Recipes: Soup and Sweets

It's been awhile since I've posted a recipe. I think it's because I've been so busy photographing my food experiments for my Project 365, that I haven't bothered blogging about it.

So, I have a few recipes to share, because they're just that darn good (and sometimes, easy). (Yep, all my pictures!)

So here we go!

I got this from Centsational Girl, and used my George Foreman to grill the chicken. Oh, my goodness, so delicious! And you have to, have to use the avocado. It totally makes the soup. Also, can easily be done vegetarian, obviously leaving out the chicken. ^_^

Chicken Tortilla Soup

(Serves 6)

Ingredients:
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• Four 14 oz. cans chicken broth (or equivalent with bullion)
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1 tbsp red taco sauce (mild or medium)*
• 4 oz. can diced green chiles (mild or medium)
• 6 oz. can tomato paste
• 8 oz. petite diced tomatoes – half the can and completely optional
• ¾ tsp ground cumin
• 4 chicken breasts
• 14 oz. water
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 1 ½ cups diced celery
• 1 ½ cups diced carrots
• 1 ½ cups roasted or frozen kernel corn
• 4 corn tortillas
• 1 cup shredded jack cheese
• Sliced avocado (optional, if available)
• Fresh cilantro (optional)
*add another tbsp taco sauce if you like it spicy

Directions:
1. Start by dicing your onion, celery, and carrot. In a large pot or dutch oven, soften your onion, celery and chiles in 1 tbsp vegetable oil for 3–4 minutes on medium low heat.
2. Add chicken broth, and then fill one can with 14 more ounces of water and add to pot.
3. Add carrots, corn, tomato paste, taco sauce, and cumin. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, then reduce heat to low.
4. Meanwhile, coat your chicken breasts in taco seasoning.
5. Grill chicken breasts on an indoor grill or a panini maker for 6 to 8 minutes. You can also broil in your oven for the same amount of time, but to me, the grilled chicken tastes better.
6. Once cooked, dice your chicken into chunks, then toss into soup pot.
7. Cook soup on low for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Ten minutes before your soup is done (or before you intend to serve) thinly slice your corn tortillas.
9. Toss in pan with 1 tbsp vegetable oil, and stir on medium heat until lightly browned.
10. Soup can be made one day in advance, stored in fridge and reheated. Serve hot by garnishing with fresh corn tortilla strips, shredded jack cheese and fresh avocado slices (if available).
11. Other optional garnishes: fresh chopped cilantro, squeeze of lime, sour cream, or diced fresh tomatoes.

Note: If celery, or diced tomatoes, or corn is not your thing, then simply leave it out. The taco flavor comes from the combination of the liquid ingredients and the dry seasonings.

***

I found this recipe on All Recipes that a friend posted on her blog. You can follow down for the recipe, or click this link.

Clone of a Cinnabon

(Serves 12)

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened

• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions
1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

My Notes: If you don't have a bread machine to make the dough, if you click on the link to the All Recipes site, there are many comments on how to make this without one. But I have to tell you, it's SOOooo easy with one. Thank you, in-laws! (They gave us theirs since they hadn't used it in ages.)

Also, if you make it the night before, then put it in the fridge overnight, they rise just enough to bake up loverly the next morning. Oh, yeah. Oh, and I would make 1 1/2 servings of frosting. But that's just me. ^_^

***

This is a Martha Stewart recipe, and there is no fuss or muss here. Once you've prepped, it takes about 5 minutes for the dough to come together. Although, I will admit, it takes a few minutes to roll the dough (but do a search on her site and you can see a video of her rolling the log of dough -- it explains a lot!). Great cookies to make ahead of the holidays and then just pull from the freezer, slice and bake when it's time to shine. Delicious!

Lime Meltaways

(Makes about 3 dozen)

Ingredients
• 12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• Grated zest of 2 limes
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ cups , plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Add lime zest, juice, and vanilla; beat until fluffy.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add to butter mixture, and beat on low speed until combined.
3. Between two 8-by-12-inch pieces of parchment paper, roll dough into two 1 ¼-inch-diameter logs. Chill at least 1 hour.
4. Heat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Place remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a re-sealable plastic bag. Remove parchment from logs; slice dough into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Place rounds on baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart.
5. Bake cookies until barely golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool slightly, 8 to 10 minutes. While still warm, place cookies in the sugar-filled bag; toss to coat. Bake or freeze remaining dough. Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Note: The dough for these icebox cookies can be frozen in logs for up to two months.

***

And that's it, for now. I do have a Tres Leches Cake recipe that I shall post soon. It's so easy, I can't believe I didn't attempt this sooner. Mmmm! If you try any of these, I'd like to know what YOU think. ^_^

Domestic Diva?

Or I have too much time on my hands?

So, over the last month and ... a half I have been baking and working on some projects, and I thought I would share some of them. (Some are secret and cannot be shared yet. ^_^ I also have some cards to put here soon that me and some people made for charity. More on that laterz.)

First off, the baking.

