Mexican Chicken Soup

The weather has been crazy lately.  We think it's finally fall because the temperatures are down to a reasonable level, then a few days later we have 90 degree days again.  We had some rain and some cool days this week, so I figured that meant it was time to break out the soup recipes.

This Mexican Chicken Soup (some may call it a tortilla soup because there are tortillas in the soup plus crushed tortilla chips on top) is pretty tasty and it warms me from the inside out on a cold day.   This recipe originated in the Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook.  The original recipe told how to roast chicken breasts to be added to this soup, but I substituted the breasts with the meat from a whole rotisserie chicken.  This saves on preparation time and the combination of white and dark meat gives this dish more flavor.  This soup gets 8's all around on the Melnarik rating scale.

I begin by placing the onions, carrots and celery in a Dutch oven and drizzle them with olive oil.  I cook these vegetables over medium heat until the onions are translucent.

Then, I add the garlic, stir it in and cook for an additional minute.

Next, I add the dry spices.  I didn't realize that the steam was a problem in getting a clear shot.  I guess I should have paid attention and taken a second shot.  The spices are at about 1 o'clock in this picture, in case you were wondering.

The next ingredient I add is the jalapeno peppers.

The peppers are followed by the can of crushed tomatoes.

It was hard to get a picture showing the chicken stock being added.  This picture makes it look more like tomato soup!  Trust me, this is where I added the chicken stock.

Then I added the fresh cilantro.  I also increased the heat to high here to begin to bring the soup to a boil.

The corn tortilla strips were added next.  You can tell by the froth that it won't be long until this soup is boiling.   Once it comes to a boil, I lower the heat and let it simmer for 25 minutes.

After simmering, I add the chicken and stir to combine.  I let it simmer for another couple of minutes to let the chicken heat through.  This makes a full Dutch oven of soup, so there's plenty for leftovers, to freeze or to share with friends.

The soup is ready to serve.  As you can see, there is plenty of chicken; enough to get some in each bite!  In fact, I let our neighbors have some and they commented on how great it was to have a nice amount of chicken in the soup.

I like to top mine with crushed tortilla chips first.

Then, some shredded Mexican blend cheese (Monterey Jack and Cheddar).

And I top the cheese with a dollop of sour cream and some avocado slices.  I think I'm going to borrow the old Campbell's slogan here and say Mmmm Mmmm Good!  Enjoy!

Mexican Chicken Soup

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups brown onions, chopped

1 cup celery, sliced

2 cups carrots, sliced

4 large garlic cloves, diced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander seed

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced

1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

6 (6-inch) white corn tortillas

1 rotosserie chicken, meat removed from bones and shredded

Toppings:

sliced avocado

sour cream

grated Mexican blend cheese (Monterey Jack and Cheddar)

tortilla chips

In a Dutch oven, cook onions, celery, and carrots in olive oil over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent.  Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.  Add the cumin and coriander; stir to mix thoroughly.  Add the crushed tomatoes; stir.  Add the chicken stock and cilantro; stir.  Increase heat to high.  Cut the tortillas in half, then cut them crosswise into 1/2-inch strips and add to the soup; stir.  Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes.    Add the chicken; stir to combine.  Heat through.  Serve the soup hot, topped with sliced avocado, a dollop of sour cream, grated cheese, and broken tortilla chips.

Crock Pot Cheesy Italian Tortellini

More often than not, I use my crock pot when I won't be home to eat dinner with my family, or we're eating at different times.  When I made this meal recently, I was not going to be home.  The majority of the dish is placed in the crock pot hours before serving, the only thing my guys had to do was add the tortellini about 15 minutes before serving and then top each dish with the mozzarella cheese I had already shredded for them.  I also requested they take pictures of the last few steps for this blog.  Jimmy handled these tasks for me and did a fine job; thank you, Jimmy!

I found this recipe in one of those magazines that are sold near the checkout stand at the market many years ago.  The recipe says it yields 4 to 6 servings, but my guys ate every last drop with no leftovers and there are only 3 of them!  This time, this dish got one 7, one 8 and one 9 on the Melnarik rating scale.  The person (who shall remain nameless!) who gave the 7 said it was a little heavy on the tomato taste for him.  I didn't tell him I used a different brand of marinara sauce this time.  Perhaps that lowered his rating from the 8 it used to be.

I begin by putting the Italian sausage in a large saucepan and cook it over medium heat until browned.  As it cooks, I keep turning the mean and breaking it up with my spoon.

Once the sausage is fully cooked, I drain off any fat and place it in my pre-heated crock pot.  Hint:  Hot foods should always be placed in a pre-heated crock pot and cold foods in a cool crock pot to heat together.

To the sausage, I add the marinara sauce, fresh mushrooms, and canned tomatoes.

