{*~Soups On!~*}

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Soups On! Because here in Northern California, it's cold and rainy! I don't think I've ever experienced rain this late in June before. When I woke up this morning I was confused...normally I wake up about 6:30am and it's already BRIGHT outside. This morning? Not so much. I went to yoga and during the last bit it started to POUR outside.

So I came home and threw together soup! I love to cook. Love it. I cook almost all our meals from scratch. It's a pleasure for me.

I like to tweet about what I eat because I like when other people do that! I love getting ideas. But lately everyone has been asking for recipes. So here is my recipe. It's mostly a little of this and a little of that. It's not rocket science or earth shattering but it's comfort food and easy!

Hey Porkchop! Chicken Tortilla Soup

makes 8 servings and freezes well

  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts. When I was eating vegetarian I would use 1 cup wild rice instead of chicken and it was delish!
  • 1 container Pacific Chicken Broth. Normally I make my own but we haven't had a whole chicken in a really long time.
  • 1 can (14 oz) Muir Glen Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes. I LOVE these and always stock up when they are on sale.
  • 2 cups of your favorite salsa. I used a jar that I canned last summer. It doesn't have to be fancy, just your favorite!
  • 1 package frozen corn
  • 1 can of low sodium black beans. Rinse well!
  • Dash of Sriracha or tabasco. Or red pepper flakes. Or your favorite heat of choice!
  • 1 walla walla onion, sliced thin
  • 4-6 garlic cloves depending on your taste, minced well
  • Dash of cinnamon. I know. It sounds weird. But trust me. I add cinnamon to EVERYTHING and it gives a great smoke-y sweet flavor.
  • Dash of chili powder, cumin, celery seed, paprika, kosher salt, ground black pepper. Or you can use your favorite taco seasoning sparingly.
  • Cilantro, avocado, lime, crisp tortilla strips (I just cut a corn tortilla into strips and bake it until its crisp), sour cream, cheese, olives, whatever you'd like to top your soup!

This is where it gets hard! Toss everything except the bottom row of toppings into your crock pot. That's it gang! If your using frozen chicken, be prepared to cook it longer. I used fresh today, started the soup at 11am on high and it was done around 4pm. I have three crock pots and they all seem to be a bit different, so just know your crock pot.

This is a SOUP, if you'd like it less soup-y you can use less salsa or broth. You'll notice 1 lb of chicken breasts, but serves 8. I'm not a huge meat eater and after we've each had a bowl, Porkchop will take some for lunch the next day and I'll have a few days of lunch without the chicken. If you guys like chicken, feel free to add more.

I like to add cilantro, a squeeze of a 1/4 of a lime, 1/4 of an avocado, olives, a few tortilla strips and a bit of shredded cheese to mine. Chop loves sour cream, cheese and tortilla strips. I've been debating maybe making a onion based yogurt cheese and putting some of that on top next time.

Crock pots are AWESOME kitchen tools to have. During the fall/winter we use ours almost daily. I make everything from roasted chickpeas (kind of like a corn nut?!) to pumpkin butter to beef stew to oatmeal in mine. Seriously handy. Sometimes they get a bad rep because it seems like folks dump a can of cream of whatever into it with some random meat and call it good. Blech!

I'll be back tomorrow with Farmer's Wife Blocks...and I think I'm going to share some of my favorite songs with you....that are farmer related ;)

 

PS: Chop just bought me some Riley Blake Trick or Treat fabric...and the Swoon quilt pattern as an early birthday gift! I'm pretty much dying of excitement. I can't WAIT for it to arrive and to bug Angela & Tracey to help me! I'm planning on sending it out to be long arm quilted with some great Halloween pantograph. If your a long arm quilter who has some Halloween designs maybe you could leave a comment??? ;)