Easy Chicken Taco Soup
04 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in crockpot, freezes well, leftovers, soup
OK, you know how Sonya’s Skinny Chicken recipe is so delicious and easy and can feed an army? Or, if you’re just feeding your own family, how it leaves lots of yummy leftovers?
Well, last night, I used leftover Skinny Chicken to make a quick, easy Taco Soup that I’ll be making again for sure. I just made this for Matt and me because it was one of those nights when baseball practice meant we weren’t all home at dinnertime, etc. so Matt and I ate later than the kids. It’s fine anyway, because they all hate soup and I didn’t have the energy to fight them on it last night.
So here’s what I did, and feel free to adjust as needed based on how much you have leftover:
5(ish) cups leftover skinny chicken (this was a lot of the broth that’s left in the crockpot + some of the shredded chicken)
about 2 cooked, chopped chicken breasts (leftover from dinner the night before – I just threw it in so it wouldn’t go to waste, but it’s not necessary if you have plenty of chicken leftover in the salsa mixture)
3 sliced green onions
16 oz. chicken broth (you can use a can or bouillion or whatever you want)
half a bag of frozen, fire-roasted corn (regular frozen corn would be fine, too, but I had this kind from Trader Joe’s and it’s just perfect for soups like this)
beans (I didn’t add them this time, but that would have been really good)
Just heat it on the stovetop until hot. That’s it! This amount made about 5 or 6 good-size bowls of soup.
I served it with a cheese quesadilla. In the soup you can add crushed tortilla chips, avocado, diced tomato, sour cream, cilantro…whatever you like!
Chicken Stock
24 Jan 2011 4 Comments
in chicken, freezes well, leftovers, soup
I’m hooked. Not only am I hooked on rotisserie chicken, I’m now hooked on making my own chicken stock. It’s just so unbelievably easy and tastes so much better that what’s in a can or from bouillon (though, there certainly is still a place for those!).
Here’s how I do it, following tips from my neighbor, Ann, and this Alton Brown recipe:
1 chicken carcass – we don’t eat a lot of the dark meat, so I pick all of the white meat and the thigh meat off the bone, and pretty much leave the legs/wings. I have less guilt about not using the entire chicken by making stock out of what’s left!
several carrots, cut into large chunks
several stalks of celery, cut into large chunks
2 whole cloves garlic, peeled
1 large onion, quartered
several whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf
thyme, parsley (fresh if you have it; a few shakes from a container if not)
Cold water
Put it all in a stock pot, fill with water (leave some room at the top or your stove will be a disaster), and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook it for a long time – Alton says 6-8 hours, I probably do about 4. And I cover it after the initial boil. Alton says to skim the stuff off the top, but I haven’t been doing that (please don’t tell him).
When it’s done cooking, let it cool so that you won’t burn yourself in the next step.
Using tongs, pull out all of the large pieces and throw them away. After cooking for so long, the vegetables aren’t really good to eat anymore. Then, using a mesh strainer, pour the broth through to remove any solids (this is much, much easier with two people – enlist the help of your beloved).
Then, refrigerate overnight. This allows the fat to rise to the top, and then you can skim it off the next day before using it or freezing it in ziploc bags (I freeze it in 2-cup increments since that’s about what comes in a can of broth).
When you use it, you’ll need to add salt, because there is none in the recipe, but that way you can just add what you need for the recipe you’re making.
Salsa Chicken Soup
10 Mar 2010 2 Comments
in at least one kid ate it, chicken, Cooking for 2, Mexican, soup
I tried this tonight for the first time and it was delicious! My husband mentioned multiple times how good it was. It’s so quick and easy to put together, too! Two out of three children ate it also, and that’s always a plus!
1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed (I used more like 3/4 pound)
1 can (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth
1 3/4 cups water
1-2 tsp chili powder (I used just a little over 1 and it was spicy enough for us, but I also used medium salsa)
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup salsa
shredded monterey jack cheese or pepper jack cheese, optional (I used a mexican 4 cheese blend cause that’s what I had extra of here)
In a large saucepan, combine chicken, broth, water, and chili powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add corn; return to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and corn is tender. Add salsa and heat through. Garnish with cheese.
**Next time I make this, I will be adding more corn. It wasn’t enough for me. I will also probably add some extra diced tomatoes because the only ones in there were from the salsa. We will definitely be making this again!
Ravioli Veggie Soup
27 Feb 2010 1 Comment
in at least one kid ate it, company's coming!, soup, vegetables
I was blessed with this recipe from my wonderful friend, Sarah. I love that it is a no meat recipe. I don’t have a ton of those, and this is a nice change every once in a while. There are a lot of estimates in this recipe, but I tried hard to keep track of everything last night so that I could give a little more detail to this recipe 
Two out of three kids ate at least parts of the soup….I call that success!
Start with about 4-4 1/2 cups of water in a big pot.
Cut up carrots, celery, and onions. Add those to the pot. Amounts depend on what you want. I do about two big handfuls of each.
Boil this until carrots are soft.
Add a can of petite cut diced tomatoes and a 15oz can of tomato sauce.