Those ingredients get stirred together to combine.  The crock pot gets covered and the dish is cooked on low for 7 to 8 hours.  Hint:  For most recipes, if you need to lessen the amount of time for cooking, placing your crock pot on the high heat setting will cut the cooking time in half.  For example, a dish cooked on low for 8 hours can be cooked on high for 4 hours.  In this case, by the time everything was in the crock pot, there was only 5 hours before dinner time, so I cooked it on high for 2 hours (which equalled 4 hours on low) followed by 3 hours on low, which gave me the same result as 7 hours on the low setting.

This is how it looks after the full cooking time.  

About 15 minutes before serving, the refrigerated tortellini is added.

The tortellini gets stirred into the sauce, the lid is placed back on the crock pot, and it is cooked for an additional 15 minutes.  This is the perfect amount of time to throw together a quick salad and/or garlic bread!

I find this dish is best served in a bowl, and topped with shredded mozzarella cheese .  As you can see from the picture above, my guys really like cheese!  Enjoy!

Crock Pot Cheesy Italian Tortellini

1 pound bulk Italian sausage

1 container (15 oz.) refrigerated marinara sauce

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1 can (14 1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained

1 package (9 oz.) refrigerated cheese tortellini

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 

Cook sausage in a medium saucepan or skillet over medium heat about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown; drain.  Add sausage to pre-heated 4- to 5-quart crock pot.   Add marinara sauce, mushrooms, and tomatoes; stir to combine.  Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 to 8 hours.  Stir in tortellini; cover and cook on low heat setting about 15 minutes longer or until tortellini is tender.  Top each serving with mozzarella cheese.

Liza's Award-Winning Turkey Chili

I love a good chili on a cold day!  I call this my award-winning chili because it has now won two Best Chili Awards at two different churches I've attended!  This hearty dish tastes a lot like a traditional ground beef chili, but it's healthier because I use ground turkey.  When I first started making it, my husband thought I had gotten his mother's recipe and was surprised to learn I hadn't and that it wasn't made with beef!

Not only has this chili gotten the approval of the judges, but my guys give this savory treat all 9's on the Melnarik rating scale.  I originally got the recipe for turkey chili from my friend, Joyce Giese.   I've made a few changes, over the years, to that original recipe in the amounts of some of the ingredients to make it my own.

I begin by placing the ground turkey and chopped onions into a Dutch oven, cooking them over medium-high heat until the meat is no longer pink and the onions are tender.  I stir this mixture often, breaking up the meat as it cooks.

As I've mentioned before, my first cooking teacher in Jr. High taught that when several dry ingredients are to be added to a dish, it's best to combine them in a small bowl first.  That way it's easier to get them  evenly distributed in the dish.  I always do was I was taught!  Here I combined the chili powder, dried oregano, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and pepper.

Once combined, I add the seasoning mixture to the turkey and onions.  As you can see, ground turkey never browns, it remains pale but no longer pink once it's cooked thoroughly.  

By adding the seasonings directly to the meat, it gets seared to it in the hot pan.  In this case, it also gives it a color that closely resembles cooked ground beef.   That's one of the reasons this chili fools people into thinking it's made with ground beef.

Next, I add the cans of diced tomatoes, stirring to incorporate.

Then I add the kidney beans and stir again.

The chili beans go in next and I stir them into the mixture.  The chili beans I like to use are the S&W brand chili beans in zesty sauce.

Then, I add the diced green chilies and stir to combine.

The last ingredient I add is the stewed tomatoes.  These tomatoes are in bigger pieces than the diced tomatoes I added earlier, so I cut these down to be about the same size as the diced tomatoes.  I guess I just want them to be more uniform in size.

The picture above shows what the chili looks like when all of the ingredients have been assembled and it's ready to cook for a while.  The next step is to bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer it for about 1 1/4 hours.

This next picture shows the chili after it's simmered for 1 1/4 hours.  It's now thicker and richer and if you compare it with the last picture, you can see how much it has reduced in that amount of time.  It's now perfect and ready to serve.  I usually top each bowl with some shredded cheddar cheese and either serve it with piping hot cornbread or Ritz crackers.  When transporting this chili, I take it in a crock pot.    Hint:  When filling a crock pot, always put hot food in a preheated crock pot and cold food in a cold crock pot so the ingredients can heat up with the pot.  This chili can be simmered in the crock pot instead of the stove top, but the lid needs to be off to let it reduce properly.  Enjoy!

Liza’s Award-Winning Chili

20 oz. ground turkey

2 large onions, chopped

2 (15 ½ oz.) cans kidney beans

2 (15 ½ oz.) cans chili beans

1 (28 oz.) can Italian tomatoes, cut up

1 (14 ½ oz.) can stewed tomatoes

2 (4 oz.) cans diced green chili peppers

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper

¼ teaspoon pepper

In a Dutch oven, cook the ground turkey and onion until meat is no longer pink and onion is tender; drain.  Stir in the undrained beans, tomatoes and green chilies.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer uncovered about 1 ¼ hours or until desired consistency.

Liza's Pizza Pasta Toss

This is one of those dishes that is hearty, tastes somewhat like pizza (which most kids love) and it's easy to prepare.  I call that a winning recipe!

