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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

This Year's Edition!


Every winter, I can't help but make some sort of Mexican chicken soup. I always go back to some of our old favorites, like Tortilla Soup or this past post devoted specifically to a handful of Mexican chicken soups.

So, here is this year's edition. I only tried a couple of new ones this year since I mostly just made some of my favorites from past years this season.

As a bonus, I am throwing in two more soup recipes. They aren't Mexican chicken soup recipes...but one of them is a Mexican soup...and the other has chicken in it...besides, they are soup...so I am popping them in here too. (Also, my apologies. I need to take pictures of the black bean soup. When I do, I will add it!)

Try to eat some soup before things warm up! Soup is one of the positives (which are few) of the winter season!


Slow Cooker Mexican Fire Roasted Tomato-Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 carton (32 oz) Progresso chicken broth (4 cups)
2 cups frozen corn
1 can (14.5 oz) Muir Glen organic fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 sweet red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
9 soft corn tortillas (6 inch), cut into 1/2 inch wide strips
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Lime wedges, if desired
Chopped avocado, if desired

Directions:

Spray 3 to 4 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. In slow cooker, mix chicken, broth, corn, tomatoes, black beans, bell pepper, onion, tortilla strips from 6 of the tortillas, the chili powder, cumin, salt, red pepper, and cilantro.

Cover; cook on low heat setting 5 to 7 hours (or on high heat setting for 3 to 4 hours) or until juice of chicken is clear when when center of thickest part is cut (at least 165 degrees F).

Remove chicken; shred with two forks. Return to slow cooker. Stir in cilantro.

In 9-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook remaining tortilla strips in oil 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp and light golden brown. Top individual servings of soup with tortilla strips. Garnish with lime wedges, and avocado.

Makes 7 servings.


Nutrition Information (1 serving equals 1 1/4 cups): 350 calories, 11 g fat, 40 mg cholesterol, 1170 mg sodium, 41 g carbohydrate, 9g fiber, 22 g protein.

Source: Betty Crocker website, found here.


Enchilada Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups Progresso chicken broth (from 32 oz carton)
1 can (19 oz) Old El Paso mild or hot enchilada sauce
1 can (4.5 oz) Old El Paso chopped mild green chiles
1 package (20 oz) bone-in chicken breasts, skin removed
1 can (15 oz) Progresso black beans, drained, rinsed
1 bag (12 oz) frozen corn, thawed
Shredded Mexican cheese blend, if desired
Chopped fresh cilantro, if desired
Crushed tortilla chips, if desired

Directions:

Spray 4 to 5 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. In cooker, mix broth, enchilada sauce, and chiles. Place chicken into enchilada sauce mixture; spoon sauce over chicken.

Cover; cook on low heat setting 7 to 8 hours.

Remove chicken from cooker with slotted spoon. Stir beans and corn into mixture in cooker. Increase heat setting to high. Cover; cook 5 to 10 minutes longer. Meanwhile, shred chicken with two forks; return to cooker. Cook until thoroughly heated.

Top each serving with cheese, cilantro, and tortilla chips.

Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition information: 230 calories, 3 g fat, 40 mg cholesterol, 30 g carbohydrate, 7 g fiber, 21 g protein.

Source: Pillsbury website. Found here

Notes: I used boneless chicken breasts. It's just easier. Also, I think some websites have haters or trolls. I notice consistently mediocre scores on the Pillsbury website, MyRecipes, and Martha Stewart. This recipe only got three stars, but when you look at the reviews, everyone is raving about this soup. So, I would like to know who is rating it as only 3 stars? Always read the reviews. If everyone is saying there is a problem with it, or they are running across the same problem over and over, then there is probably something to it. However, if most people are rating it as 5 stars and one person rates it with only 1 star, which averages it out to 3, you have to figure that person is either mean, or a lousy cook. :) So, don't let a rating get in the way of trying a recipe. Sometimes a rating is well-founded. Other times, not.


Krissy's Black Bean Soup

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. cumin
3 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. oregano
3 cans black beans
Black pepper, to taste
Toppings: salsa, shredded cheese, chopped cilantro, sour cream, etc.

Directions:

In large pot over medium heat, cook onion in hot oil for five minutes. Stir in garlic, cumin, chili powder, and oregano. Puree one can of beans. Add to pot. Add remaining cans of beans (draining liquid from one).

Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. Add black pepper, to taste.

Garnish with favorite toppings.

Makes 4 servings.

Source: I got this recipe from my friend, Krissy. I'm not sure where she got it from. She made it for me when I went out to visit her in Florida once upon a time. It is sooooo good.


Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

2 quarts chicken broth
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1/2 cup dry white wine, or additional chicken broth
3 cups cooked wild rice
2 cups cubed cooked chicken

Directions:

In a large saucepan, combine the first nine ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

In Dutch oven, melt butter; stir in flour until smooth. Gradually whisk in broth mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Whisk in soup and wine (or additional chicken broth). Add rice and chicken; heat through.

Yield: 14 servings (3 1/2 quarts)

Source: Taste of Home recipe, found here.

Nutrition information: 1 serving (1 cup) equals 154 calories, 6 g fat, 27 mg cholesterol, 807 mg sodium, 14 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 10 g protein.

Notes: Yummy stuff! We went easy and used paper bowls for our family get together...the bowls kind of clash with the soup aesthetically...but trust me, this was good.

2 comments:

  1. That chicken rice soup was one of the best ever. Totally crave-able. The leftovers were so good and I was happy for a couple of days after....and I'm not a "souper" soup person.

    It's hard to imagine trolls spending time on recipe sites, but they seem to, don't they?

    The ones that irritate me are the ones who rank it 5 stars when they haven't made it yet. If a recipe has lots of "this was a good recipe, but I had to do this and that and this to it," it puts me a little off.

    Good posts!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It goes the other way too. I hate it when someone who hasn't made it ranks it with only 1 star because something in the recipe doesn't make sense to them, or they are some health nut who feels like it has too much sugar, or the calories should be lower.

    Part of the problem sometimes is with the website. MyRecipes doesn't allow you to make comments unless you also rate the recipe. So, sometimes someone will have a question and will just rank it as a 3 so that they can ask their question.

    I recently saw a couple on MyRecipes that were guilty of this. One was for a Mississippi Mud Cake. The recipe for the chocolate frosting was a link that took you to the full recipe. However, a couple of posters didn't understand this and thought it simply meant to find your own chocolate frosting recipe. Seriously, are they familiar with links and how the internet works? So, they rated it poorly because they felt that part of the recipe was missing...but it was right there, only a link away, the whole time.

    Another one was for brownies that were topped with gold leaf. The recipe called for you to freeze the brownies for a couple of hours prior to putting on the gold leaf. Someone didn't understand it (who, of course, hadn't even tried to make the recipe) and rated it as 1 star and said it made no sense to freeze the brownies prior to baking them. However, if that person had read the recipe clearly, they would have understood the reasoning behind the step.

    ReplyDelete