Mexican Chicken Soup

On Tuesday I saw this on my Facebook page, was having a bad day (just tired mostly) and thought:  I'm going to make this soup.  This looks like COMFORT FOOD!!

And I got to chop lots of vegetables.

Does that sound weird?

Chopping vegetables makes me happy.

I don't know what it is.

I think that's why I like to make soup---it has lots of vegetables that need chopping.

I chopped, put the soup on the stove, ran to the Library Bookclub, came home and the smell in my house?

Heavenly!

This is a great soup. Good for you too.

Just fresh veggies simmered in broth served over some homemade Spanish rice.

I loved it.

It made the grade to be on my menu when I open 

Ahhhh  Some Soups.

(one day...)

I love listening to the Splendid Table on NPR.

Stump the cook, always stumps me.

I cannot open my fridge and just make something.  

The Splendid Table's very own game show — a refrigerator/pantry game in which a call-in contestant challenges Lynne Rossetto Kasper to create a dish with five ingredients from their kitchen.

I need a recipe.

This is a great soup.

Mexican Chicken Soup

The Splendid Table

Ingredients

Spanish Rice:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped white onion
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 1/2 cups brown rice
• 3 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Soup:

• 1 cup coarsely chopped onions
• 1 cup peeled, cubed carrots
• 1 cup coarsely chopped celery
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup cubed potatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 whole boneless chicken breast, cubed
• 3 ears of corn, cut in half

Garnish:

• 3/4 cup fresh Salsa (recipe follows)
• 1 ripe avocado, cubed

Salsa:

• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves (about 1 bunch cilantro)
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes
• 1/4 cup cubed red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

Instructions

To make the rice:Heat the olive oil in a big soup pot over low heat, add the onions, celery, carrots, tomatoes, and sauté, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the spices, rice, stock, and salt. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes.

To make the soup: Put the onions, carrots, and celery in the olive oil in a large sauté pan. Cook over low heat until they become limp. Add the stock, potatoes, thyme, bay leaf, and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Add the chicken. Cook for 15 more minutes and add the corn. Continue to cook for 5 more minutes.

Put 2 tablespoons of rice into each of 6 soup bowls. Ladle 1-1/2 cups of soup into each bowl along with ½ ear of corn. Garnish with 2 tablespoons of salsa and 1 tablespoon of avocado.

Salsa

To make the salsa: Hold the cilantro under running water, making sure that all the dirt pours off. Pinch the leaves off the stems and put them in a small bowl with the remaining salsa ingredients, mixing with a spoon until everything is thoroughly melded. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until you are ready to use.

I am going to link up with 

Souper Sundays

at

Kahakai Kitchen

There is always a great list of new ideas there for me 

for soups, sammies and salads!

Friday Friend Recipe #27 -- Spaghetti Sauce #2

Making my way thru my Friday Friend Cookbook, one recipe at a time.

Friday Friend cookbook:   I have about 50 of my closest friends and family on an e-mail forum which I called the Friday Friends.  At first, most of them didn't know each other, (they knew me) but over the past 15 years, we've answered and shared silly--and serious---questions,  exchanged Secret Santa Christmas gifts,  had a dieting contest in which we paid a $1 a week and that money went to a scholarship fund for a Friday Friends son's memorial scholarship, and we went on a great vacation for my 52 birthday.

AND,  we contributed recipes for a cookbook.

Which brings me to this... recipe #27

Robbie Milton's

"Little" sauce

the 2nd in the FF spaghetti sauces

The only thing harder than taking a photograph of salad is taking one of spaghetti.  Well, actually, many spaghetti dinners--and making  them look different.

You will just have to bear (or is it bare?) with me, because I asked all of them, my 50 Friday Friends, how they made spaghetti and 24 of them answered me...so I have 24 spaghetti dinners to post for you.

This is number 2.

You can't really go wrong with any pasta, so I will just forgo the description of how good this tasted.  

For the record--it did.

