Chicken tortilla soup

Yummy note:
I've seen variations of this Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe floating around many times before, but never got around to trying it out until recently. I wish I had tried it earlier, as it was delicious and easy to throw together in the crock pot. I've had something similar where we did like a dip and just ate it with chips, but that seemed to not be as healthy of a supper option, rather than if we just made a soup instead. So if you need a quick prep meal and are in lack of time, all you really need to do is toss these all in your crock pot and you are good to go. In just a few hours, you have a really flavorful, not too spicy chicken tortilla soup. If you want to spice it up more, I'm sure if you add in a can of green chilies that would really add some kick fairly easily. Also, if a crock pot isn't your thing in the kitchen, you can easily use this recipe below and just make on the stove and in short time, you'll have some amazing semi-homemade soup to enjoy! 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Modified from Campbell's Kitchen Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups leftover cooked chicken or rotisserie chicken 

2 cups of chicken broth 

1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup 

1 jar of picante or salsa 

1 bag of frozen southwest corn  

1 can of black beans 

1 tsp cumin 

1 tsp chili powder 

Optional: 

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

corn tortillas or corn chips to garnish

cilantro to garnish  

Directions:

In your crock pot, mix together broth, can of condensed cream of chicken soup, picante, corn, black beans, cumin and chili powder. Dice or shred any leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken and add to the crock pot. Cover soup and set on low for 4 hours. At the end, you can stir in cheddar cheese if you wish. You can also reserve the cheese for the top and garnish the soup with the cilantro and cheese and then serve with corn tortillas on top. Yummy note: If you are in a super hurry, you can always make this soup on the stovetop as well. All you need to do is add of the ingredients in a large stock pot and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are all cooked through. Again you would add your cheese, cilantro, and corn tortilla chips at the end. 

 

I used leftover smoked shredded chicken that I had in the freezer. 

Mix all of the ingredients together in the crock pot and that's it - super easy prep!  

Add cheese and cilantro either to the soup or garnish with at the end.

Hearty chicken tortilla soup

Chocolate gelato

Yummy note: This month has begun to get away from me at bit. It was literally just Halloween, I thought... then I looked at calendar and yikes, halfway to Thanksgiving already!?! what happened to November. Oh, I recall, we have been having some amazing warmer weather days for us in the Midwest and we've been taking advantage of it some. Sneaking in those extra park trips, walks outside, fishing, and playing in the yard and raking up all those leaves! I thought it was going to slow down a bit since the soccer and other fall activities wrapped up but I guess I was wrong. With this nicer weather, the kids thought it would be fun to make ice cream. We haven't made ice cream in while so I told them sure, and convenient enough, it was Secret Recipe Club time!  So why not start there.. I was in luck, my blogger for this month was Jane from over at The Heritage Cook! Yeah, I love Jane's site, perhaps it is that she has this feature called Chocolate Mondays.. Oh boy, Chocolate Mondays! What a great concept, I sure would enjoy some chocolate goodies after a long weekend to start the week off right ;)  Jane has such great a variety of recipes that you are bound to find a recipe that fits your taste buds. Also, Jane does such a great job lending a hand out in our Secret Recipe Club too, so she is a busy lady! Back to the task... Kids want ice cream.. so here's the short list..  Darkest-chocolate-in-the-world-ice-cream, Pumpkin-ice-cream, summer sorbets, and chocolate gelato... the Heritage Cook offers many dietary alternatives, so I was thrilled to find a few potentials. However, the one requirement I had was the recipe must be both dairy-free and nut-free so that both kids could enjoy it, as I was not up for making two different batches today. This chocolate gelato recipe was the winner, also I've never made a gelato before so this was new. Gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, is a winner in my book at home. This chocolate gelato sure doesn't taste free of anything though! It was amazing rich and full of chocolate goodness.

