Mexican Vegetable Soup

If you took a quick glance at my most recent posts, you might think I’m all about sweets and chicken. While I’m not going to confirm or deny that may be true, I do make other recipes as well. You might even say somewhat healthy ones every once in a while too.  So for my vegetarian friends out there, I have not forsaken you. (Yes, I’m looking at you Sue T.!)

This soup recipe can be altered to whichever vegetables you have or that are in season. It is called vegetable soup afterall. I used what I had on hand. The flavor of the soup was reminiscent of a chicken tortilla soup without the chicken or tortillas. And be forewarned, this recipe makes a lot of servings (6-8) for you to share on a cold winter’s day.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 bell peppers, diced (I used 1/2  each of an orange, red and yellow bell peppers)
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons  ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 cups diced roma tomatoes
• 2 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen or 1 can of corn)
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can (4 ounce) diced green chile peppers
• 6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 1-2 zucchinis,  sliced

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS:

• avocado slices
• cilantro
• lime wedges or lime juice
• Mexican crema or sour cream
• shredded cheese
• tortilla chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot.
2. Add bell peppers, carrots and onions to pot. Cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Stir occasionally.
3. Add in minced garlic, cumin and cayenne. Stir and cook for a minute.
4. Add in tomatoes, corn, black beans, diced green chiles and vegetable stock.
5. Turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil.
6. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
7. Add in zucchini.
8. Re-cover and simmer for another 10 more minutes, or until the zucchini is tender.
9. Serve immediately with optional toppings. 

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Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken

I haven’t jumped into the Instant pot craze yet. I think it is probably because most my recipes can be made in 30 minutes or less anyway. But I do love having a crock pot!  All you have to do is put all the ingredients in and set your temperature to either high or low and then set the timer and go about your day.  My crock pot will even keep the ingredients warm after the timer has completed. So if you have other things going on or say, maybe you forget you had something cooking, (um, not speaking from experience) the “keep warm” feature will not make all your hard effort get cold and go bad.

I bought another one of those organic chicken packs that come with two breasts and four drumsticks. (Those organic chickens must look funny.) So I thought I’d pull out the crock pot and put it to use. If you do not have a crock pot, that’s quite okay. You can still use this recipe and put everything in a baking dish and bake at 350 F degrees for 50-60 minutes.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 whole cut up chicken (or all thighs, all drumsticks or two breasts and four drumsticks pack like I used.)
• 5-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup lite soy sauce
• 1/2 cup chicken broth or stock
• 1/4 cup ketchup (low sodium if you have)
• 1-2 teaspoons sriracha sauce (optional)
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley or cilantro (whichever taste you prefer)
• sesame seeds for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Arrange chicken on the bottom of your crock pot. Do not season chicken with salt as there is plenty of sodium in the other ingredients. You can season chicken with pepper if you would like though. Set aside. 
2. In a mixing bowl, combine garlic, honey, lite soy sauce, chicken broth, ketchup, sriracha and parsley or cilantro. Whisk until mixed well. 
3. Pour the sauce over the chicken pieces. 
4. Close with a lid and cook for 4 to 5 hours on LOW, or 3 to 4 hours on HIGH. 
5. Remove lid and transfer chicken to a serving plate.
6. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
7. Serve with rice or salad.

 

Baked Rotisserie Style Chicken

At my local supermarket, I came across a pack of organic chicken breasts and drumsticks. I thought how strange there were no thighs or wings. But I also thought, how perfect this was for my son and me. He loves drumsticks and I love chicken breasts. While I was at the supermarket,  I kept smelling the fresh out of the rotisserie chicken they were packaging up. As I do not own a rotisserie, this was my inspiration to try to come up with a baked chicken with rotisserie flavors. So this is what I tried. Considering I had breasts and drumsticks to cook together, they came out surprisingly moist and tender.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• olive oil
• 1 whole cut up chicken (My chicken pack came only with 2 breasts and 4 drumsticks)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil.
2. In a small bowl, make spice rub by combining brown sugar, garlic powder, chili powder and salt. Mix well. 
3. Rub chicken with olive oil.
4. Rub spice mix over chicken pieces covering both sides. 
5. Place chicken on prepared baking sheet.
6. Add an extra drizzle of olive oil over chicken pieces.
7. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 400F degrees. This initial high heat will help brown the chicken.
8. Then lower the heat to 350 F degrees and bake for an additional 10-20 minutes more until the juices run clear (not pink) when poked with a sharp knife or the internal temperature of the chicken breasts is 165 F degrees and of the drumsticks are 170 F degrees.
9.  Remove from oven and transfer the chicken to a serving dish. Tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
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Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Balls

Although I like to make scratch recipes, sometimes taking a short cut and making something semi-homemade works best for me. These truffle balls would be fun to make with kids and since I’m a kid at heart, these were great fun for me to make. To be honest, I did not care for the raspberry gummy candies. Next time I will use a different type of candy. But others in my family loved them. So, it’s all a matter of preference.  This recipe yields 24 truffles.

INGREDIENTS:

• 10 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 box your favorite chocolate cake mix
• 24 raspberry jelly candies (I used Haribo Black and Red Raspberry Gummies)
• sprinkles for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt butter in the microwave until in liquid form.
2. Combine melted butter and chocolate cake mix. Be sure to mix well.
3. Spoon a rounded tablespoon of batter into your hand and flatten.
4. Place raspberry gummy in the middle of the flattened circle and enclose with chocolate batter.
5. Roll into a ball between your hands.
6. Roll the chocolate truffle into sprinkles.
7. Set onto wax paper.
8. Place in refrigerator to allow to firm and dry. Serve after chilling for one hour.

Cranberry and Pistachio Bark

I had planned to make nine different cookies for my Christmas goodie boxes this year. But getting sick right before Christmas ruined my plans. I was able to make four differents cookies but I had to stop there. My ambition was there, but my energy level was exhausted by then. Since I had a ton of extra chocolates not being used now, I  decided to try my hand at making a chocolate bark. Surprisingly simple to make and quite tasty to boot.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coconut oil, divided (1 teaspoon and 1/2 teaspoon)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup pistachios, shelled

DIRECTIONS:

1. Line a quarter sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, place dark chocolate chips and 1 teaspoon of coconut oil. Microwave on half power in 30 second intervals, stirring between each time, until melted.
3. Place white chocolate chips in a separate bowl with remaining coconut oil. Repeat microwave directions until chips are melted.
4. Spread dark chocolate out on prepared sheet pan. 
5. Drizzle white chocolate over dark chocolate. Use a butter knife and drag through drizzles to make a pretty pattern. (Yeah, I know mine isn’t dragged or pretty. But I was sick!)
6. Sprinkle with pistachios and dried cranberries. Chill until hardened. Break into small pieces and serve.