Mexican Lime Chicken Soup

This is a nice broth soup. The chicken falls apart, the lime makes it tangy, the chipotles are spicy (so do less if you don't like kick) and smokey, the corn balances some of the heat, and the beans make it hearty.

Mexican Lime Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp oil

• 1 yellow onion, chopped

• 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

• 6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

• 2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, finely chopped, plus 2 tablespoons of the adobo sauce

• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 1 1/2 cups beans (white, pinto, black, whichever you prefer) drained

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

• Juice of 2 limes

• Salt and pepper

• 1 avocado, thinly sliced lengthwise 

• Crushed tortilla chips (optional)
• Sour cream (optional)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. I used my dutch oven for this. Add the garlic and onion. Cook until starting to brown. Turn the heat up to medium high, push the onions and garlic to the side, and add the chicken pieces. Cook until browned, 5 minutes or so. Stir in the chipotles, adobo sauce, broth, corn and beans. Lower heat and simmer at least 15 minutes. I prefer 45. Skim any foam off. Stir in lime juice, cilantro, salt, and pepper. Serve with avocado, tortilla chips, and a plop of sour cream if desired. 

Buttermilk Peanut Butter French Toast

Yeah. Its even better than it sounds. You will thank me :)

If you don't have buttermilk, no need to make a special trip to the store. Just use milk But if you have it, use it :)

Peanut Butter French Toast

Ingredients:

1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 eggs
1/3 cup peanut butter
3 tbsp brown sugar sugar or honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
6-8 slices of bread. (We use leftover Challah  or store bought texas toast. )

2 tbsp butter




Whisk together the milk, eggs, PB, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Heat a skillet to medium for at least 5 minutes. Coat in butter. Dip the bread for 15 seconds on each side. Cook until heated through and golden brown, around 3 minutes per side. If it gets too dark too fast, lower heat a little. 

Cheesy Zucchini Rice

Who needs pasta sides or rice side packets? Not I. Although our side dishes have been lacking since I stopped using them a few years back. I spend a lot of time thinking about the main dish and space off the sides. But I am trying.

This takes about 5 minutes longer than cooking a regular batch of rice.

Cheesy Zucchini Rice

Ingredients

2 cups rice
3 cups chicken broth (or veggie if you want to be veggie)
1 onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
salt and pepper


I cook my rice in a rice cooker. Easy peasy. Dump the rice, broth, onion, and garlic into it and hit cook.

If you use the stove, dump all that into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to simmer and cook 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit 5 minutes. Fluff

Once cooked, put in a large bowl with the zucchini and cheese. Mix well, and cover with foil. Let sit 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Stovetop Popcorn

I know you can't avoid everything. But microwave popcorn is HORRIBLE for you. So if its possible to find a good alternative, why wouldn't you? This takes about 2.4 minutes more than just zapping a bag, and not too much effort. Make it with the kids. Its fun! And it costs pennies to make.

Caramel Marshmallow

Stovetop Popcorn

Ingredients
3 tbsp coconut oil (or vegetable if you *must*)
1/3 cup popping corn
2 tbsp butter
Salt

Additional toppings
Cinnamon Kettle Corn (to follow)
Caramel Marshmallow (to follow)


You HAVE to use at LEAST a 3 qt pan. With a lid.


Heat pan, oil, and 3 kernels of corn over medium heat, covered.

Once those 3 kernels pop, add the rest of the kernels. Cover and remove from heat. Count to 30. Place back on heat. Once it starts popping, shimmy the pan back and forth a few inches over and over to keep the kernels moving. Also hold the lid so there is a crack for steam to escape. Once the popping slows drastically (just like microwave popcorn) remove from heat and immedietly dump into a large bowl. Place pan back on heat and melt the butter. Drizzle over popcorn and season liberally with salt.


Cinnamon Kettle Corn.

Kettle corn is just sugar and salt. Pour the butter like stated above and stir til well mixed. And then I mix about 2tbsp white sugar and a tsp of cinnamon (by all that is holy and good, buy yourself some Vietnamese cinnamon) And sprinkle on top. Do NOT forget the salt. It makes all the difference.

Caramel Marshmallow
(exclude the butter from the original recipe)
Melt 5 tbsp butter with 1/3 cup brown sugar. Once melted, add 6 large marshmallows (or a cup or so mini) and stir until melted. Drizzle over popcorn and toss until coated. Don't forget the salt!

Thrifty Chicken Stock

I am a nerd. I have been so excited about this the last few day. Its SO easy and SO cheap. And SO good for you. Even the organic broths have "natural flavor" added (Also known as MSG). And they can be EXPENSIVE. This can make GALLONS of stock. No joke. With ONE batch of chicken bones. You can do even more with beef bones. I haven't gotten there yet, but I will sure update you with it.