 Chocolate Gelato 

 Original recipe from The Heritage Cook

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder 

2 (14 oz) cans of "lite" coconut milk (about 3-1/2 cups)

1 tsp of vanilla extract 

3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp of sugar 

2 tbsp of cornstarch 

1/8 tsp of salt 

Directions: 

Measure cocoa powder into a bowl and whisk in a small amount (no more than 2/3 cup) of coconut milk to make a smooth paste and then stir in the vanilla. In a separate sauce pan, mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Gradually whisk in the remaining coconut milk into the sugar mixture and heat over medium heat. Stir coconut milk mixture frequently. Once the mixture begins to just simmer, keep stirring. The mixture should simmer for about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes to fully cook the cornstarch. Note- keep stirring mixture constantly to prevent it from burning or sticking to the bottom or sides of the pan. Next, pour the hot milk mixture into the bowl with the cocoa paste. Whisk both together until it is well blended. Let chocolaty mixture just sit without touching it and let it cool for about 45 minutes. Then cover bowl and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3-4 hours. This gelato mixture can be made days in advance if needed. Next pour the gelato mixture into the frozen ice cream maker bowl. Run the gelato in your ice cream maker according the the directions. My ice cream maker turned the gelato into a softer set after about 25 minutes. To store, freeze the gelato in an airtight container. It should last in the freezer for a week or so. For the best gelato texture, let it soften slightly before scooping and serving. This recipe yielded about 1 quart of gelato.

Use quality ingredients with this simple recipe makes all the difference in taste. 

Mix the warmed up coconut mixture into the cocoa paste. 

Pour gelato mixture in the frozen ice cream maker container.  

Process ice cream for about 20-25 minutes or until soft set. 

Get ready to enjoy your homemade chocolate gelato! 

A rich dessert served with berries and chocolate sauce drizzle.

An InLinkz Link-up

Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Dessert

Yummy note: I rarely make desserts like these, as they are oh so rich and amazingly sinful. My sister-in-law pointed this chocolate and peanut butter layered dessert recipe out to me a few months ago from 365 Days of Baking and More. I just got around to making it recently. Oh boy, it was as delicious as expected; I mean we already knew the peanut butter and chocolate combo was a winner, but the addition of the peanut butter cookies, cream cheese, and then more chocolate on top, mmm, yummy. I don't even want to count the calories in this dish,  so I knew I couldn't keep the whole pan in my house... So guess what I brought to the last family get together, yep, I was like I want to bring a dessert- hello, the chocolate peanut butter dream dessert. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Dessert

Original recipe - 365 Days of Baking and More - Chocolate-peanut-butter-dream-bars

Ingredients:
1 (16-ounce) package of peanut butter sandwich cookies, divided
1/2 stick of butter, melted
4 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
1/3 cup of creamy peanut butter
1 (8-ounce) container of Cool Whip, divided
1 (3.9-ounce) package of instant chocolate pudding mix
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of milk chocolate and peanut butter chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Finely crush 24 of the peanut butter cookies in a food processor or blender. Next, mix together the crushed cookies and the melted butter. Press cookie crumbs into an ungreased 8 x 8 baking dish and bake for 10 minutes. Allow crust to cool. In a small bowl, mix the pudding with 1 1/2 cups of milk. Then in another bowl, mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar and peanut butter together and then fold in 1 cup of the Cool Whip until blended. Spread the chocolate pudding over the cooled crust. Then layer the peanut butter mixture over the chocolate layer. Next, spread the remaining Cool Whip on top. Chop up the last of peanut butter cookies and chocolate/peanut butter chips and sprinkle on top. Refrigerate several hours or until dessert is set before cutting.

Peanut butter cookies - aka Nutter Butter

Chocolate and peanut butter layers of goodness 

Cookie crumbles and chocolate peanut butter chips top the dessert.

Delicious layers of chocolate, peanut butter, and cream cheese ready to enjoy.

