NEW RECIPE #5: CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP

I can't believe it is already 5 weeks into the new year and I have actually kept up my resolution to make a new recipe every week.  Last Friday I made the most delicious chicken tortilla soup.  I love chicken tortilla soup and for some reason have never made it.  I am not kidding when I say that this recipe ranks up there with some of the best I have ever had!  I know that is a pretty bold statement but fer realz.....this soup is good.  I think the secret ingredient was the corn meal you add close to the end of the cooking time.  It really added a certain depth of flavor that was such a pleasant surprise.  It slightly changed the consistency to a thicker soup also which I loved. 

I got the recipe from www.pioneerwoman.blogspot.com.  If you have never read this blog I beg you too.  I love the woman who writes it and I am also begging you to make this soup.

CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP:
2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 T. Olive oil
1 1/2 tsp Chili powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. Olive oil
1 C. diced onion
1/4 C. diced green bell pepper
1/4 C. Red bell pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chilies
32 oz. low sodium chicken stock
3 T. Tomato paste

4 C. hot water

2 cans black beans, drained

3 T cornmeal or masa

5 whole corn tortillas, cut into uniform strips around 2-3 inches

GARNISHES (A must in my opinion!)

Sour cream

Diced avocado

Diced Red onion

Salsa or Pico De gallo

Grated Monterey Jack

Cilantro

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375.  Mix cumin, chili pepper, garlic powder, and salt.  Drizzle 1 Tbs. olive oil on chicken, then sprinkle a small amount of spice mix on both sides.  Set aside the rest of spice mix.  Place chicken breasts on a baking sheet.  Bake for 20-25 min, or until chicken is done.  Use two forks to shred chicken.  Set aside.

Heat 1 Tbs. olive oil in a pot over medium high heat.  Add onions, red pepper, green pepper, and minced garlic.  Stir and begin cooking, then add the rest of spice mix.  Stir to combine, then add shredded chicken and stir.  Pour in Rotel, chicken stock, tomato paste, water, and black beans.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer for 45 minutes, uncovered.

Mix cornmeal with a small amount of water.  Pour into the soup, then simmer for an additional 30 minutes.  Check seasonings, adding more if needed.  Turn off heat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.  Five minutes before serving, gently stir in tortilla strips.  Ladle into bowls, then top with whatever the H you want!

TIPS:  I added a packet of taco seasoning and a ton of extra cumin.  Now go do yourself and your family a favor and whip this up TONIGHT!

Jules

SWEET SHOT TUESDAY

Well...here is my picture for my m3b p52 and sweet shot Tuesday.  It's sort of in honor of Valentines day coming up.  This is a picture of my table on my deck.  The hole is where the umbrella is supposed to be inserted in the summertime.  I didn't realize how tricky it was to photograph snow.  It is early evening in this picture so lightning isn't the greatest.  If it ever gets sunny here then I am going to try to take some more shots of the snow.  Visit http://www.my3boybarians.com/ for some other cool shots!

Jules

I HEART FACES: INNOCENT WONDER

I am entering this photo in the I heart faces contest this week.  The theme is innocent wonder.

This picture is full of innocent wonder.  Go check the others out at http://www.iheartfaces.com/.

Jules

NEW RECIPE #4: LEMON CHICKEN BREASTS

I can't believe the lemon chicken breast recipe is the first recipe I have tried out of my new Ina Garten cookbook.  I actually had the pleasure of going to listen to her speak and get my autographed copy of her new cookbook!  I am not one to go crazy over celebrities.  In fact, I can't really imagine who else I would ever go listen to again.  There is just something so calming and reassuring about Ina.  She makes you feel like you can cook anything.  She seems so happy and relaxed.  I feel like she is smiling and cooking all day everyday in her beautiful rustic Hampton's home, where her show is filmed.  I would love to be her house guest.

The recipe is a perfect weeknight meal.  Very simple ingredients.  How can you go wrong with chicken, lemon, garlic and white wine? The chicken was very juicy and the sauce was delicious!
Even my boys (all 3) liked it.  Brady did douse the chicken with BBQ sauce but he still liked it.  Jake said it was soooo good that he didn't need anything on it :).

LEMON CHICKEN BREASTS: Serves 4

1/4 C. Olive oil
3 TBSP minced garlic (9 cloves)
1/3 C. Dry white wine (I used Vermouth)
1 TBSP. grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
2 TBSP. fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 Tsp. dried oregano
1 Tsp. minced fresh thyme leaves
Kosher salt and black pepper
4 boneless chicken breasts, skin on (6-8 oz. each)
1 Lemon

Preheat oven to 400
Warm olive oil in a small saucepan over medium low heat, add the garlic, and cook for just 1 minute but don't allow the garlic to turn brown.  Off the heat, add wine, lemon zest, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, and 1 tsp. salt and pour into a 9x12 inch baking pan.

