Taco Soup

This soup was really tasty. It's super thick and yummy, great for a cold night's dinner. This is also pretty easy and would be wonderful to make for a football watching party, or get together at the holidays, or whenever you need to feed a decent number of people. This recipe would easily feed four adults as a meal, I believe, so you could probably serve this for eight adults if you had a bunch of other food there.

This was the first time I have made taco soup, so, as is often the case, I will make some minor adjustments next time. Basically, I think it had too many tomatoes for my preference. I used a can of stewed tomatoes, and a can of Rotel tomatoes and chilis. Next time, I would either not use the whole can of stewed tomatoes, or I would not use Rotel and just add a small can of green chilis to the stewed tomatoes. It wasn't bad the way I made it, just needs a little tweaking for me to love it. I'll give you the exact recipe I used and you can adjust as you see fit.

So, without further ado, Taco Soup!

Ingredients:
-1-1.5 lb ground beef (use more for a larger group)
-2 or 3 tablespoons garlic powder
-2 tablespoons onion powder
-2 tablespoons chili powder
-1 teaspoon paprika
-1 teaspoon cumin
-1 can stewed tomatoes
-1 can Rotel tomatoes and chilis
-1 can pinto beans
-1 can whole kernel corn, drained
-1/2 to 1 cup water (as needed)
-1 package ranch dressing mix
-sour cream and shredded cheese for topping

Directions:
In a large pot over medium high heat, cook the ground beef until no longer pink. Drain and return to pot.

Reduce heat to medium.

Add in the garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cumin, and paprika.

Stir it into the meat. It won't be 100% incorporated, but that's ok.

Next, add in the tomatoes and Rotel, canned liquid included.

Next add the pinto beans, liquid included.

Then the DRAINED corn.

Stir all the ingredients together until everything is well mixed.

It should be almost wet enough for soup from all the canned liquid added, but you can add some water if you need to.

I ended up adding a cup of water before I let the soup cook at all, and I was surprised how much more liquid was released from the veggies as they cooked, and probably could have gotten away with less water, but it was ok anyway.

When everything has started heating up and cooking and melding together, add in the ranch dressing mix. Stir to make sure it's well incorporated and not clumping up somewhere. Reduce the heat to low and let the soup simmer another 10 minutes or so to let everything marry together.

Serve hot, and top with a little dollup of sour cream...and some shredded cheese. :) I also served mine with tortilla chips, which was awesome.

It was nice to have a little bit of crunch in with the soup. Enjoy!

Southwest Chicken Stew

This is relatively similar to another recipe of mine, the White Chicken Chili (found here). However, it is different, so I named it Southwest Chicken Stew. It was yummy. I know, I know, another soup. I can't help it. It's winter. :)

I think this is another pretty simple meal. It seems like simple is best for me these days. You pretty much just dump all the ingredients in a pot and let it work its own magic. So without further ado...Southwest Chicken Stew.

Ingredients:
-3 cups chicken broth
-1 cup water
-1-1.5 cups cubed raw chicken breast meat
-3/4-1 full cup chopped tomatillos (the little green things that look kinda like tomatoes)
-1 can whole kernel corn, drained
-1 can white/Navy beans, drained (you can use a little less than a full can if you're not a huge bean fan)
-southwestern seasonings to taste (I used 2 tablespoons garlic powder, 1.5 tablespoons onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1.5 teaspoons chili powder)

Directions:
In a large pot, bring the broth and water to a boil over high heat. Add in the chicken and tomatillos and let cook for about 5 minutes.

Add in the corn, beans, and seasonings. Stir to combine.

Continue cooking for another 5-10 minutes until everything starts to meld together. Reduce the heat to medium low and let simmer for another 10 minutes. This will let the chicken cook all the way through and the tomatillos to basically be fall apart tender, as well as letting the broth cook down a bit to make it less soupy and more stewy.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Some cornbread or tortilla chips would be a great addition to this meal. Mmm.

Beef Veggie Soup

Yes, it's still cold, and yes I still want soup. Haha. This one is super simple and pretty hearty. I tossed a little orzo pasta in to get rid of it and add a little extra starch to thicken it a bit. You don't have to, I just did. I used cube steak because it is ridiculously tender and won't get tough from cooking in the soup like a lot of other cuts of beef will. I hope this warms you up on a cold winter night! :)

Ingredients:
-1 lb cube steak, cut into bite sized pieces
-1.5 cups chopped carrots
-1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed and chopped
-1 large russet potato, scrubbed and chopped
-3 cups beef broth or stock
-2 cups water
-salt and pepper to taste
-1 cup small pasta (optional)

Directions:
In a large pot, bring broth and water to a boil over high heat. Add in the veggies and beef.