Apple Strudel

Yummy note: Every fall, I love to hit an apple orchard and pick apples. I don't know what it is, but the apples you pick directly from the trees seems much more different than if you would just pick them up at the store. Earlier this fall, I found a small local orchard and we ended up picking a bushel or so. The apples were lots of varieties and sizes and tasted amazing, but, Oh so many apples left... what to do with them before they spoil. Let's see we've had a steady supply of applesauce, apple pie, apple crisp, apple cobbler, apple pork chops, and others, you get the idea. I was thinking maybe we can make an apple butter since I haven't made that before, but then when I got this month's Secret Recipe Club assignment blog, The Avid Appetite - this Apple Strudel looked perfect. I am always a sucker for the little strudels in the doughnut case, so I could only imagine how these might taste if I can make it at home and eat them fresh and warm from the oven. I've never made a strudel before, so it was worth a shot, especially when Rachel from The Avid Appetite said it was only like 5 minutes worth of prep time, now that sounds like a winner. 

Apple Strudel

Adapted from The Avid Appetite and Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry

Ingredients: 
1 egg
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp flour (plus a little extra for rolling out dough)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large apples, or 4 small apples- peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1 sheet of puff pastry (1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package), thawed

* optional - 2 tbsp dried cranberries, powdered sugar (for dusting or to make a simple glaze of water and powdered sugar) 

Directions:
Thaw a sheet of puff pastry. Then preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel, core, and thinly slice your apples. Mix the apple slices, sugar, flour, and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl. Next, prepare to roll our your puff pastry sheet on a floured surfaced. The pastry should be rolled out to about 16 x 12 inches. Next, place the apple mixture on the bottom half of the pastry only. Note - leave a small border around the edges with no apple mixture and then start to roll up the pastry very carefully without ripping the dough and keeping the apples tucked inside. Once it is rolled up, tuck in the ends and place on a greased baking sheet. To finish, cut small slits on top of the pastry and brush the top with the beaten egg and water mixture. Bake for about 35 minutes and then allow to cool slightly before enjoying. Top with sprinkled powdered sugar or make a simple glaze of powdered sugar and water.

A few months ago, Rachel featured my taco pizza in the Secret Recipe Club, so it was great to return the favor this month! Don't forget to check out a few of these other recipes from The Avid Appetite like this hearty but quick meal- Italian goulash, or some seasonal pumpkin butter, or wait, these cupcakes that could go with some fall tailgating - Irish car bomb cupcakes.

An InLinkz Link-up

How to Freeze Fresh Green Beans

Yummy note: Every summer, I always forget, how do I freeze fresh green beans again?? Between trying to grown them in our gardens and buying them at the farmer's market, I always seem to overdo the amount I have and don't want them to go to waste. So instead of eating them for like 4 days straight, I try and freeze a batch for later to enjoy. So this isn't really a recipe, but it is more of a how-to, and I always seem to have to look it up in my cookbook each summer. So I figured I should just archive it here so I have it for reference.

How to Freeze Fresh Green Beans 

Ingredients: 
fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into pieces
water

Directions:
First, trim the ends of your green beans and cut the beans into smaller pieces, if desired. The general rule of thumb I've heard about having enough water to boil, is to have roughly 1 gallon of water to 1 pound of fresh green beans. So adjust accordingly, and then bring that large pot of water to boil. Then working in batches, drop the green beans into the boiling water. Blanch the smaller pieces of green beans for about 2 minutes or for larger cut beans closer to 3-4 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with ice water to have off to the side. Once green beans have reached your desired time, carefully remove the green beans from the boiling water and place into the ice water bath. Another tip I've heard is that they are to spend as much time in the cold water for as long as they have spent in the boiling water. Once green beans have cooled, prepare them for freezing, by using either freezer-safe containers or freezer bags.  

Trim the ends of the green beans and cut into smaller pieces, if desired. 

In smaller batches add green beans to boiling water. 

This process, also called blanching, preps your food for freezing. 

After blanching, drop beans into the ice water bath.

When preparing green beans from the frozen state, saute in a pan with a little bit of water for about 3-5 minutes or until they are tender crisp and done to your likeness.

