Chicken Taco Soup

Incase you are thinking "she said she tried 5 recipes, but she only talked about two" let me mention that the malted milk chocolate chip cookies were good, though you wouldn't be able to identify that extra special taste as malted milk if you didn't know. I might add more next time. I also tried to make macarons which will require another attempt and the white nectarine galette (but with the peaches and nectarines I had). Funny thing about the galette- I took it to a gathering, then left before we cut into it so I have NO IDEA how it was. It turned out too juicy, but I think it's because I swapped out the 4 small white flesh nectarines for 4 large, juicy nectarines and peaches. It looked good though.

Ok so the soup. I got a recipe for something similar while looking for some "lighter" options, but adjusted it for what I was trying to clean out of the pantry. (The previously mentioned cousin Mandy also sent me a similar recipe that I'll have to try out as well! She really needs to be a guest blogger here; I'll get on that.)

It was good, tasted really fresh, and had just enough spice. I added some sour cream to top off my bowl and it was delicious; next time I might add some guacamole. I'm excited to have left overs for the next few days. The original recipe said it made 4 servings, but I think it will be 6-8 for me (as a main entree). And this one is obviously an easy one to edit to your liking! Enjoy.

What I used:

1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken, cut into smaller-than-bite-size cubes

salt & pepper

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1/4 a green pepper, diced (could have used more if I'd had it)

2 tsp. cumin

3 large or 6-7 small tomatoes, diced (you could used canned if needed, 2-3 cups)

1 c. salsa

4 c. chicken broth

10 oz. corn, I used canned, you could go frozen or even fresh

10 oz. black beans, rinsed (or whatever the regular size can is)

you could add cilantro or lime or both, but I don't like cilantro and I didn't have any lime :)

What to do:

Spray a skillet with cooking spray; salt and pepper and brown the chicken in the skillet. Set aside. Wipe and spray the pan, add a little olive oil if you like (my sister says I put olive oil in everything, but it's the good-for-you oil!), and cook the garlic, onion, and peppers. Sprinkle these with cumin and cook until tender. While the peppers and onions are cooking, start a soup pot heating with the chicken stock. Once this is lightly simmering, add tomatoes, salsa, beans, and corn. Once cooked, add the garlic, peppers, and onions as well as the chicken to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until you are ready to eat.

You can cook of liquid or add liquid as you choose, but know that this will be a runny soup with a clearish broth. I wasn't sure about the liquidyness at first, but it was really good. And then I added the sour cream which made it creamy; you could add some cheese too if that's your style.

This dish required a lot of chopping/dicing which I always find sanity-inducing. It's so methodical! Enjoy!

Sidenote: I made my own granola bars last weekend and, while delicious, they turned out pretty crumbly. I'm going to try again to try to get them to hold together better and then I'll share my recipe with you.

Pepperjack Potato Salad

So last Friday I spent all afternoon and evening in the kitchen, then I was too tired to blog. Saturday Mac (the dog) and I were up at the lake all day which meant I was too tired to blog on Sunday as well. And then, ya know, the week happened. Now it's 6 days later and I am trying to remember what I even did...

Ok, so homemade hummus- I started from hard chickpeas, cooked 'em, shelled 'em, mashed 'em up with some other stuff. Not great and not worth the effort. I was strongly encouraged to try again starting with canned organic chickpeas/garbanzo beans. Overall thoughts/tips- don't buy the expensive, fancy tahini. Look for the more reasonable stuff in the "international" food isle. I would also suggest using less lemon than recipes call for and roasting your own red pepper- the kind in the jar had a weird taste/smell. I'd also go ahead and cook any garlic you are going to add; raw garlic seems to leave a strange stinging feeling for those who eat it. Honestly, I may dub this one of the few things I think is more worth buying store bought than making your own. I'm not even convinced it is more economical to make your own, especially if you can find store bought on sale. See, I'm so unconvinced this is worth it that I won't even point you to a recipe. Maybe I'll try again in the future.

Pepperjack Potato Salad: one word- awesome. This was so delicious I didn't even want to share. I ate it hot as soon as it was done, I ate it at room temperature when I was putting it away, I ate it cold when we served it up with sandwiches for lunch. The juice from it was so good I dipped my sandwich in it. So yummy and the pepperjack cheese was a bonus for me, but it would still be good w/o if you are not a pepperjack fan. This recipe originally came from my cousin Amanda (not sure where she got it so I can't give further credit), and I tweaked it a bit.

Time: uh...?

Leftovers: This seems delicious hot, warm, and cold. My only concern would be if you added the pepperjack cheese when hot, then served/ate cold. But I would totally use this as a make ahead recipe!

What I used:

12 small red potatoes, washed but not peeled, cut into bite-sized pieces

10-12 slices turkey bacon (I couldn't bring myself to buy the real stuff)

1 small onion, diced

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 c. white vinegar

1/4 c. water

1/4 c. white granular sugar

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. parsley flakes (I am shy with parsley, Amanda used 2 tsp. chopped parsley)

2-3 oz. pepperjack diced into very small cubes (like pencil eraser size...I'm so technical)

Prep potatoes, onions, etc. Place potatoes in pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Boil about 10 mins or until potato is slightly tender (not mashed potato tender!) Drain and set aside.

Cook bacon in a large skillet until crispy (I had to do it in a couple batches to make sure all the bacon gets surface space). Remove to paper towel; once cool, crumble. Add olive oil (you won't need this if you use real bacon, just for turkey bacon) and heat, and onions. Continue cooking onions until browned, then add vinegar, water, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil.

Combine cooked potatoes, half of bacon (crumbled), and onion-liquid mixture. Add pepper and parsley. Stir to combine thoroughly. You can do this in the onion-liquid mixture pan if you plan to serve hot. Now I added the pepperjack after everything was cool because I was serving it cool. I suggest adding the pepperjack at the serving temperature because you don't want to add it hot, let it get melty and stringy, then cool everything off and have pepperjack plastic making it hard to scoop out your potatoes. Crumble remaining bacon on top.

May I just say that I have never even been willing to try potato salad because I think it looks so gross all creamy and gloppy, but this was so delicious that I am just trying to figure out when I can make it again. Enjoy!