Add in the pasta. Let boil for about 10 minutes so veggies start to get tender and meat is mostly cooked through, and pasta is almost al dente.

Reduce heat to low and let simmer for another 10 minutes, until the meat is cooked through and the veggies are tender.

Serve hot and enjoy!

Soup!

It's November, and that means cooler weather, which means...I want hot food. Haha. Soup is one of those things that I often crave when it gets cold, so in honor of colder weather, I'm re-posting some soup recipes for you all to re-peruse. :) Enjoy!

For a quick way to view all the soups I've posted, click here.

Here are some of my favorites:
Chicken Corn Chowder
Chicken and Dumplin's
Chicken Tortellini Soup
Cream Cheese Chicken Soup
Italian Wedding Soup
Baked Potato Soup

Chicken Corn Chowder

As we get farther into fall, I'm wanting to make more soups. It just seems like soup is perfect for dinner on a fall evening, when it's cold outside and you want to feel all toasty inside.

This soup has a somewhat creamy broth, and for some reason, that just equals yummy comfort food soup to me. Chowder seems to be a little hardier than a lot of soups. Perfect for making soup a meal! I think it turned out pretty well, and I hope you do too. :)

Ingredients:
-4 cups chicken broth
-2 cups water
-2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
-1 or 2 russet potatoes, scrubbed and cubed, depending on how much you like potatoes in your soup
-1 can whole kernel corn, drained
-1 can cream-style corn
-1 tablespoon onion powder
-1.5 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup reserved
-4 tablespoons corn starch

Directions:
In a large pot over high heat, bring the chicken broth and water to a boil.

Add the chicken pieces and cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the potatoes and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the two cans of corn and stir. Add in the onion powder and stir to incorporate.

Continue cooking another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium high.

In a small bowl, whisk together the corn starch and 1/2 cup reserved heavy cream. Slowly add to the soup while stirring. This will help thicken the soup. Slowly add in the rest of the cream while stirring.

Let the soup cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer until it's thickened up a bit, about 10-15 minutes. Stir it occasionally to keep things from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Serve the soup hot and enjoy!

We had some toasty bread to go with ours. Yum!

Creamy Orzo and Veggie Soup

As we get further into fall, I'm beginning to make soups more. It's just how it goes. Haha.

When I make soup for dinner, I try to make it hearty enough to fend for itself. Wimpy soup is no good. That's why I usually try to add a starch, and why my soup often times has a cream based broth. This has both. This is a great "get-rid-of-all-the-veggies-in-your-fridge-and-freezer" soup. I happened to have broccoli and carrots, so that's what made it in the soup. Feel free to adjust. Haha.

The starchy component was a rice-shapped pasta called orzo (which I also had leftover in my pantry). You only need about 3/4 cup, so it's a good use-up-leftover-pasta soup too. I would recommend, however, that whatever pasta you use is either small, or broken into small pieces. It just works better to have small pieces for this one.

You could also add some chicken to this if you'd like a little more meatiness. I would say two chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces. I didn't add this, however, because I am suffering from pregnancy-induced aversion to chicken. It's interesting. Haha.

And with that, away we go!

Ingredients:
-4 cups chicken broth
-1 cup water
-1 cup heavy cream, with 1/4 cup reserved
-2 tablespoons flour
-1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
-1 cup carrots, chopped
-3/4 cup orzo
-salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large pot, heat the chicken broth and water until boiling. Add in the broccoli and carrots and let them cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the orzo and let it cook for several more minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour with 1.4 cup of the cream. Slowly stir into the soup. This will help to thicken the broth slightly. Slowly add in the rest of the cream, stirring to combine.

Let the soup warm up again. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to low and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 5 more minutes, making sure everything is hot a cooked through.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Chicken and Dumplin's

Mmmm. Talk about comfort food; this is it. This was my first time to make Chicken and dumplin's, and oh my word. So yummy. And to be honest, I feel bad typing out "dumplings." It should be "dumplin's." Sorry, that's just the way it is. Haha. I feel the Texas drawl comin' out when I say that. Ok, moving on.