Zucchini Brownies

Yummy note: Oh, how I miss you, zucchini... I didn't really get a chance to have a real garden this year, so no home grown zucchini here. :(  Last year, I had a bunch and of course, my friends at the Secret Recipe Club helped out in giving me lots of great ideas using that up last year and coincidentally enough, this month I found yet another great way to use up some zucchini that I had from the farmer's market!  So kudos to the SRC bloggers and their creativity. In all the recipes, I've tried with zucchini I don't recall ever making brownies with them. I've baked breads and cakes with it, and even made salsa and fried zucchini, but no brownies. Well, that must be fixed instantly, after I saw this recipe from Ashley at Rainstorms and Love Notes. I am pretty sure I've seen recipes like it before floating around, but I just never tried it. I knew from previous baking with zucchini sometimes my kids can be a bit picky and I need some tricks to get past the green stuff. So the chocolate here was my ammo. I also ended up pulsing the brownie mix just slightly in the food processor to incorporate the zucchini strands better, as I wanted the kids to like the brownies without finding "something stringy is in my food, mom!!" and then it would be a no-go. This recipe was kid-tested and approved and they thoroughly enjoyed these zucchini brownies and kept asking for more. It was a 2 thumbs up dessert all around. Thanks Ashley for this great treat! Don't forget to stop by Ashley's blog and learn more about her here. (btw, love this intro page!) If you are looking for other great treats, check these out... these are on my short list to try-- cookie dough bites, cinnamon doughnuts, and these amazing looking caramel shortbread bars.

Zucchini Brownies 

Source: http://rainstormsandlovenotes.com/2013/10/zucchini-brownies.html 

Ingredients: 
1 large zucchini (roughly 2 cups shredded zucchini)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Finely grate zucchini, you should try and have approximately 2 cups for the recipe. Next, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir the zucchini into brownie batter. Yummy note: If your kids are like mine and they don't like to see zucchini strands perhaps pulse the zucchini a little in a food processor to incorporate it better into the batter.  Pour brownie batter into a prepared 9x13 pan. For best results, line your pan with aluminum foil and then spray with cooking spray. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until done.

Ingredients all ready to mix together.

1st attempt at zucchini going in... then the kid factor.. "mom, that looks kinds yucky.." Ok, time to switch things up. Sneaky mom takes a bunch of zucchini out and pulses it in food processor to achieve a more smooth consistency and then blends it right into the brownie batter. 

Added a handful of chocolate chips just to make sure we are good. 

Ready to bake!

Warm chocolate, almost cake-like brownies ready to be eaten! 

Yummy note: If you want to make it extra decadent try topping the brownies with this frosting! 

Easy Chocolate Frosting 

Ingredients: 
1/4 cup butter, melted
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk or coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
about 2-3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Mix butter and cocoa together until combined. Then add in milk (or coffee) and vanilla and beat until smooth. Gradually mix in the powdered sugar until desired consistency for frosting is achieved.

Chocolate-loving kid tested and approved zucchini brownies! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Blonde Brownies

Yummy note:  Last month, my mother-in-law and I were discussing how delicious those blonde brownies from Applebee's are, and how you just can't eat one by yourself. Seriously, there is a lot of warm gooey sweet goodness going on with that dessert. So instead of heading out to the restaurant with the kids and all to get a treat, I figured let's bake something similar to these blonde brownies for Grandma and Grandpa instead. Then we an portion control ourselves and have like little blonde brownies treats all week long! ;) 

Blonde Brownies 

Original here: adapted from http://www.food.com/recipeprint.do?rid=50419

Ingredients:
1 cup sifted flour 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1/8 teaspoon baking soda 
1/8 teaspoon salt 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts 
1/3 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar 
1 egg, beaten 
1 tablespoon vanilla extract 
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (I also have used dark chocolate) 

Directions:
Melt butter and add brown sugar, and stir until well mixed. Add in egg and vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Combine butter mixture with flour mixture, stirring well. Stir in nuts and desired chocolate chips. Pour into a 9-inch square pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.