Pat chicken breasts dry and place them skin side up over the sauce.  Brush chicken breasts with olive oil  and sprinkle them liberally with S and P.  Cut lemon in 8 wedges and tuck it among the pieces of chicken.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breasts, until the chicken is done and the skin is lightly browned.  Cover pan tightly with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes.  Sprinkle with salt and serve hot with pan juices.

We will definitely be making these again!  I served this with lemon scented angel hair pasta and sauteed mushrooms.  My boys were stuffed!

Jules

SWEET SHOT TUESDAY

So I decided to play along with "sweet shot Tuesday" with Darcy over at http://www.my3boybarians.com/.  Every Tuesday you submit your sweet shot of the week.  This is also my submission for my mb3 P52.  You know...where I have a "shot of the week" for a year. 

I was fortunate to get my late Grandmother's collection of teacups and linens among other things.  I LOVE all of the teacups but never use them.  I thought I would pull one out and play around with the camera. You should go check out the other shots this week!

Jules

SHOT OF THE WEEK

There is a blog I started reading called http://www.my3boybarians.com/.  I like it because a lady named Darcy writes it and she has 3 boys and loves photography.  Kinda like me!  Anyway....she started a flickr group called m3b P52 which is basically a less ambitious version of a P365.  You are supposed to post a favorite photo of the week.  I thought this would be so great for me.  It will challenge me to really focus on getting great shots.  There is no theme which I like.  You can post whatever great shot you like for the week.  The picture I shared isn't really a good picture per se but I kind of came late to the party! 

It is the same scene every morning.  Nick and I look out the window and watch my two older boys board the bus for school.  Nick always smiles and waves to them.  I will be so sad when it is Nick's turn to ride the bus.
Jules

JUMP FOR JOY!

Looky what somebody bought herself:

If you know me then you are shocked and appalled that I would spend that much money on any one item.  Ahhhh.....Lightroom, how I have dreamed about you.  This is photoshop lightroom which is a photo editing software.  It is alot easier than photoshop in my opinion.  I have photoshop and can't figure anything out!  I have done tutorial after tutorial on different things and it still doesn't come easy to me.  Lightroom on the other hand is AMAZING.  It is almost criminal because you can just take mediocre photographs and turn them into glorious works of art.  I'm all about psyching people out to think I am this amazing photographer when in reality I am just skilled in Lightroom.  Now I am off to go play with LR!  Happy Thursday!

Jules

NEW RECIPE #3: CHILI STIR FRY WITH SCALLIONS AND SNOW PEAS

Ok...another week-another new recipe.  I have to say I wasn't a huge fan of this recipe but everybody in my family claimed that they were.  I am not really a beef person.  I think I would have liked it better if it was with chicken or shrimp?  It was easy though.  One tip with stir fry is to have everything cut and ready before starting the cooking process.  It is less stressful that way and it goes alot quicker.  I got the recipe from Aida Mollenkamp on the cooking channel.  Has anyone ever watched her show?  I don't know if it is just me but I think she is really beautiful.  She has that natural beauty thing going on.  I feel like she would look just as amazing rolling out of bed as she does when she is on TV.  Google her and see for yourself......Told ya!

Anyway, here is the recipe:

Serves 3-4 ( I doubled it to feed my family of 5)

2 TBSP chili-garlic sauce (I only used 1 TBSP b/c my kids can only handle so much heat)

2 TBSP Soy sauce

2 TBSP mirin or sherry (I omitted this)

1 Tsp honey

2 tsp toasted sesame oil

2 tsp cornstarch

1 pound flank steak, trimmed and frozen briefly (easier to cut if partially frozen)

S and P

6 scallions, ends trimmed and thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves; minced

1 TBSP grated ginger

12 oz. snow peas (I used sugar snaps)

the recipe doesn't call for but I also added a pkg. of sliced mushrooms and a head of broccoli

DIRECTIONS:

Whisk the chili garlic sauce, soy sauce, mirin, honey, sesame oil, and cornstarch together in small bowl and set aside.  Cut the beef lengthwise alone the grain into 3-4 (2 inch) wide pieces.  Slice each piece of beef across the grain into paper thin pieces, about 1/8 inch thick.  Pat beef dry and season well with S and P.