I am probably the only person in the world who still makes red sauce from scratch and not out of a jar.

The jar tasted fine tho, AND it's about the memories I have when I make a friend's recipe from this book.

Little Sauce

(That's what Barb, the publisher named it---she was trying to name 24 red sauces. LOL)

by Robbin Milton via the FF Cookbook.

Brown and season hamburger

Add one jar of Ragu

Add some basil, garlic, and other seasonings.

Simmer and serve over pasta

There you have it. 

That's it.

see Robbie here:  (all of her recipes I mean)

Robbie is on the right in the photo below.

(my friend Jean on the left)

Robbie and her husband John are our Friday Night Friends.  The ones we have dinner with every Friday night, IF neither of us is doing anything else.

We've been doing it for years and years.

17 to be exact.

It is so comfortable and normal I can wear my slippers over there if I want to.

And sometimes I do.

Robbie will probably not like this picture below, as I caught her in the middle of eating a cracker.

BUT---if you notice she is looking at THE FRIDAY FRIEND COOKBOOK!

It was, of course,  Friday Night and we have wine and food, our husbands are playing cribbage.

I love our Friday Nights!

I am going to link up with 

See Ya in the Gumbo

I know it's not an original recipe or even something out of the ordinary, but

Michelle says:

When someone says "I'm making a gumbo," it means family and friends are invited.

And this cookbook, which my family and friends contributed to, is fun for me!

and 

Weekend Cooking.

Because.... this is  a food related post with random thoughts.

Friday Friend Recipe #26 -- Black Bean Salsa

Making my way thru my Friday Friend Cookbook, one recipe at a time.

Friday Friend cookbook:   I have about 50 of my closest friends and family on an e-mail forum which I called the Friday Friends.  At first, most of them didn't know each other, (they knew me) but over the past 15 years, we've answered and shared silly--and serious---questions,  exchanged Secret Santa Christmas gifts,  had a dieting contest in which we paid a $1 a week and that money went to a scholarship fund for a Friday Friends son's memorial scholarship, and we went on a great vacation for my 52 birthday.

AND,  we contributed recipes for a cookbook.

Which brings me to this... recipe #26

Tomi Pingree's

Black Bean Salsa

When I first had the idea of asking all my friends for recipes for a FF cookbook, I knew that lots of recipes would be similar, and that was okay for the camaraderie of bonding, emailing back and forth, etc.

I had no idea I was going to "challenge myself"  (because believe me, none of these guys care that I am doing this .  YES I consider them my Best Friends in the Whole World, but they just think this is ---- odd.  Or Fluky.  They are suspicious of what I'm going to say about them. )

I digressed so much in that sentence I forgot what I was going to say.

Oh yes---similar looking and sounding recipes.

Don't be fooled into thinking that this wonderful Black Bean salsa is like the Cowboy Caviar I posted about before!

There are subtle differences.

Cowboy Caviar had only 1 can of black beans!

Black Bean Salsa has 2 cans!

And a different dressing or sauce or marinade. (whatever you call it here)

so, while both similar, also different.

My take on community type of cookbooks where there are similar recipes is that --- if lots of people send in like types, then it must be VERY GOOD.

And this Black Bean salsa is VERY GOOD.

I want some Black Bean Salsa RIGHT NOW!

It was so yummy!

Black Bean Salsa

Tomi Pingree by way of the Friday Friend Cookbook

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can corn, drained

1 purple onion, chopped

1 T. red wine vinegar

1 28oz can diced Mexican tomatoes, drained

1 chopped avacado

 2 to 4 T lime juice

1 t. salt

1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

Mix lightly together and bring on the Doritos!! 

And now I present FF Tomi Pingree!

The author of this wonderful appetizer.

For all Tomi's recipes so far, click here.

Tomi is a criminal.

I hang out with criminals.

I even aided and abetted her. 

We set off fireworks in her backyard once.

It's illegal in the State of Nevada.