I originally found this recipe in my May/June 2009 issue of Simple and Delicious, but each time I've made it I've changed it a little to suit my family's taste and make it blog worthy!  This recipe now gets 8's and 9's on the Melnarik rating scale.  With so many changes to the original recipe, I now call it my own!

I begin by putting some water in a Dutch oven over high heat to start boiling it to cook the pasta.  Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, I combine the Italian sausage, bell pepper and mushrooms.  I cook this mixture until the meat is browned and the vegetables are tender, breaking up the sausage as it cooks.

My first cooking teacher in Jr. High taught that if several dry spices are to be added to a dish, they should be combined in a small bowl first.  This way they are more easily distributed evenly in the dish.  I've always done this, plus I add it directly to the meat (once the fat is drained off) so the heat of the pan sears the spices to it.

Once combined, the spices get added to the meat mixture, stirring occasionally as it continues to cook.

Next in the pan goes the pepperoni.  I like to use the Hormel brand of pepperoni in the 3.5 oz. box and cut the pieces in half before peeling them apart and adding them to the pan.  I cut them in half so there aren't really big pieces of pepperoni in the dish, plus it doubles the number of pieces so there is likely to be pepperoni in each bite!

To this mixture I add the pizza sauce and diced tomatoes, mixing thoroughly and heating through for about 5 minutes.

Once the pasta is cooked according to the package directions, I drain it and add the meat mixture, stirring to combine.

Once I transfer it to a serving dish, the mozzarella cheese gets added to the top of the piping hot dish, which makes it melt perfectly.

This is an easy pasta dish, which is loaded with flavor.  Enjoy!

Liza’s Pizza Pasta Toss

3 ½ cups uncooked spiral pasta

1 pound Italian sausage

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1 bell pepper, diced

1 (14 oz.) jar pizza sauce

1 (4.5 oz.) can petite diced tomatoes

3.5  ounces pepperoni slices, halved

4 ½ teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon dried minced onion

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile, cook Italian sausage, mushrooms, and bell pepper in a Dutch oven over medium heat; drain.  Add the rest of the ingredients except cheese; cook and stir for 5 minutes.  Strain pasta; add to meat mixture, stir to mix thoroughly; heat through.  Sprinkle with cheese, remove from heat, cover until cheese is melted.

Toasty Deli Hoagie

There are two things that make this sandwich a bit different from the others I make.  One is that it has a nice crunch from the toasted bread and the other is that it has fresh guacamole on it.  I think the guacamole completes this sandwich and makes it special, but two of my guys disagree and choose to omit it.  Their loss!

I found this recipe in my April/May 2011 issue of Taste of Home.  This sandwich gets 8's and 9's on the Melnarik rating scale.

The original recipe called for French bread, but we all decided that was far too much bread, so I started building this sandwich on a long, thin baguette.  I cut the bread in half horizontally, then into individual serving sizes.  I find that cutting the baguette this way ensures all of the sandwich pieces fit on my baking sheet.

 

The baking sheet gets put into a preheated oven at 350° for 5 minutes to toast the bread a bit.  Do not expect the bread to brown like regular bread when toasting.  If the bread was in the oven long enough to get brown, it would probably be too hard to bite into!  I took this picture to show the pieces don't look much different from the one above, but when touched, I could tell they were toasted.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, I combined the mayonnaise and lemon juice.

To that, I added the minced garlic.

Once the bread was toasted, using a brush, I applied the mayonnaise/garlic mixture to the bottom half of each sandwich.  If you look closely at the picture above, you can see it on three of the pieces of bread.

Then the layering begins.  The first layer is smoked turkey.

That is followed by a layer of ham.

The next layer is Italian dry salami.

This is followed by yellow bell pepper rings.

Next is red onion rings.

The last layer is mozzarella cheese.  The baking sheet gets put back into the oven for 5 minutes to let the cheese melt.

While that's in the oven, I make a quick guacamole by mashing an avocado and adding some lime juice, garlic salt and a little prepared salsa.

When the sandwiches come out of the oven, the cheese is melted and the lids are a little more toasty.

I add the guacamole to the lid and place it on top of the sandwich.

The garlicy mayonnaise on the bottom piece of bread gives an added flavor to this sandwich, but I still think that the guacamole is what really makes this sandwich special.  Enjoy!

Toasty Deli Hoagies

1 loaf baguette bread

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 pound thinly sliced deli smoked turkey

1/2 pound thinky sliced deli ham

12 slices Italian dry salami

1 medium yellow bell pepper, cut into rings

1 small red onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings

1/2 pound sliced mozzarella cheese

1 1/2 cups guacamole

Cut bread in half lengthwise; place cut side up on a baking sheet.  Bake at 350° for 5 minutes or until toasted.  In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, lemon juice and garlic, spread over bread bottom.  Layer with turkey, ham, salami, pepper, onion and cheese.  Bake for 5 minutes until the cheese is melted.  Spread guacamole over bread top; place over cheese.