I saw a yummy-looking recipe over at Centsational Girl for a Spiced Pear Cake. I thought I would give it a whirl. It was okay the first time around, but even though I do like a good pear, the taste of the pear was really muted. SO, I decided to try apples (since it was a possible suggestion). This time it came our pretty tasty, and you can definitely taste the apples.

Her pictures are much prettier, but here's my version of the cake (if you're on FB, then you probably saw this already):

Then, my friend Stephanie had been baking lots of bread -- she has a bun in the oven, so it was appropriate. Not long ago, my in-laws gave us their old breadmaker. It was nice to have it, but the bread's crust is kinda hard, and so I decided to try the recipe Steph had posted for white bread. This recipe is seriously easy, and if you have a mixer (like a Kitchenaid) with a dough hook, then most of the work is done for ya!

Turns out soft and yummy, and keeps in the fridge for quite a while, and with a pop into the toaster, mmm ...!

And then, I have also done some sewing! Since my friend Steph has said bun in said oven (^_-) I knew a baby shower would soon be in the works, so once I knew when the shower was, I got down to business, making the baby two little sundresses, with a matching hat. (The hat didn't make it into the original gift, though, as it gave me issues, but thankfully ....) I love the fabric, and used leftover denim fabric from a previous project to make the ruffles and hat.) I think this is the first time I can recall truly following every step in the pattern.

But the results? Gah! Adorable, if I do say so myself. Even though it looks like one piece, it's actually a sundress with little panties to cover the diaper. I just put them together for ease of photography.

(Oh, and you WILL see that foam head in the future. Hehehe ... love it!)

5 Questions Game

Sami got this game from someone else, so now I'm joining in on the fun! She left me 5 random questions which I shall answer shortly.

IF you want to join in on the fun, leave me a comment letting me know, and then I'll comment on your latest blog post with the 5 Random Questions I have come up with (which you then have to make a post about).

SO, on to the questions:

1. I love your cats names! Where did they come from/why did you choose them?
Would you believe that they came with those names?! I adopted them from a rescue organization (I found them on petfinder) and not only were they exactly what I was looking for (Siamese kittens that were siblings), but their names seemed to be something that I might name them. I didn't have to think twice about keeping their names. I think it was all meant to be, as Yanni (which I've only heard of the singer having that name) means "gift of God" or "the Lord is gracious" (it's a variant of John, apparently). And, Yuki is "snow" in Japanese, though I think it can also have "happiness" or "lucky" attached to it. I love their names too! ^_^

2. If you could live in any state in the US, which one would it be?
Ooo, tough one. I actually sorta have two for this answer. I'll be honest and say I haven't been to too many US States. However, I recently discovered Missouri. It's so green and lush (at least, when I was there). I heard some of the winters can be harsh, but I don't know, it really struck me a chord with me. (I'll be visiting again next month, so we'll see if I still feel the same way. ^_^) If money were no object (and I could get used to the humidity), I'd choose Hawaii. I just LOVE, love the tropics and warm ocean.

3. What do you think is the best way to be frugal?
I don't think my answer will be bold an innovative, but it's actually a combination of things I've learned. First, spend less than you make, and make sure that you're putting money in savings before doing anything else with it (mostly). Second, ask yourself if you really need something, as opposed to want. Doesn't mean we can't spend on wants, but be conscious of them. (If I find something I want, I usually take several days to think on it. If I still want it AND have the money to pay for it, then I can think about getting it. Also, for example, say you need a new car, but do you buy the economical car that will work just fine, or do you buy the fancy car you've been wanting -- is it really worth it?) Lastly, for now, I think we have to think about what we're spending our money on, and make sure we're getting the best deal. Places like Craigslist can be great for finding gently used items that you can use, instead of buying it brand new. (I just got two AWESOME chairs for less than I would have paid for 1 brand new.)

4. What's your favorite light, summer meal?
I don't think I have an actual MEAL, but I do have a recipe for a great little chickpea, cherry tomato and feta salad that requires very few ingredients, but is so good. (And I bet if tossed with some cut up steak or grilled chicken it would go from salad to meal very easily.) I'm actually making this tomorrow. Here's the recipe:

Chickpea, Cherry Tomato and Feta Ssalad (serves 1)

Ingredients
• 1/4 cup canned chickpeas
• 1/2 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Ground pepper

Directions
1. Rinse and drain chickpeas.
2. In a bowl, combine chickpeas with tomatoes, feta, lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, salt, and a pinch of pepper.

Note: Wait until just before serving to combine ingredients. For some reason, it doesn't seem to keep as well if refrigerated for long periods of time.

