chicken tortilla soup

My last day to have my oldest boy home before he has to go to school. I love him home. My oldest is my best friend. I am having a blast spending the whole day with my two boys. I told them last night that I would spend my whole day playing what they wanted. I love that they want me to play with them. I hate it when people post on facebook that they are watching a movie with the family....UMMM no you aren't! You are on facebook. I might sound like that but I have taken a quick break to eat lunch. We will be back playing after this post.

So, this chicken tortilla soup is one of the best. I made it on as one of my soups for the Christmas party I had. It was a hit. Picture and recipe is from allrecipes.com

Ingredients
1 pound shredded, cooked chicken
1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
7 corn tortillas
vegetable oil
Directions
1.Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
2.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
3.Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
4.Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

Hoppin John

Happy New Year! My plans for 2012 is going to be to save money with coupons. So far so good thanks to consumer queen. I made for the first time Hoppin John for New Years day. I must say it was really good. It was pretty cheap to make. The picture is one I found on the internet but I must say it looked just like my bowl. This is Emerill's recipe.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large ham hock
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 pound black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and rinsed
1 quart chicken stock
Bay leaf
1 teaspoon dry thyme leaves
Salt, black pepper, and cayenne
3 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
3 cups steamed white rice
Directions
Heat oil in a large soup pot, add the ham hock and sear on all sides for 4 minutes. Add the onion, celery, green pepper, and garlic, cook for 4 minutes. Add the black-eyed peas, stock, bay leaves, thyme, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes, or until the peas are creamy and tender, stir occasionally. If the liquid evaporates, add more water or stock. Adjust seasonings, and garnish with green onions. Serve over rice

Panera Potato soup

How much do I love Panera bread soups! Oh my goodness I love to dunk my crusty bread in the soup. I made a couple of soups for my husbands family when the came over. The first one is Potato soup. I got the recipe and picture from food.com. Very easy to make and very tasty!

Ingredients:
Servings:
4 44-6 Servings Size

Update

Units: US | Metric
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups peeled and cubed potatoes
1/4 cup minced onion
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese , cut into chunks
Directions:
1Combine broth, potatoes, onion, and spices.2Boil on medium heat until potatoes are tender.3Smash a few of the potatoes to release their starch for thickening.4Reduce to low heat.5Add cream cheese.6Heat, stirring frequently, until cheese melts.

Merry Christmas

It is almost here! The day my boys wait for all year long. I went and saw my sweet great aunt Geneva today at the nursing home. This sweet lady is almost 97 years old. Geneva is still in great shape and great mind. I think she is so special to me because she is looks and acts a bit like my grandma. I am not sure if I would have even gone and seen her if my grandma was still alive. I am glad that I have gotten to know so such a sweet lady.

This angel is the most precious thing to me. My Blaine made this at church when he was 4. I also made one when I was younger that still tops the tree to this day. I love this and it will always be my topper.

Genius!!!

Check out her blog. SO many recipes!

Awesome!

Hooray for me! I am blogging 2 days in a row. So here are some awesome recipes. My husband loves polenta and the recipe below sounds so good. How cute are those santa hats. I will try to make these for my husband's family when they come over for Christmas. The white chocolate sounds good but I think I will use buttercream frosting.

Santa Hat Brownie Bites
Adapted from The Crafty Kook

1 box brownie mix
24 small strawberries
2 cups white chocolate chips

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 1 mini-muffin pan
- Prepare brownie mix according to box's instructions and fill cavities 3/4 of the way full (I had some leftover brownie mix that I just baked off as regular brownies because I didn't have enough strawberries)
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean
- Let brownies cool and use this time to hull and clean the strawberries
- Once cool, place strawberries upside down onto brownie bites
- Melt white chocolate in a double boiler and transfer into a piping bag
- Pipe a ring around the base and a small dot on top -- work quickly, the white chocolate can dry fast and clog up your tip!

This awesome recipe is from www.ericasweettooth.com

The polenta recipe is from http://daisyt13.wordpress.com/

For the Polenta
Ingredients:
2 cups water
2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt (1 used at least 1 tablespoon)
1 cup polenta
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons lemon thyme, chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method:
Bring the water, milk, and salt to a boil. Slowly whisk in the polenta. Add the goat cheese and lemon thyme. Turn heat to low, and continue whisking for 5 minutes, or until polenta is smooth and creamy. Spread the polenta in a 9×9 baking dish, and set aside to cool. Pour 1 tablespoon olive oil into another skillet. Cut the polenta into desired shape, and cook over medium heat until slightly browned and crusty on one side, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook the other sides another two minutes.

For the Topping
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 yellow onion, halved and sliced in 1/4″ slices
3 slices cooked bacon, medium-diced
2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
honey, to drizzle

Method:
While the polenta is setting up, add the butter and olive oil to a skillet. Add the sliced onions and a sprinkle of kosher salt, and cook, over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until soft and caramelized, about 20-25 minutes.

Assembly:
To assemble, place polenta cake on a plate, top each cake with caramelized onions, bacon, and crumbled goat cheese, and drizzle with honey.

Merry Christmas!

I have finally made our family Christmas card.