Happy 2016!! How about some Soup!!

Yes I am still Alive!!! 😛

I know, I know I have not blogged in forever, but I have been very busy with work and other things.

Plus I don’t cook up a ton of things for me on a daily basis, and when I do cook for my family I am so busy doing multiple things that I forget to take pictures, and if I do I don’t often have a lot of time to blog it all out.  So I am sorry for those who care, and I will try harder this upcoming year!!

So this would be something I would not blog about since its just something plan I would come up with, but I thought I just better share this to let everyone know I am still kickin 🙂 LOL

So yesterday on my day off I thought okay you have stuff in the fridge you need to use, so I made Soup.

I call it “Winter Soup” or “What else can I put in this” Soup 🙂 LOL

I also had gotten a four pack of bone-in chicken breast out of the freezer to make some room 😛

Okay so I don’t have a recipe here because really it was a what can I throw into this pot kind of soup.

And I think that is what we all need to think more of when we have things in our fridges that need to be used. Or your pantry, heck if you have can veggies do it, or cans of tomatoes or sauce, what about pasta or rice, your options are endless!!!

So this is what I started with, cabbage, zucchini, carrots and beans.

Chopped it all up and I added about 2 cups of chicken broth(had some left in the fridge), I cooked it in the oven on 325 degrees for 2 hours

then I added about 4 more cups of broth, I love using “better than bullion” soup base, so I had a little beef flavor left scraped that in there and then some Turkey.  Just mix that up with 4 cups of hot water added a onion power and dill.  I love dill in soup, and I love using the tube herbs, I just don’t use fresh herbs quick enough so I do buy some of those tube herbs you can find in your produce dept.  So whisked all that up and poured it right on in.

Cooked at 350 degrees now for about 1 hour, then I added the beans about 4 cups, not that whole jar, mixed, then check for seasonings, I add some crushed celery seed, more tube dill, kosher salt and white pepper.  Back in the oven for 30 minutes.

adding the celery seed and my tube dill 🙂

Like I said I had chicken breast, so I just bought a new kitchen gadget, it was my Christmas present to myself…

Table Top Halogen Oven

 

Now I love it, the first thing I cooked in it was a Steak, a Frozen Steak!!!   Steak (bone-in rib eye) was about 1 inch thick, I took it out of the freezer, salted and peppered each side, and in 25 minutes I had the most perfect medium rare steak…It was delish!!!

Now I know the haters are going to hate, I NOT telling you buy it, this just works for me and I like it 🙂

So I put two of the chicken breast in it and let it go, yes can I use the oven, of course, but I like this and wanted to use it, I can see it cooking and like the easiness 🙂

So here’s my chicken cooking, of course once it was done again I forgot to take pictures…sorry, but it they looked great.

So I shredded some of the chicken

and added it to the soup, and it was done and ready to eat.

I have soup for the next week and I frozen half of it too, I like doing this so its easy to bring out and heat out when you need something quick.

So what do you have in your fridge right now that you can throw into a pot and make your own

“Winter Soup”

Enjoy everyone!!

Veggie-Chicken-Chile-Soup!!! Fiesta Friday #53

So here it is Fiesta Friday again and I am joining in again, I want to thank Angie@The Novice Gardener for hosting the Party and her two co-hosts Selma@Selma’s Table and Nancy@Feasting with Friends.

So about a month ago a co-worker (Heather) was telling us that her son is a picky eater, what child is not a picky eater right 🙂

Any way she said that he did not like red chili and thought that he may eat white chili, so a few weeks went by and I saw a slow cooker recipe for the white chili and printed it out for her to try, as far as I know think she said she was going to try it this weekend. 🙂

I hope her son Blake will like it 🙂

I decided to make my own version 😛 hence the word veggie in title.

Now I am not a chili person at all…at ALL!!  So when I thought about this I did want to make it more of a soup instead of a then a chili.

First I after I got a few things from the store, I really just went looking in my pantry and refrigerator for what I could through in it 🙂 and I wanted to use my electric pressure cooker.

Let me just take a minute to talk about the “electric pressure cooker”  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really really do!! I love making soup in it because it’s like its been cooking all day, and Nancy@Feasting with Friends gave me a recipe for hard cooked eggs that the shells peel off perfectly and I love that!! I also have a macaroni and cheese recipe here you can check out too.  But if you have a chance to buy one I so recommend it for sure 🙂

Okay so here’s my dish

This is what I used – except the spinach in the bag, when I started pulling everything out the fridge, I thought yes I will add spinach but then I didn’t 🙂

 

Pinto beans, chick peas and leftover white beans
in the Vita-mix

Add water and pulse

to get this

 

carrots, zucchini and onion in Vita mix
add water

and this

Add that to my pot and this is my Chicken Base
I use Better than bouillon you can use just broth

added my seasonings, Cumin and Fajita Seasonings

Mix it up

 

added two chicken breasts

 

Time to cook

I put it on the “Stew” setting and increased the time
to 30 minutes then start

DONE!!!

Oh yeah!!!

Pulled out the chicken breast to shred

shred your chicken

add back to the pot

taste for seasonings, I added salt

 

and more of my seasonings

Done!!!  Add a little diced jalapeno and enjoy!!

Veggie Chicken Chile Soup

• Difficulty: easy
• Print

1 bottle of Taco Bell salsa verde
1 can diced green chiles
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed*
1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed*
1/2 cup white beans, drained and rinsed*
2 zucchini*
3 carrots*
1 onion*
2 large boneless chicken breast
3-4 tsp. cumin
3-4 tsp. Penzeys Fajita seasonings*
6-8 cups chicken broth*
salt and pepper to taste

To the electric pressure cooker or large stock pot or slow cooker, your choice.
Add salsa and chiles, if you want whole beans then add then whole, if you want it like I did, then blend up with broth or water, the same with the veggies, either diced or blended.

Pour all into your pot, add the seasonings and stir, if using chicken base add this now, if you are using broth add the rest.  I say 6-8 cups because it depends on the size of your cooking choice, the less that is used makes it thicker.
Cook in pressure cooker on “stew” setting for 30 minutes, slow cooker for 4-6 hours on high, and stock pot on stove, bring to almost a boil, the reduce to low for 2 hours or until all is cooked through.

Remove Chicken and shred, return shredded chicken back to pot, taste for seasonings, add salt or pepper, or more seasonings it is up to your tastes.

Serve up with diced jalapeno, tortillas chips or some cheese, its up to you!!  Just grab a mug or bowl full and sit back and enjoy the game this weekend 🙂

*use what ever beans you want, this is just what I had, same with the veggies its just what I had.
I like using chicken base you can use broth instead.  Seasonings from Penzeys the Fajita seasonings that I used had the following in it: salt, black pepper, Turkish oregano, cayenne, garlic, celery seed, basil, nutmeg, marjoram, thyme, Mexican oregano, cumin and rosemary.
You can certainly use any of these seasoning or something close, just check your local store.