(geez, I hope the statute of limitations is over, as they do use social media to catch hardened criminals nowadays. )

Can I justify it by saying our children were little and we wanted to give them a good 4th of July celebration (those founding fathers were criminals too... )

and nothing was shot into the air.  And it was on her grass.  And she stayed close by with her garden hose.

That's what I remember most about that evening.

Tomi dousing everything with water.

It's a good memory of my criminal -- gangsta friend.

She also makes a great Black Bean Salsa.

Cookbook Countdown -- Bourbon Bread Pudding

This will be cookbook  #67!

on my slow, very slow countdown  of  my own

personal cookbook shelf.

I will be linking up to 

at Kitchen Flavours

I am also very excited to have found:

Cook it Up!

I need all the help I can get to keep on my cookbook challenge.

I really love  this cookbook.  It has gorgeous pictures and it really full of 

old-fashioned, from scratch, goodness.

They have a recipe for homemade 'snowballs'... the pink coconut covered chocolate cakes with cream in the middle that we all used to buy from Hostess?   Well, they make homemade ones that look great!

But, I decided to make their bourbon bread pudding.

I have no excuse really.

I don't even like bread pudding.

I think it's weird to put a bunch of old stale bread into a custard and eat it.

It's all mushy and.... mushy.

I don't like it.

Until.... I tasted this one.

And I thought I went to heaven.

Seriously.

It could have been the bourbon glaze of course, but truly it was warm golden, goodness in my mouth.

I had only had cold bread pudding in the past,  but this says, 'best served warm', so I did and it was---so. damn . darn good.

okay, so it was kind of mushy still, but it was soft and warm and sweet and buttery, and vanilla-y and bourbon-y.

Even the Handyman who hates bread pudding liked this bread pudding.

If I owned a soup restaurant called "Ahhhh---some soups", which served only soups and desserts, I would put this on my chalkboard menu.  I wouldn't have a regular printed menu--because I would be so popular I could make whatever I wanted that day and people wouldn't care and they would come for miles around---and they would LOVE IT when I had bourbon bread pudding on the menu.

Yes, I'm being silly, but it was that good.

Ingredients

• For the Pudding
• 1 1/2 pounds ciabatta, brioche, or challah, cut into 2-inch cubes (9 cups)
• 4 cups half-and-half
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 5 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup golden raisins
• For the Bourbon Glaze
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons bourbon
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Procedures

1. 1
   Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
2. 2
   To make the pudding: Put the bread in a large mixing bowl and pour the half-and-half over it, tossing it gently to soak the bread. Let sit at room temperature while you prepare the custard.
3. 3
   In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Remove from the heat, add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla, and stir until well combined and smooth.
4. 4
   In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, then add the butter-sugar mixture, stirring until well combined and smooth. Pour the custard mixture over the bread, tossing gently to incorporate the custard and half-and-half mixture until well combined.
5. 5
   Pour the bread mixture into the prepared baking dish and spread it evenly. Sprinkle the raisins over the top and gently work them into the pudding; make sure the liquid covers the bread. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 55 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until the bread pudding is golden brown. Set the pudding aside while you prepare the glaze.
6. 6
   To make the bourbon glaze: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and add the bourbon and confectioners’ sugar, stirring until incorporated. Add the cream and mix until smooth.
7. 7
   Pour the glaze over the top of the bread pudding and let it sit for 15 minutes before serving. The bread pudding is best served warm, but it can be refrigerated, tightly covered, for up to 4 days.

FF Appendix #3 -- Portuguese Soup

Sunday Soup

I think this is my favorite soup ever! 

Today anyway.

Making my way thru my Friday Friend Cookbook--

one recipe at a time.

But then I pull out an old notebook and remember years ago, when I made the Friday Friend Soup cookbook.

It's a whole different thing. (sigh)

I'm such a dork--I used the word 'blustery'.

Like I said, this was years ago about  30 years ago, the kids were little and they loved Winnie the Pooh and Pooh used the word 'blustery'.

