Tortilla Soup

My newest appliance now is a Crock-Pot. I think I have appliance issues. When will it stop? Are there meetings for these problems...is it real? Can anyone help me, or does anyone understand???

Well, I felt I (we as a family) needed an upgrade from our old crock. It was and still is a great appliance. I inherited it when I married my wonderful husband. He had it first and used it often as a bachelor, I'm sure. It's one with "low, high, off" and a plastic lid with lots of cracks. I had to put a towel on it when cooking. Really, it works, but...like I said, I have a problem.

My new Crock has a digital timer and when it is done...it goes to warm! Sweet!!! I like it. My fancy -shmancy rice-cooker has a sister...and it's a pretty red! :)

So, this post is supposed to be about the great recipe I cooked in my fancy-schmancy Crock-Pot. This recipe is adaptable for the stove or crock. I love this recipe and have been cooking it for years.

It has a list of ingredients, but I don't mind because a large majority are fresh. I like to chop and mix... other wise I guess you could go simple and use the frozen or canned or dried...your choice.
Tortilla Soup
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can enchilada sauce
1 med. onion chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic (I love garlic! You can add more or less, or powder)
1 stalk celery chopped1 can chopped green chilies (optional)
2 cups water
14.5 oz veggie broth (or veggie bullion)
1 tsp cumin (be generous)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt (again, be generous)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 can corn (or 10 oz. frozen corn)
1 can red beans
1 can pinto beans

Chop and put all ingredients into crock. You can add shredded cooked chicken if you like.



Serve with tortilla chips and pico de gallo with fresh line slices!

This is also a great dish to make ahead of time and take camping. Just put in jars and heat up at the camp site.

Quick Rice Dish for Dinner

This evening was a whirlwind of an evening. I had not done a good job at all for planning out dinner earlier in the day, but I got it together at the last minute and was pleasantly surprised at what I came up with.

I knew I had rice from last weeks red beans and rice. With my new rice cooker I had made extra rice for evening such as this. :)

I opened my fridge and pulled out the left over rice, had some fresh broccoli and a few cherry tomatoes. Hmmm, what to do with all this goodness...certainly something fantastic... and healthy.

I cut the broccoli into little bite sized pieces and cooked in a couple of teaspoons of Braggs Liquid Aminos. Then added the rice and a can of garbanzo beans (rinsed) and tomatoes with some seasoned salt and another splash of Braggs. I warmed some Naan I had in the freezer and BAM! dinner is served.


Quick Rice Dish

1 cup bite sized broccoli
1 cup cooked rice
1 can garbanzos
1/3 cup cherry tomatoes
1 TBSP Braggs Liquid Aminos
Seasoned Salt or seasoning you like

Curried Pumpkin Soup

I have been wanting to try a pumpkin soup recipe this year. Every fall the girls and I choose several great pie sized pumpkins. This year, the last pie pumpkin has been designated for soup!!! Needless to say, the one who picked out this pumpkin was quite disappointed.
But, it is I who does the cooking!!! So, I get to say what goes in the pot and today it's the last of the pumpkins!!!

Some time back I tried a great recipe for Thai sweet potato soup. I found the recipe in a veggie cookbook from the library and was quite perturbed when I realized I had not copied the recipe before returning it! But, I will get it back and be sure to post it! I was fantastic...but that's for Sweet Potato Soup post... However, that soup had some ingredients I really liked together. Lime, coconut milk and curry. I know, what a combination! I would have never put that together...but it works.

So, when I found this Curried Pumpkin Soup recipe with those ingredients...I jumped on it.

I found this recipe in the Southern Living Christmas Cookbook. Special edition for Dillard's on page 151. I altered it very little...

1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1/8 tsp. ground red pepper
1/8 tsp. ground cumin
2 (15-oz.) cans unsweetened pumpkin ( I used about 3 cups fresh pumpkin)
1 cup water
32-oz. container vegetable broth
1 (13.5-oz.) can lite coconut milk (I used regular coconut milk and it was fine,I guess calories are the difference between the two kinds)
Juice of 1 lime.
2 1/2 tsp. salt

If using fresh pumpkin: cut pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds and stringy things, bake or microwave until pulp can be spooned out easily--all this should be done ahead of time.

Saute onion in hot soup pot over medium heat until tender. ( no oil is needed) Add garlic and next 4 ingredients; saute 1 minute. Add pumpkin, 1 cup water and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; add coconut milk, lime juice, and salt, and simmer, stirring often, 25 minutes.

Remove from heat and process mixture in blender or hand mixer/blender until smooth. Return to soup pot and heat until warmed.

I served with whole wheat Naan. Yummy!

Enjoy!

Easy Vegitarian Corn Chowder

I pulled this recipe out this morning from my recipe cards and altered it somewhat to our taste. I used evaporated Goat's milk and added an extra can of corn, beans and took out the ham and bacon.



Here is what I came up with:
Easy Vegitarian Corn Chowder

1/2 medium onion chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
1/4 cup chopped celery
4 small red potatoes unpeeled chopped small
2 Tblsp flour
1 can vegetable broth
1 can evaporated Goat's Milk
1 can creamed corn
1 can whole kernal corn
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed
2 Tblsp chopped chives
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion, bell pepper, celery in few tblsp water. Stir in flour; heat until bubbly. Gradually add broth, milk and corn. Stir until well blended. Add potatoes; bring to boil then reduce heat; cook uncovered until potatoes are tender. Stir in chives.

Tastes great with homemade whole wheat bread.