Bone broth is super nutritious. Adding vinegar to the water helps leach out the minerals from the bones as well as the nutritious gelatin. THIS is the chicken soup that will help you get over a illness sooner.

It is thrifty, because you can strain the liquid out, and scoop out the veggies and start again! You can do it two or even THREE times with chicken bones! And double that for beef bones. Its unreal.

And if you are short on freezer space, there is a few things you can do. First, you can freeze in ice cube trays or muffin trays and then place in ziplock bags once frozen solid. Then you can just use what is needed. Or you can return the strained liquid to a pot and simmer on low, uncovered, for several more hours and reduce it by half. Then you can freeze in small jars and its a concentrated form. Just add water once you thaw.

This is also a great way to stretch a meal. Buy a rotisserie chicken or roast a whole chicken on your own and save the carcass. You could even save the bones of thighs and drumsticks from other meals in a baggie in the freezer and make a batch when you have enough. The added drumsticks are great to find on sale. Its a very cheap cut of meat. Save the gross bag of innards from the roaster chicken too. And all the butts of onions, carrots, or celery you cut off and throw away? Save those in the freezer too.

You can add chicken feet to it as well. I haven't gotten there yet :-)

This is about 1/3rd of ONE batch. Not reduced

Thrifty Chicken Stock

Ingredients:
I whole chicken carcass
1-2 lbs of whole chicken drumsticks
chicken gizzards, neck, etc (optional)
1 onion, halved
4 carrots, washed, peeled, in 3 inch chunks
4 celery (tops too!) washed, in 3 inch chunks
8 cloves of garlic (no need to peel) cut in half
1/2 tsp dried thyme (fresh is even better. Several stems)
2 bay leaves
10 peppercorns (optional)
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice


Place all of the ingredients in a HUGE stockpot and fill with water 2 inches above the top of ingredients. If you wish, let sit at room temp for an hour. This lets the vinegar work on the bones a little. Then bring to a simmer. Cover, and keep on a very low temp. You just want to gently simmer, never boil.

Cook for about 18 hours. Check on the water lever occasionally and to make sure its still simmering. I am sure you can do this in a crock pot, but be aware many crock pots run too hot to just simmer, even on low. So pay attention the first time you do it.


Strain the liquid through a mesh strainer. Either use immediately, place in the fridge for up to 5 days, freeze for up to 3 months, or simmer uncovered to condense and then freeze.

Use in soups, to cook noodles, rice, beans, etc. Or season and sip.

Chunky Roasted Red Bell Pepper Tomato Sauce

I haven't bought pasta sauce in months. While its nice to open and heat store bought sauce, it takes 5 extra minutes of prep, and 20 minutes of simmering is all you need for this quick sauce. Basically, start this a few minutes before you boil the noodles. It will pretty much be done at the same time. If you have an extra few minutes, letting it simmer longer will only add to the yummy flavors.
The red bell peppers add to the sweetness and depths of flavor. Thanks Deanna for the tip!

Chunky Roasted Red Bell Pepper Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
2 roasted red bell peppers (I buy a HUGE jar at Costco. Worth its weight in gold!)
3-4 cloves garlic
1 can petite cut diced tomatoes (can get the garlic ones or other similar flavor, if they don't have them plain) Drained
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp parsley
1 tbsp dried minced onion
1/4 tsp red pepper flake
1tbsp balsamic vinegar


With a stick blender (or put in a regular blender), blend the crushed tomatoes, red bell pepper, and garlic. Add to a pot with the diced tomatoes and spices. Cover and cook on medium until bubbling and then lower heat and let simmer.

Vegetable Beef Stew with Onion Herbed Dumplings

I came across a variation of this in my websurfings. Husb likes Chicken and Dumplings, so I thought this style of it would be a interesting mix. I tweaked it to my tastes and it came out great. Nice for the changing seasons.


Vegetable Beef Stew with Onion Herbed Dumplings

Ingredients

2 lbs stew meat
1 can beef broth
1 cup water
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
4 carrots, peeled and sliced in buttons
2 celery, sliced
2 onions, sliced
1 package sliced mushrooms
2 bay leaves
2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 tsp dried mustard
salt and pepper
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup water



Dumplings:
1/2 cup (a few more TBSP if needed)
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tbsp cold butter, in small pieces
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried rosemary (crushed up)
1 tbsp dried minced onion


Stew:

Get a skillet hot on medium high heat. Add meat, in batches to sear each side.

Put meat in the crockpot with broth, water, tomatoes, carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms, bay leaves and spices.

Cook on low 8-10 hours or high 4-5.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Whisk water and flour and add to soup.

Put all the dry ingredients of dumplings into a bowl. Add butter. Cut in with pastry cutter, forks, metal whisk, or even your hands. Make sure the butter is mixed well. Add milk and stir until just mixed.

Drop glops of this into the stew, cover, and cook on high until toothpick comes out clean.