I think every person that has ever made this dish has made it differently. There are so many variations. Some people like it more soupy, some like it without a cream component, with just chicken broth. Some like their dumplin's mushy, and some like them more firm. Some like this dish with carrots, celery, and onions mixed in, and some like just chicken and dumplin's. So...yeah. I wasn't sure how I was going to make mine. So I did what I always do...I made it up as I went. Haha. It turned out WAY better than I expected, and it was pretty darn easy. I made mine with chicken, dumplin's, carrots, and onion powder in a "sauce" of chicken broth and cream. You could easily leave out the cream (the dumplin's give it a good consistency), and you could easily add more veggies. But for me...this is a winner. Yummmmmm. This made enough for probably 2-3 adults, so scale accordingly.

Ingredients:
-2 chicken breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper
-2 tablespoons butter
-1 teaspoon onion powder
-3 cups chicken broth
-2-4 cups water (it will depend on how quickly the liquid is absorbed/evaporates)
-2 or 3 medium sized carrots, peeled and chopped roughly
-2 cups baking mix
-2/3 cup milk
-1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:
In a small mixing bowl, mix together the baking mix and milk

until just moistened-it will be a very soft dough.

Set aside. (This is the dumplin' dough)

In a medium sized stock pot, melt the butter over medium high heat. Add the uncooked chicken and brown slightly on both sides.

It doesn't need to be cooked all the way through. Add the onion powder to the pot with the chicken broth and increase heat to high.

Let the broth begin to boil, cooking the chicken the remainder of the way. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside to shred momentarily.

Add the chopped carrots to the boiling broth.

While they begin to cook, start dropping small chunks of the dumplin' dough into the boiling broth. I literally just pinched off about a teaspoon-ful of dough

and dropped it in.

You don't need to make them round. Rustic is better. Hehe. Make sure the entire thing is covered in liquid.

As the liquid is absorbed by the dumplin's, add more water to keep things from burning, and to have enough liquid in which to cook the dumplin's. I added it a cup at a time and stirred the whole she-bang to make sure the dumplin's got covered. When the dumplin's are all added, reduce the heat to medium and stir to incorporate everything well.

Shred the chicken with two forks and add back to the pot.

Reduce the heat to medium low and stir to incorporate.

Add in the cream and stir to combine.

Cover the pot and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

This will let everything get hot and yummy, and for the dumplin's to finish cooking so you're not eating...dough. Eww. When the ten minutes is up, taste for seasoning, adjust accordingly, and serve while piping hot.

So.amazingly.yummy.

Enjoy!

Cheese, Broccoli, Potato, and Carrot Soup

It's still pretty stinkin' cold outside here where I am, so occasionally, I still get in the mood for a good hearty soup. I've made Broccoli Cheese soup before, and it is actually one of my favorite soups. When I was a kid, I didn't like veggies...oh wait, that's still true. Oops. Anyway, back to my story. My mother probably rejoiced and praised God in Heaven when she found out I actually enjoyed broccoli cheese soup. It had a green healthy veggie in it. And she didn't have to force me to eat it, or threaten me to eat it, or beg me to eat. I would gladly eat it. The fact I was eating it because it was smothered in a cream based cheese soup didn't matter. Haha. Plus, I was a scrawny kid, and the extra dairy and fat was probably good for me.

On to the present day. I still enjoy Broccoli Cheese soup, but sometimes it's just not hearty enough for a meal, you know? It's better as a side or something in my mind. So I came up with this soup as a way to make it more meal worthy, but not take away all the good stuff. I guess you could say it's almost a cross between baked potato soup and broccoli cheese soup, with carrots added in for fun. Which is awesome because I love baked potato soup too. This is a win win, people. A win.win. And delicious. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
-3 tablespoons butter
-3 tablespoons flour
-3 cups milk
-3 cups chicken broth
-1 teaspoon onion powder
-2 cups shredded cheese(I used cheddar)
-2 potatoes, peeled, cubed, and cooked (bake or boil, as long as they're tender)
-1.5 cups broccoli, cut into small florets and steamed or blanched
-1 cup carrots, cut into bite sized pieces and steamed
-salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the flour and whisk together to make a roux.

Let it cook a couple more minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the milk and stir to combine well.

Continue stirring frequently, letting the soup thicken.

When it's thickened substantially, add the chicken broth and stir to incorporate.
Add the onion powder and mix it in well. Let the soup cook for a minute to help it start to thicken slightly again, stirring occasionally.

Add the cheese and let it melt into the soup, stirring frequently.

When the cheese is well incorporated, salt and pepper to taste. Add the potatoes, broccoli, and carrots. Stir to combine. You want the chunks of everything to be evenly distributed.

Let the soup cook for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally, until everything is hot and delicious. Serve immediately.

It would be awesome with a chunk of crusty bread or something. Mmm. Devour at will.