Tex-Mex Chicken Soup Bar

I cut this recipe out of the newspaper ages ago. It's so good! And really very easy to make.

Tex-Mex Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, fresh or frozen
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 2 medium onions (for 1-1/2 cups chopped)
• 2 tsp. minced garlic
• 3 cans (14-1/2 oz.) chicken broth
• 2 cans (14-1/2 oz.) Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
• 1-1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
• 1-1/2 cups black beans (1 can)
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• juice of 1/2 of a lime

Toppings:
grated cheeses, sliced black olives, crushed tortilla chips, sour cream, chopped green onions, dice avocado, cilantro

Directions:

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a 4-1/2 to 5 quart Dutch oven or soup pot.  Peel onions and coarsely chop them, adding them to pot as you chop.  Cut chicken into bite-size chunks, adding them to the pot as you cut.  After first breast is in the pot, raise heat to medium-high.  Continue until all chicken is added.  Add garlic.  Cook chicken, stirring from time to time, until it is no longer pink outside, about 4 minutes.
2. Add broth, tomatoes, corn, and beans.  Raise heat to high, cover and bring pot to a boil.  Uncover, reduce heat to low and add cumin and juice from lime.  Continue to simmer 5 minutes to let flavors develop.
3. While soup simmers, prepare toppings of choice.  Serve at once or remove from heat and cover until ready to serve.  Reheat as necessary.  Arrange toppings salad-bar style, or pass them around the table, and let everyone add their own.

Note: This soup is only mildly spicy.  Be sure to put out a bottle of hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco, for guest who like to breathe fire.

The original recipe didn't call for black beans, but I think there's something special about the flavors of chicken, corn, black beans, lime, and cumin (and cilantro, the toppings didn't list cilantro, either) together, and this soup didn't seem complete without them.  Also, I don't usually have Mexican-style tomatoes, so I just use a couple cans of diced tomatoes.  As with all soups, the measurements here are really just guidelines - adjust as needed or to suit your preferences.
 

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Mexican Pizza

Image by Kodamakitty via FlickrI got this recipe from my mother-in-law, and we really like it. I haven't made it in a while, but a friend's pizza crust the other night reminded me - so I had to share, because I think this pizza would be great with her crust.

Mexican Pizza
 
for each pizza crust:

• 1 pkg. pizza crust mix
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup plus 2 T. water

toppings:

• 1 can refried beans
• chopped onions
• chopped green pepper
• sliced mushrooms - fresh or 4 oz. can
• black olives, sliced
• tomato, chopped (or use well drained, canned)
• Colby/Jack cheese, shredded 

Directions:

1. Mix pizza crust mix and cornmeal for 1 pizza crust.  Add water and mix according to package directions.  Let sit 5 minutes, then press onto pizza pan. 
2. Bake 10 minutes @ 450°. 
3. Remove crust from oven, and spread 1/2 can refried beans on top. 
4. Add remaining ingredients, saving some for the second pizza, and return pizza to oven.  Bake until cheese is melted and slightly browned (or however you like your pizza). 
5. Repeat with remaining ingredients to make the second pizza. 

 Serve with some crushed red pepper to sprinkle on top.  Makes 2 pizzas.

You can use any pizza crust.  When I first started making this, I had some packages of pizza crust mix I had gotten really cheap, so that's what I used.  The added cornmeal is absolutely perfect with the toppings on this pizza.  I really need to make this soon! (and maybe this one, too)

Sweet Potato Fries

Image via Wikipedia
I had sweet potato fries with my chicken sandwich the other day at TGIFridays, and they were so good, I want to make some of my own.  I found this recipe today, and it sounds pretty easy - and yummy.

Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 gallon zip top bag

Directions:

1. Cut sweet potatoes into sticks that are fry sized making sure that no stick is more than about 1/4 inch thick in either direction.
2. Put fries into zip top bag then add oil and salt. Squeeze out all the air and zip the bag. Squish potatoes around until they are well coated with oil and salt.
3. Pour potato sticks onto a cookie sheet or baking dish in a single layer then roast for about 30 minutes at 350° turning sticks over half way through cooking.

ETA 3/15: The original recipe called for 1 tsp. of salt, but when I used that much, they just seemed too salty.  So I'm reducing the salt to 1/2 tsp.  Hopefully that will be better.  Otherwise, these were really yummy.  I did have to cook them longer, but that might be because my sticks were bigger than they should have been.  Just check them often and judge for yourself.
 

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Sourdough Bread

I've been making my Whole Wheat (or whole grain) Sourdough Bread most of the time anymore.  Once in a while I just want regular old sourdough bread with white flour - for instance, when I want spaghetti.  A while back I created a tabblo (see bottom of post) with my recipe.  Every time I want to make it, I go to tabblo and look it up.  I figured it was high time I posted it here, too.

Sourdough Bread

The night before you want bread:

• bring starter to room temperature
• measure 1 cup starter
• in large bowl, mix starter with 1-1/2 cups lukewarm water, then stir in 2-1/2 cups bread flour.
• mix well, cover, and let sit out overnight

The next morning:

• your mixture should be all bubbly
• mix in: 3 T sugar, 1 t. salt and 3 T olive oil
• add 3 to 3-1/2 cups bread flour, mixing in as much as you can with a spoon and then kneading the rest in
• knead on a floured surface until you have a smooth, elastic dough
• put into greased bowl, cover and set in warm place to rise
• When it has doubled, punch it down. Put the dough on a floured surface and divide into two parts. Cover these two lumps for about 10 minutes and let them rest. 
• Then make them into two round loaves. Put the two loaves on a greased baking sheet, and cover again to let them rise until they are about double in size (about 30 minutes). 
• Then it's time to bake the loaves, in a 375° oven for about 30 to 35 minutes.

I always take a sharp knife and cut a criss cross pattern into the top of the loaves before putting them into the oven. When they come out, I brush butter onto the hot loaves.

Allow them to cool, slice, and enjoy.

This is great bread with a spaghetti dinner, and it makes wonderful French toast for breakfast.

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Apricot Pecan Oatmeal Muffins

I saw this on Doctor Oz today and thought they looked really yummy. I also adored the cute little blue ribbon baker, Marjorie. She was adorable.

Apricot Pecan Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking power
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

Directions

1. Place oats and buttermilk in a bowl. Stir to combine. Cover and let stand for 20-30 minutes. 
2. In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in apricots and pecans. Add oil, egg and brown sugar to the oatmeal mixture and combine well. 
3. Pour the oatmeal mixture into the flour mixture. Stir just to moisten the dry ingredients. It will look lumpy. 
4. Divide batter into 12 greased muffin cups.  Bake in a preheated oven at 375°F for 20 to 25 minutes. 
5. Remove muffins from muffin tin and cool on a wire rack.

Recipe courtesy of Marjorie Johnson. For more healthy recipes, purchase On the Road to Blue Ribbon Baking with Marjorie.

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