Add in 2-3 bay leaves. Remember to take these out when finished before eating!
Add in a can of corn, drained, and a can of green beans, drained.
Add in a couple big handfuls of frozen peas. (This is the ONLY way I will eat peas. Not a fan of them, but they are good here!)
I then taste the base of this soup and usually add in a couple teaspoons of sugar for what we like. You can also add in tomato paste/more tomatoes for the flavoring.
The best part? Little cheese ravioli from trader joe’s! You’ll find them in the dry pasta section – not refrigerated. I usually add about half the bag to the pot. Let those cook for about 16 minutes.
You can also add a can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed. This is optional. Sometimes I add them, sometimes I don’t. Depends on the mood! Definitely add these at the very end, though.
I sprinkle shredded parmesan on top and serve with bread. Enjoy!
** This is a great meal to make when you are having a couple people over as it makes a LOT. I’ve also made this when I need to make a meal for someone else. It definitely makes enough to give to another family for dinner and still have enough for ourselves to eat!
Bean and Bacon Soup
13 Jan 2010 1 Comment
in soup
I’ve had this recipe for years and never tried it. But, last week I was frying up some bacon to make quiche for dinner, and wanted to use the rest in something else, so I thought of this soup. It has a can of Ranch Beans in it, and I had no idea what they were until I opened the can, but it turns out they’re just pintos in some slightly spicy tomato-y sauce. However, there is also some other kind of fatty preservative in there that I’d rather not eat, so next time I make this I’m going to try to just use a can of pinto beans and season it myself. I’ll post the details here if it turns out!
Anyway, this is so easy, and hearty and perfect for the middle of winter. it would have been great with cornbread if I would have had the time to make it! This only makes 3 servings (if you’re using it for a whole meal).
1 can Ranch beans
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup finely chopped onion (I actually had to saute onion for the other recipe, so I just sauteed the portion for this recipe, too, and it was really good!)
6 slices of bacon, fried and crumbled
Combine first four ingredients in a pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
If you want a thicker soup, carefully mash some of the beans.
Top with bacon and serve!
Baked Potato Soup
30 Nov 2009 1 Comment
in at least one kid ate it, Cooking for 2, soup
Oh, how I love potato soup. I REALLY love Bread Co’s baked potato soup and have always had my eye out for a recipe that comes close to that soup. This one does! This doesn’t make a ton, enough for Kirk and I to have leftovers one night. So, if it’s a big family, you’ll want to double it.
3 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (next time I’m making more as I heart bacon)
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced (I used the jar kind, already minced)
3 tablespoons flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 large potatoes, baked, peeled and cubed (about 2 cups)
1 cup half-and-half cream
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
shredded cheddar cheese
In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil, and pepper. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. Garnish with bacon and cheese.
I also serve this with bread. Yum. Love it.
Vegetarian White Bean Soup with Quinoa
02 Nov 2009 2 Comments
in soup
I saw a recipe for White Bean Chili with Jalapeno Bulgur in Real Simple and thought it would be something that Matt and I would like, and I had nearly all the ingredients at home, so I decided to give it a try. When I told Matt that I’d found a recipe I thought he’d like (really, what doesn’t he like? God gave me the easiest man on the planet to cook for!) and that it was a meatless chili, he replied that he thought it would be tasteless. That sounded like a challenge to me. GAME ON.
I didn’t have bulgur wheat (I know…crazy! Who DOESN’T have bulgur wheat on hand?), so I substituted quinoa for it, since I just needed a protein-packed grain. Plus, I know we like quinoa.
Quinoa: 3/4 cup of quinoa, 1 1/2 cups water and 1 chicken bouillon cube. Put in saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce to simmering and cook approximately 15 minutes until water is absorbed.
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (er, the stuff in the bottle)
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped (I used 1/2 a green pepper and about a 1/4 of a red pepper since that’s what we had)
2 cloves garlic, chopped (I used Dorot frozen garlic…love this stuff for making soup! It’s found at Trader Joe’s.)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder (from my neighbor, because I was out)
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
2 15-ounce cans cannellini beans, rinsed (well, I didn’t have these either. But I used great Northern beans and it was fine! They said so here, which I looked up b/c I didn’t know the difference between cannellinis and great northerns.)
Stir the lemon juice, scallions, jalapeño, 1 tablespoon of the oil, and ¼ teaspoon pepper into the cooked quinoa.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan or small stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, chili powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and cook until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and their liquid and 1½ cups water to the onion mixture; bring to a boil. Add the beans and simmer until slightly thickened, 8 to 10 minutes. Divide the chili among bowls and top with a couple of big scoops of the quinoa.
I’d say this makes 4-5 servings. And it was really good; even Matt said he’d be happy if I made this again. It’s hearty and so healthy, but I really wouldn’t call it chili, since it’s not near as thick as regular chili. Give it a try!
Minnesota Wild Rice Soup
29 Sep 2009 2 Comments
Welcome, WFMW participants! Hope you like this recipe…it’s one of my favorites.