5. What is the fanciest event you've ever been to?
Probably the fanciest event I've been to was a Mardi Gras party held at a hotel. It was a fundraiser and my then best friend was able to get us in for free (she worked with the organization). It was formal, so I had to dress up. I honestly don't remember all the details, but that's probably it. It was okay, but there wasn't anyone I knew, so while it was fancy, probably not the most fun. (ONE day, my answer will change, as I will have given a masquerade ball. I hope. ^_^)

Recipe: Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

A delicious take on creamy enchiladas, using sour cream and green chilies.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Serves 6

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts

• 2 cans of cream of chicken soup
• 1 lb. sour cream
• 1 lb. Monterey jack shredded cheese
• 4 oz. can green chilies (less if you like it less spicy)
• 12–24 Flour tortillas

Directions

1. Boil chicken breasts until done (25-30 minutes).
2. Mix chicken soup, sour cream, cheese and green chilies together.
3. Shred chicken and add ½ of above mixture. Stuff into flour tortillas.
4. Add 2nd half of mixture on top of filled tortillas.
5. Bake 15 minutes at 350 F covered.
6. Remove cover and continue baking for 15 more minutes.

***

The best part about this recipe is that Brian's the one that discovered it and has made it ever since. I may help out with shredding cheese, or deboning chicken, but other than that, it's all his. And it comes out deliciously! Sometimes we use a rotisserie chicken from the store (if they're a good price). Another shortcut, of course, is to use already shredded cheese (sometimes they don't have just Monterey jack by itself, though we have done a Colby Jack mixture that works as well). Also, the reason for the big difference in tortillas is that it depends what size you want to go with. We've done burrito size down to small taco size. Try it out and see what you like. It's very easy. We also tend to like more green chilies, even though we're not really into spicy, because the sour cream, soup and cheese really tone this down. Then just pair it with some spanish/mexican-style rice and black beans and it's a better and less-expensive meal than you'd get in some Tex-Mex restaurants.

Recipe: Crockpot Chicken and Sausage Paella

A new favorite dish from our Better Homes and Gardens Wedding Cookbook:

Chicken and Sausage Paella
Serves 6

If you don't have saffron, one of the world's most expensive spices, substitute turmeric, an economical and equally delicious alternative.

Ingredients
• 2 1/2 to 3 pounds meaty chicken pieces (breasts, thighs, and drumsticks), skinned
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 8 ounces cooked smoked turkey sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons dried thyme, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon thread saffron or 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups chopped tomatoes
• 2 medium yellow or green sweet peppers, cut into thin bite-size strips (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 3 cups hot cooked rice or one 5-ounce package saffron-flavored yellow rice mix, cooked according to package directions

Directions
1. In a large skillet brown chicken pieces, half at a time, in hot oil. Drain off fat. In a 3 1/2- or 4-quart crockery cooker place chicken pieces, turkey sausage, and onion. Sprinkle with garlic, dried thyme (if using), black pepper, and saffron. Pour broth and water over all.

2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 7 to 8 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Add the tomatoes, sweet peppers, peas, and fresh thyme (if using) to the cooker. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Serve over rice.

***

Honestly, this isn't an actual paella, but who has a paella pan and a stove big enough to cook it on? This is like a thick, hearty soup that comes close to tasting like paella. But it's SO good!!! If you add a little more chicken, and a little more rice, you can actually raise the servings to 8. The picture in the book looks way better than mine, but then again, it actually showed whole pieces of chicken left over, which just doesn't happen, but it's so good as it falls apart. Also, you have to use the saffron rice -- it just adds so much! (Although you might want to cut corners with the tomatoes, as I used canned, diced and it was just as tasty.) You can try adding other types of meat/seafood, but you need a pretty large crockpot to put it in. So, just add some hot, crusty bread and you're good to go. YUM!

Recipe: Broccoli, Cheese and Rice Casserole

My most-requested dish when going to family dinners:

Broccoli, Cheese and Rice Casserole
Serves 8+

Ingredients
1 14 oz. box Minute Rice
1 16 oz. bag of frozen chopped broccoli
2 cans cream of mushroom, or chicken soup (or one of each, or some other cream of soup)
1 16 oz. jar of Cheez Whiz
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Grease large casserole dish with cooking spray (or butter).
3. Cook rice according to directions on box (add butter and salt to taste).
4. Cook broccoli according to directions on package; make sure and drain after cooking.
5. In a large bowl (or pot used to cook rice), combine cooked rice and broccoli.
6. Stir in the 2 cans of soup.
7. Heat up Cheez Whiz according to directions and add to rice/broccoli, stirring well to combine.
8. Pour into greased casserole dish and top with cheddar cheese.
9. Bake for about 30 minutes until cheese is nice and melted.

Variation: Add cut up, cooked chicken to make it a complete meal. You could also try adding mushrooms. Or also try a combination of white rice with wild rice.

***

This dish can be quite healthy, as long as you choose low-sodium or fat free condensed soups, and you could go with a lower-fat content cheese, but, be warned, it won't look as pretty coming out of the oven. It's also a great vegetarian dish (if you don't go with the cream of chicken soup, and, of course, don't add chicken).

I plan on putting recipes up here every once in awhile, to share. I just tried a new one last night, a garlic and citrus roasted chicken, but I think I need to tweak just a few things before sharing it. But, don't fret, I have many more tried and true recipes. ^_^ I like things to be simple and have as few ingredients as possible (unless it sounds so delicious I have to try it either way). Do you have any recipes to share? I'll try most things once!