Besides, I never thought I'd be this brave and put myself out there like this. At the time who knew about blogs, social networking, etc?

I could be as weird as I wanted, and no one would know.

I typed this up (many years ago) and sent it to the Friday Friends.

I am adding this as an appendix to the "official Friday Friend  Cookbook"

(much to the chagrin of the publisher/typer upper Barbara Brown)

(she's afraid I'm going to make her type up a whole new cookbook.  Volume #2! )

Cover page of the very old Soup Notebook:

I do love soup, as some of you may know.

Soup is the ultimate comfort food.

I love it.

I love it so much that I sometimes give it a party!

Click here to see SOUP'S PARTY.

I've had to bring the Handyman along slowly into the soup love affair.

Soup and I had to seduce him.

He has come a long way baby.

See here---what I wrote?

Rich Stone  aka The Handyman,  likes this soup.

I had not made it in YEARS.  Probably not since the last time I used blustery in a sentence. 

I challenge you to use blustery in conversation today!

So, he likes this soup.  I made it and

I loved it so much.

To be honest---I didn't remember ever making it. But I must have at least once.  I won't wait so long to do so again.

It was warm and filled with such good things, beans and corn and peas and kielbasa!

You should try it.

Portuguese Soup

by me

5-6 carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick  (I used 4 carrots, but they were big)

1 16oz can peas  (I used a bag of frozen peas)

1 16oz corn

1 16oz can kidney beans

1 1/2 pounds kielbasa, sliced 1/2 inch thick

1 16oz can tomato sauce

1 16oz can Mexican stewed tomatoes

1/4 to 1/2 each:  (HA I didn't put tsp or tbls--- just add to your taste)

garlic powder

basil

cumin

sage

chili powder

salt and  pepper

Put everything in a crockpot and cook on low for  4-5 hours.

Or all day.

I am linking up with 

Weekend Cooking at Beth Fish  Reads.

I love Weekend Cooking.  I love reading Beth Fish's cook book reviews, opinions and I really love when she just talks about her own cookbook and kitchen notebook collection.

Souper Suppers  at Kahakai Kitchen

I don't need to explain why I love Souper Sundays, do I? 

I mean--I threw soup a party.

Enough said.

Pluse Kahakai Kitchen keeps up with  her food blogging challenges, commitments and goals.

I am so envious.

and

See Ya in the Gumbo at Ms. enPlace

I have come to love Louisiana by reading this blog,  and I feel as if I am part of the 'regional' party by participating in  

See Ya In the Gumbo!

(sigh)

Outdoor Wednesday

My family has a cabin in Northeastern Oregon and we love to spend time there whenever we can.

This past September while vacationing there, I talked the Handyman into driving to this little town called Inmaha.  

It was only about 30 miles away and I have great memories of fishing and camping around there when I was little.

Imnaha has a population of 164.

I also wanted to see their little post office. The townspeople worked very hard to keep their post office open when the US Postal service was busy closing rural PO's.  It's open  6 hours a day Mon-Friday.

We drove thru this this valley to get there.

Besides a Post office and a School and a library, they also have a 3-in-one tavern-cafe-store.

I love this little store/tavern.

We sat here and had a hamburger and a beer while I filled out postcards to send from the Imnaha Post office.

Inside they have a poster with a rattlesnake count!

They do have a lot of rattlesnakes out there.

In fact, they used to have a big rattlesnake feed every year, but that event outgrew them.  In 2005 they had over 1000 people.

Hard to handle in a town so remote and so small.

But back to the rattlesnake count!

You see it, you kill it,  you bring it in.

There are prizes for the longest, shortest, the most, etc.

See all those names on the poster?  

Hmmmmm....  those represent snakes!

It's part of the charm of Imnaha.

It's a really cool old bar/restaurant/store tho.

A really unique place to go visit.

I'm linking up with Outdoor Wednesday.

For some great outdoor shots go visit!