Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is a throwback from January 2013. The photo, however is recent...
One of my FAVORITE soups! Enjoy :)

I'm not much of a recipe person.  I look at them, I read them, but I consider them suggestions--to follow one to a 'T' is a damper on my creativity, cramps my style.  The following 'suggestion' is what we were supposed to have for dinner, but the giant dufus that gets mad at me for calling him a giant dufus--forgot to lay out the chicken to thaw in the fridge.  So, to avoid a blog entry about bologna sandwiches, I shall carry on as if I'm cooking it.

Bake some chicken breasts drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, pinch of salt salt, OR dash of cayenne or jalepeno salt if you're a saucy tart--until done, allow to cool & shred with a fork. That not-quite-burnt-but-really-dark juice/spice stuff stuck to the pan, save it for the soup pot.

While that mess is happening in a 400 degree oven, dice onions, sautee (with other veggise like bell peppers or celery, or even carrots! if'n ya wanna) in olive oil, S&P. Prepare 2 servings of parboiled rice.

Bring some chicken broth--ok, a BUNCH of chicken broth--to a boil. Don't watch the pot. Instead, add a mixture of corn starch and broth in small bowl, add to boiling broth & wait til it thickens before you add in your: rinsed black beans, roasted fresh or canned corn, rice, tomato sauce, green chilies, & diced chili-ready tomato product(s)...they come in all sorts of flavors & I have used them all!

Add chicken (and stuck-on stuff) & other veggies. When it's all nice & bubbly, take it off the stove & wait 15 minutes before serving.  You can garnish with tortilla chips, red onion, sour cream or greek yogurt, avocado slices or chunks, and of course, shredded cheese. Fresh cilantro elevates it to a new level awesome, but I don't always have it lying around when I'm making this & I'm NOT usually in the mood to the store last minute. There's people in those places.

Note: I never measure or keep track of anything, tastes the same every time despite this fact!!!

Mummy Meatloaf

This is one of my favorite things to do for my brother's kiddos! It's so much fun, and they love it! Nonna and Halloween kind of go hand in hand, it's may favorite holiday--I hate not being able to be with them this year, but maybe we can get Beetlejuice to put on a show with a holiday turkey to make up for it!

It's pretty easy, just make meatloaf as usual, form into a face(use a plastic wrap or foil-lined mask if you don't feel comfortable doing it free-handed), a foot, or hand--I've only done the face. Use onion layers for eyes, teeth, nails, or bones and bacon for the mummy wrap/zombie flesh affect.

For sides we did:
'Frankenbrains'--fresh, boiled broccoli, whipped in the food processor w/ a little milk and topped with cheddar shreds.
'Monster Mash'--boiled cauliflower(which is also great for stinking up the house, making it smell like fresh death), mashed with baked sweet potato chunks. Don't over mix them, you want to be able to see the 'mash' up, rather than light orange blended blobs, unless, of course, that's the look you're going for.

I just thought of it, but I'm sure some starch-tolerant pinterest person has a recipe idea for 'Hair-raising Hot Rolls' in which you can make scary faces carved into dinner rolls...we try to steer clear of the bread because someone invented things like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and priorities, and stuff.

For dessert we did:
'Zombie Brains' with cream cheese and sugar-free cherry Jell-O. Now they make it easy for you and sell Jell-O molds in the shape of brains!

You might notice we were eating a lot of 'brains' for Halloween, but being of the school that 'you are what you eat' we're gonna stick with it. Have you seen the size of our heads??? If it's too redundant for you, you could change the 'Frankenbrains' to 'Green Goblin Goo' or 'Gremlin Guts'--you get the idea.

Have fun with your kiddos, the don't stay kiddos long enough!!!

Soup Season

It's here! I love soups for a variety of reasons, and I don't think I'm alone in my adoration of them except one issue--not everyone will agree that soups are easy! Some might be more choresome than others, but for the most part, I just throw some old standbys together, no recipes, no measuring, and I'll be damned if it doesn't taste exactly like it always does!