Heat 1 TBSP oil in medium nonstick skillet over high heat just until smoking.  Add the beef and cook, stirring rarely, until well browned, about 4-5 minutes.  Remove to a plate

Return the skillet to the stove over medium low heat.  Add the remaining 1 TBSP of oil, half of the scallions, the garlic, and the ginger, and cook until just fragrant and starting to color, about 30 seconds, Stir in the snow peas, mushrooms and broccoli, and cook, stirring occasionally, until broccoli and snow peas are bright green, about 2 minutes.  Whisk in the chili garlic sauce mixture, then remove the pan from the heat, and add the beef and accumulated juices.  Toss to coat and transfer to a serving platter.  Top with remaining scallions.  I served this over rice.

Next time I will probably try this with chicken.  This was definitely an easy weeknight dish!

Jules

BIRTHDAY SHIRTS

I finally dusted off the ol sewing machine and made some shirts last week.  It has been awhile since I have sewn anything.  These are two birthday shirts for two separate kiddos.  I think they turned out super cute!

Whatcha think?

Jules

NEW RECIPE #2: FRENCH DIP SANDWICH WITH AU JUS

 

It's only week two of my New Year's Resolution to make one new recipe every week and I haven't quit yet!  Yay for me!  Last night I made French Dip sandwiches.  You MUST make this.  I beg you.  It was so easy and so delicious.  It fit into my criteria of an easy weeknight meal.  My picky eater told me about 4 times that he loved it while he was inhaling it.  SCORE!!  I found the recipe on http://www.ourbestbites.com/.  I am now a daily stalker of this blog.  I really love all of the food that they feature.  I did make the white chicken chili from this blog too.  It was just okay but this French Dip was amazing.  I used a chuck roast for this.  You have to sear it really well on all sides after liberally sprinkling salt and pepper over it. 

A good sear will give it this amazing crust.  After the searing you just put it in the crock pot on low along with 2 cups of water and 2 cans of beef broth and 2 Lipton onion soup packets for 6-8 hours. 

Your house will smell amazing all day.  You know it's done when you insert a fork and it feels like buttuh.  Take the meat out, shred it up, top it on some crusty french rolls (this is key-the type of bread), place some provolone or mozz. cheese on top and place in broiler for about 3-4 min.  The next step is to enjoy some deliciousness.

Use the liquid in the crock pot for your Au jus for dipping.  It was really good.  Geez, my pictures suck.  I am always trying to photograph food at night without any natural light.  Maybe next time they will be better.  You get the idea though.  I served these up with some baked oven fries. Now go make some French Dips for your fam.  They will love you for it!

Jules

I HEART FACES: BEST FACE PHOTO 2010

This week over at http://www.iheartfaces.com/ the photo challenge is your best "face" photo of 2010.  Man-did I have a hard time with this one.  I took so many photos of my boys faces that I absolutely loved.  I don't know if this is truly the best face photo I took but it is definitely one of my hands down favorites.  Go over to I heart faces and check the rest of the adorable faces!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  We are just recovering from last night's festivities.  I am not used to staying up past 10:00 let alone midnight!  My body is punishing me today and I didn't even drink that much last night.

2010 was a great year for me.  I have set some goals for 2011 and hopefully I will complete them.  I am notorious for starting things and then quitting :(.  I would love to see what my New Year's Resolutions are from last year.  It's probably a bad sign that I don't remember them.  I am pretty sure I blogged about it.  I am going to investigate and hopefully won't be to embarrassed.  This year I have set a few goals or resolutions for myself.  One of them is to cook a new recipe EVERY week.  I have an 8 year old who won't eat anything.  I have no idea what to feed him.  He doesn't even like pizza!  I don't think we can possibly be related.  My hope is to make a new recipe every week and hopefully by the end of the year I will have found several things that he loves and will actually eat.  My other reason for "attempting" this challenge is because I am in a cooking rut, always preparing the same ol same ol week after week.  It's just plain boring.  These "new" recipes are going to be easy weeknight do-able meals.  Nothing gourmet.  I love cooking gourmet but it is super challenging with three kids and not much spare time.

So here is my first "new" recipe that I made last week.  Unfortunately my 8 year old didn't like.  DAMN...I seriously thought he would love it.  Oh well, I will attempt again next week.  Everyone else loved it.  Even my 1 year old had seconds.  I saw it being made on the food network.  It was called a chicken fajita braid.  It is made with crescent roll dough.  My son really likes crescent rolls but I guess not if you combine it with a mexicany chicken concoction.  I made two of these.  One isn't enough for a family of 5.  I garnished it with salsa and sour cream.  You can find the recipe at www.pillsbury.com.  It was super simple and really yummy.  Here are some pictures

Please excuse the yellow hue.  It is really hard to shoot pictures of food at night

and have it look appetizing.  I am certain there is a way to do that and now I am sort of on a mission to figure it out.  Hopefully with my new weekly recipes I will notice better photography shots?