Week #13 - Tortilla Soup

This week I decided to make tortilla soup, which is one of the soups I order most in restaurants. I looked at a few recipes online, but I kind of made up my own recipe.

Ingredients
3 chicken breasts
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 a green pepper, chopped
4 cloves of garlic
1 jalapeno, chopped
4 cans chicken broth
2 cans chopped tomatoes
2 little cans tomato sauce
1 can black beans
1 small package frozen corn
chili powder and cumin to taste

Method
1. Boil chicken breasts and shred with a fork. Set aside
2. Saute onion, garlic, green pepper, and jalapeno in olive oil until soft.
3. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.
4. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, black beans, corn, and chicken, and spices, and simmer for 15 minutes.


I was so hungry tonight that I forgot to take a picture. Oops. But, I served the soup with some chips and guacamole. The guacamole was easy to make. Just throw together a couple avacados, chopped onions and tomatoes, and lime juice, and mix in a bowl.


Rating: 4/5

Cinnamon Sugar Crescent Rolls

Tonight I wanted something for desert, but I didn't have any ice cream in the freezer. But I did have a roll of crescent rolls, so I decided to make cinnamon sugar crescent rolls. All you do is open up each crescent roll, coat it in cinnamon and sugar, roll it up, and bake it according to the directions. Yum!

Week #12 - Ken's Quick Chili

This week my husband is making chili, so this is going to be my soup for the week. This is his own recipe and he just throws things together. I was in charge of getting ingredients, and I decided to try ground bison just to try something different. Here is the recipe according to him. (BTW: Ken is our 2010 Neighborhood Chili Cook-off winner! Oh yeah!)

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 jalepenos, de-veined and finely chopped
2 peppers, chopped (red and orange)
6 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of tri-blend beans
1 small can of tomato paste
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 large can of tomato puree
2 pounds of ground bison meat
6 oz water
cayenne pepper, cumin, oregano, salt, black pepper, white pepper, dark Mexican chili powder to taste

Method:
1. Saute the peppers, onion, and garlic in olive oil until soft.
2. Add the bison meat and cook through.
3. Add tomato paste and a round of seasoning.
4. Add the tomato puree, crushed tomatoes, and beans, and season again.
5. Add water.
6. Simmer until the beans are tender.
7. The longer you cook the better, and keep adding a bit more water as you cook longer. It will be better the second day!

Rating 4.5/5

Week #11 - Spicy Pumpkin Soup

Happy Fall, everybody! I have been really busy so I did not make soup last week. But this week I decided to make a soup that made me think of Fall. I saw a pumpkin soup recipe in a magazine, but I forgot the recipe when I went to the store, so I looked another one up on my phone. I found this one on SimplyRecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• Pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)
• 3 (15 oz) cans 100 percent pumpkin or 6 cups of chopped roasted pumpkin*
• 5 cups of chicken broth (or vegetable broth for vegetarian option)**
• 2 cups of milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

*To make pumpkin purée, cut a sugar pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lie face down on a tin-foil lined baking pan. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Freeze whatever you don't use for future use.
**If cooking gluten-free, use gluten-free broth.

Method

1 Melt butter in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add spices and stir for a minute more.
2 Add pumpkin and 5 cups of chicken broth; blend well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
3 Transfer soup, in batches, to a blender or food processor. Cover tightly and blend until smooth. Return soup to saucepan.
4 With the soup on low heat, add brown sugar and mix. Slowly add milk while stirring to incorporate. Add cream. Adjust seasonings to taste. If a little too spicy, add more cream to cool it down. You might want to add a teaspoon of salt.
Serve in individual bowls. Sprinkle the top of each with toasted pumpkin seeds.

 I didn't use the toasted pumpkin seeds, but they would have been good. The flavor of this soup was really good, however it wasn't very filling since it was essentially broth. This is the type of soup that would be good to drink out of a mug when you are cold or sick.

Rating: 3.5/5

Week #10 - So Busy!

I have been super busy, and did not had time to make soup last week. I hope I can get to it this week.

Week #9 - Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup

This week I asked my facebook friends to give me suggestions on what soup to make. Courtney O. suggested an Italian tortellini soup, so I decided to go with that. I found this recipe on allrecipes (which apparently is my favorite recipe site since I always seem to be getting things from there). Nearly all the reviews of this recipe were five stars. I pretty much followed the recipe, but I almost doubled it.

Ingredients

• 1 (3.5 ounce) link sweet Italian sausage, casings removed  (I used hot sausage and I left the casings on)
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 cups beef stock
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup red wine  (I omitted this)
• 4 tomatoes - peeled, seeded and chopped  (I used canned tomatoes)
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 8 ounces cheese tortellini
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese for topping

Directions

1. Place the sausage in a large pot over medium high heat and saute for 10 minutes, or until well browned. Drain the fat except for about 1 tablespoon, add the onions and garlic and saute for 5 more minutes.
2. Next add the beef stock, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, skimming any fat that may surface.
3. Add the zucchini, tortellini, green bell pepper and parsley to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until tortellini is fully cooked. Pour into individual bowls and garnish with the cheese. 

This soup was really good. I'm glad I used the hot sausage because it was just spicy enough. It was very filling because of the pasta.

Rating 4/5