Soup again for supper! This time, since it wasn’t spicy, I had the kids eat it, too. They are NOT fans of soup at all, but they did at least eat some bites of chicken out of the soup, so it wasn’t a total loss. Matt and I thought this was really good; it’d be especially delicious in a soup bowl from Bread Co!
This recipe came from a Dierbergs’ (local grocer) seasonal recipe book, and I made a few changes but they were minor, but I’ll write this up the way I made it (I can’t find the original online to link to). The changes I made cut the fat by 11 grams per serving and the calories by 90 per serving. And, it makes 6 servings, by the way.
This recipe calls for cooked chicken, so I just threw it on the Foreman grill last night with some Lawry’s sprinkled on it and chopped it up into small bite-sized pieces. Also, there is bacon in this, which automatically means that it’s good. It is kind of annoying to have to cook bacon for something like this to me, so next time I’ll make this soup, I’ll menu-plan accordingly so that I’ve already cooked bacon for a meal and then just have some extra crumbled up (since we don’t eat bacon often, this is a good two-birds-one-stone kinda thing).
Minnesota Wild Rice Soup
5 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup wild rice (I used Reese brand)
1/2 cup sliced green onions (definitely use the whole amount)
6 Tbl. butter
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning (I don’t have any, and frankly, I don’t know what it is. But if you have it, use it!)
1/8 tsp (or a little more) ground black pepper
2 cups FAT FREE half-and-half
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken or turkey (she also mentions that you can use ham, but we don’t like ham here, so that will never happen)
6 slices bacon, diced and cooked crisp (if you want to garnish your soup, save a couple of Tbl; if not, use it all when it’s time)
3 Tbl dry cooking sherry
In a large saucepan, combine broth, rice, and green onions. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer stirring occasionally until rice is tender, about 45 minutes.
With about 5-10 minutes to go on the rice mixture, melt butter over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour, poultry seasoning, and pepper; cook until mixture is smooth and bubbly, about 2 minutes (this only took about 45 seconds when I was making it). Whisk in half-and-half; cook stirring frequently until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Stir into rice mixture. Add meat and sherry; simmer until heated through. Season with freshly ground black pepper.
Ladle into bowls. If desired, drizzle additional sherry over soup (I didn’t); sprinkle reserved bacon and pimiento and fresh parsley over top (I didn’t do that either, but it would look nice if you had company or something.)
Buffalo Chicken Soup
28 Sep 2009 1 Comment
I got this over at Sandy’s blog and HAD to give it a try, since Matt and I both love spicy stuff! It was really good, and a nice change from some of the regular chicken-broth-based soups I often make. I only made one small change: instead of sauteing the celery and chicken in the soup pan with 3 Tbl. of butter, I cooked them in a non-stick pan in about 1 Tbl of butter and then just transferred everything to the soup pot.
Buffalo Chicken Soup
1 Tbl butter
2 cups boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup thinly chopped celery
1 8oz can tomato sauce
2 – 3 (14 1/2 oz) cans of chicken broth (Nicole’s note: I used 2 cans)
1/2 cup or to taste…Franks Hot Sauce* (or Buffalo Sauce) (Sandy’s note: We like it hot so we use 1/2 cup or more. Nicole’s note: see below.)
2-4 oz. crumbled bleu cheese
black pepper to taste
1 cup (or more) buttermilk (you can make buttermilk by pouring 1 Tbl vinegar into a measuring cup and filling it the rest of the way up to a cup with milk; let it sit a few minutes and it’s ready to go!)
1. Melt butter in a non-stick skillet. Add chopped celery and saute on medium for a few minutes.
2. Add chicken. Saute until cooked through. (Sandy’s note: I often put a little of the broth in at this time to keep from burning). Transfer everything to a stock pot.
3. Stir in tomato sauce, buffalo sauce and broth. Add black pepper to taste (usually about 1/4 teaspoon)
4. Simmer as long as you like (we usually let it go for an hour or so)
5. Turn up to Medium. Add 2-3 oz bleu cheese and the buttermilk (the buttermilk will tone down the hotness so add as much as you like)
6. Bring it back up to a simmer again, and serve!
7. Ladle into bowls – add more crumbled bleu cheese to taste. Garnish with celery sticks. (Oh yeah, I didn’t do this either…I hate raw celery.) Making this with two cans of broth, this made four good-sized servings.
*So, I was trying to save a few cents at the grocery, and bought a different brand of buffalo wing sauce. It was fine, but it was no Frank’s Buffalo Sauce, which is my favorite. If he’ll have me back, I’m going with Frank’s next time, and I recommend you do the same! I probably used close to 2/3 cup.
It’s Fall!
24 Sep 2009 2 Comments
Finally…fall is officially here! Which to me means two things in the kitchen: soup, and pumpkin stuff. Not together. Though there probably is a really good pumpkin soup recipe somewhere.
So check back often – there will be recipes added regularly over the next couple of weeks as I try a few new things! Sonya just added White Chicken Chili, which we tried last year and loved. And I just ate a (very) leftover-from-the-freezer bowl of Chipotle Chili yesterday which was delicious, freezer burn and all. We’re trying a new soup recipe tonight for dinner, and I can’t wait to have it simmering on the stove.
What is your favorite soup to make?