Not so long ago, I made chili--some of the best chili I have ever made--on the fly. No real plan, but it was dinner time and I had all the necessities, so I gave it a go. After dinner...putting my spices away, cleaning my mess, I realized, I hadn't used any chili powder! HA! And it was fantastic. I'm not showing off, or anything, just saying, if this witch can toss ingredients in a cauldron and it comes out not only edible, but delectable, so can you! Quit being such a ninny! Don't be skeered...

I assume that the chili beans I threw in had enough chili spices in them to cover my oversight, but again, the point is to experiment. If it goes horribly wrong, the worse thing that can happen is a bologna sandwich as backup and the comfort of knowing they'll never ask for it again, so later, offer it up when really, you just don't feel like cooking!

Stock the Pantry with:

Stock, or Broth (better yet, make your own & freeze)
Tomato products: diced, stewed, fire-roasted, sauce, etc.
Green Chiles--despite what your Mexican/Hispanic/Latino Neighbors say
Corn starch or flour for thickening
Beans of all sorts: kidney, northern black, pinto, chili-ready, etc.
Chocolate covered sea salt caramel almonds (j/k, were you dozing off?)
...and an array of vegetables (frozen if you prefer)

This way, you've got a starting point and all you need is your perishables. Soups not so quick and easy if you have to make a trip to the market for everysingledamnthing! UGH!

Corn Dog Substitute

Ever since we saw Incubus at Gexa Pavillion, near Fair Park(long before the fair was even going on) I have had an insatiable craving for a corn dog.

Giving in to the beast, I feel I have been punished for doing so...
I got one at a drive-in, it was cold.
I got one that looked totally fair-legit, it was a sausage, not hotdog wiener!
I've tried to divert this craving to hush puppies, even more disappointing.
So, in desperation (mild desperation that is--extreme would have prompted me to just catch the kitchen on fire with exploding grease attempting to make them myself), I made these.

Brown chipotle chicken sausages in a pan, assemble microwaved corn then cheese, tomatoes (because I didn't have ketchup) and mustard (not shown because it was embarrassing for you to see how much mustard I put on it.

It's still no corn dog, but the Kraken went back into the deep, not satisfied, but at least pacified. Had this not calmed the beast, I would have just put hot dogs in cornbread batter and baked. (File that one under stoner/white trash  cookbook.)

Did you know?

Corn tortilla chips keep fresh in the freezer! After opening, just pop in the freezer instead of the pantry--NO MORE STALE CHIPS!

Food (In) Security

I have a tendency to get behind on my blog--oddly enough, cooking everyday kinda gets in the way. Just as I was loaded with pics and recipes, epic wins and tragic disasters, ready to share on here, I caught one of many segments on the news about the escalating numbers of refugees in Europe desperately trying to escape violence and war.

This wasn't the first time I heard about it, my Finnish neighbors had given us a firsthand account of their experiences surrounding this issue in their homeland. But this time was much different. You see these hoards of people, in droves upon droves traveling to foreign lands on foot, or piled in a tiny boat with nothing more than a backpack, some of them don't even have that. They have no home, no money, sometimes no family, and no reliable food source. But me? I'm over here, taking pictures of food like a jackass! Like an art project, and so many people have nothing much less anything to eat. I didn't feel so much like blogging. I just felt like an asshole.

After doing some research, I found a plethora of charity organizations that are helping to combat hunger among those that are the most food insecure, including many of the refugees. There's a couple charities that are highly respected by the general public that I would rather not give to because I don't agree with their actions, politics, or the gargantuan salary they pay their CEO.  I'm not particularly endorsing one or the other, just encouraging you to do the same type of research to make sure your heart is in agreement with what the charity of your choice is doing.

I wish I could feel like I was doing more, doing my part for my fellow human beings, but the trick is that if we all do something, even if that just means volunteering for Meals on Wheels, donating time to a soup kitchen, or dropping off non-perishables at your local food bank, we can make a difference.

Cooking for others is one of my favorite things to do--not only are you bringing enjoyment and fulfillment to those you know and love, but the fact that you are nourishing another's body, keeping them alive--it leaves me both honored and empowered.