you like.
• Cook on the stovetop if you prefer to cook and eat faster than 4-10 hours.
• Use more or less cayenne pepper and Tabasco depending on how hot you like chili.
• Try serving with Beer Bread!

Moms California Soup

What’s my inspiration?

A chilly, rainy September day!

My mom makes great soup and this is one of my favorites.  I have asked her for the recipe at least 10 times, but fail to remember where I put it.  This time, I learned, I’ll put it on the blog and never loose it again!

I hope you like it as much as I do.

What you need:

• 3 cups water
• 3 tsp chicken bouillon
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• ½ cup onion
• ½ cup celery
• ½ cup carrots
• ½ cup broccoli
• ½ cup cauliflower
• 1 small potato
• ½ lb American cheese (Velveeta)

What you do:

• Chop onion, celery, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and potatoes. Chop so they are similar in size so they cook evenly. Set aside.
• Bring water, chicken bouillon and cream of chicken soup to a boil.
• Add onion, celery, carrots and potatoes.  Cook until al dente (They will continue cooking).
• Add broccoli and cauliflower.  Cook until al dente.
• Reduce heat to low.
• Add American cheese (works best if you chop up into smaller slices so it will melt quicker). DO NOT SIMMER OR BOIL!  It will burn the cheese.
• Continue heating soup until warm.
• Serve with bread, croissant rolls or Beer Bread!

Tips / Variations:

• You can use frozen veggies!  Just buy a mixed bag of carrots, broccoli and cauliflower.  You will have to add these at the same time as the cheese since they won’t take long to cook
• Don’t have a block of Velveeta?  You can use sliced American cheese.
• Try using low sodium or low fat cream of chicken soup.  It will taste almost the same.
• Use cream of celery instead of cream of chicken soup.
• Don’t have one of the veggie or potato ingredients?  Skip it, it will still be good.
• We often have leftover potatoes from dinners.  Chop them up, freeze them and use them in soup like this.  Just add them right before the cheese since they won’t take long to cook.