Taco Soup - Love in a Bowl

This is a soup I first tasted when I worked in a Mexican Restaurant in Texas and I fell in love with it. I have tried for years to find this soup again and have tasted it at many restaurants but nothing close to that first bowl.Last night, I decided to recreate my own Tortilla soup using parts of other recipes and what I remembered from that Tortilla soup in Midland Texas. I think it comes pretty darn close. The little something extra is the green onion as well as the homemade tortilla strips. I hope you love it because it is one of my very favorites.


Taco Soup

6 chicken breasts

Drizzle with Olive Oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place about a cup of water on the pan with chicken, this helps prevent the chicken drying out. Roast on a cookie sheet at 300 for 35 minutes or until cooked through. Shred while still warm and salt and pepper. Set aside.



For soup base:

2 tbsp of olive oil and butter
1 half diced onion
1 diced celery stock
6 small carrots diced
3 minced of garlic
½ tsp of cumin
¼ tsp of chili powder
2 tsp of southwest seasoning
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp of tomato paste
1 container of Chicken stock
1 can of chicken broth
4 cups of water
4 chicken bouillon cubes
1 can of diced tomatoes with lime and cilantro
1 tbsp of cilantro
2 tbsp of lime juice

4-8 shakes of Cholula hot sauce
Salt and pepper to taste (about 1 and a half tbsp)

Saute the vegetables in the olive oil and butter and add the spices. When they are soft and the onions translucent add the tomato paste and briefly cook. Add the chicken stock, chicken broth, water, and bouillon cubes. Mix and add hot sauce to taste. Add the tomatoes with juice, cilantro and the lime juice and simmer for 20 minutes. Check for taste and adjust salt and pepper accordingly.




Condiments:

2 ripe avocadoes diced into cubes.
Pour about 1 tbsp of lime juice over pieces to keep it nice and green
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese shredded
1 green onion diced
Cilantro washed and stems removed, I prefer to chop it slightly
Lime wedges
Sour cream
Tortilla strips



To make tortillas strips:
Take corn tortillas in a stack and cut into strips about 1 cm in dimension each. You can do this with a large pizza cutter or a knife. Heat up a small frying pan with corn oil on medium heat. Place a handful of strips at a time in oil and crisp each side. Place on a paper towel and salt lightly. Finish rest of pile.

How to assemble soup:

Place a small handful of chicken in bottom of bowl, place desired condiments: diced avocado, green onions, cilantro, and Monterey Jack cheese. Ladle soup over this which will heat up the condiments and melt cheese. Then top with tortilla strips and a dollop of sour cream. Squeeze on lime and enjoy. This is a pretty, delicious soup on a cold winter evening. Enjoy with a slice of hot jalapeno cheddar corn bread.

Who Doesn't Love Spaghetti and Meatballs

This is a picture of yes, my own Spaghetti and Meatballs and don't they look delicious.

Well here we are again making dinner. Tonight I wanted to make a family favorite and thought, heck why not publish my version of this classic dish. We looooooove pasta at my house and this spaghetti is at the top of the list.

Anyway, several years ago I started experimenting with making meatballs and I must have tried a million versions including baking them but this recipe is the one that I have come back to time and time again as the very best.

When making meatballs, I pan fry them in olive oil and handle them delicately with two spoons. They turn out better, don't break, and are so scrumptious. These meatballs are a little more time consuming but oh so worth it.

So here is the recipe, the little something extra in these is definitely the fresh herbs. In the summer time when I had fresh tomatoes and fresh herbs in my garden, this meal was unbeatable. I mean really you couldn't have anything better; but in the off season, you can buy fresh herbs at the market and they work almost as well.

Spaghetti & Meatballs-

1 Package of Spaghetti,

cooked according to directions on package

To make Meatballs:

1 lb ground beef

2 cloves of garlic minced or garlic salt abt 1 tsp

1 tbsp of Italian seasonings

1 Lipton Onion soup mix

½ cup Italian bread crumbs

1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp of Balsamic Vinegar

Salt and pepper

Lightly mix these together with your clean hands and form about 1 in balls.

Fry in extra virgin olive oil about 2 tbsps. I find turning them with a couple of spoons

is the easiest way and doesn’t break the meatball. Cook on medium until brown on all sides.

For Sauce:

1-2 containers of Barilla Tomato & Basil Sauce, depending on how saucy you want to make it

1 tbsp of Italian seasonings

Fresh rosemary, thyme, basil, and parsley, this is to taste but probably about a couple of tbsp each

2 cloves of garlic minced

2 tbsp parmesan

1 tsp of Balsamic Vinegar

Salt and Pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a separate bowl. Chop the fresh herbs and garlic and mix together. Place half of the fresh herbs and garlic in the sauce, reserving half for the end. Pour sauce over browned meatballs and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Cook and Drain Pasta and toss with spaghetti sauce and meatballs. Let heat through about 3 minutes and then top with remaining herbs and garlic, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and extra parmesan. Serve with a crunchy green salad and crusty garlic toast. Excellent Spaghetti! This is one of my Dad’s and my daughter Laura's favorite meals.

*To make garlic toast

Take any kind of bread and either butter it or drizzle it with extra virgin olive oil. Broil in oven for 2 minutes or until browned. Then either rub with a cut piece of garlic or sprinkle with garlic salt lightly.

Like I mentioned, the little something extra is the fresh herbs but fresh ingredients in general make for a better meal. Get the best spaghetti sauce, or make your own, get good pasta, get good quality beef and cheeses and you will always have an excellent meal!

Enjoy!

New Year, New Things

This is the Apple Dumplings Picture from the Original Pioneer Woman Post but mine looked a lot like these do.

Well, I have obviously been a little derelict in working on my blog seeing as the last post was in January of 2008 but I have reason to post on here now. People want to see the recipes of the things I have been posting on facebook.

I will post at random the things I make but if there are any special requests of the things you have seen in the past, just let me know and I will put them up.

Now I do have a disclaimer of sorts, I mess around with recipes a lot adding my own touches and what not so sometimes recipes are not exact but I will explain the base recipe, if there is one, and the additions of what I added or the little something extra. If this is still not enough explanation, call me and I will walk you through the recipe.

I actually used the recipe from the blog of the Pioneer Woman, who was quite humorous and she shows a lot of pictures, which I love. These things were amazing little creations, if I do say so myself. But I will add this that this is not a low calorie dessert so when you are pouring the gobs of butter and sugar over the little dumplings do not faint but think, ummm yummm.

I will also post my little something extra.

So without further ado:

Apple Dumplings

2 Regular tubes of Crescent dough

( I tried the butter ones, and too much butter, I know how is that possible but really it does make a difference)

2 apples, peeled, cored and cut into 8 wedges

(she used Granny Smiths but all I had on hand was Gala so do as you wish)

2 sticks of butter ( or 1 cup)

1 1/2 cups of sugar (white although I thought of putting half brown sugar for a darker flavor)

1 tsp of vanilla

1 can of sprite ( she used Mt Dew but I had a can of sprite on hand so once again, whatever your little heart desires)

cinnamon to sprinkle over top

( I used pumpkin pie seasoning because I like the ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice blend better but then again, I am a spice nut so ...)

Butter a 9 X 13 pan and set the oven to 350 degrees. Wrap each apple slice in one of the cresent roll wedges and place in pan. Then melt butter in sauce pan but only partially. Strange I know, but that was the recipe. Then add the sugar and stir but leave the mixture partially unmelted, apparently you want this grainy and mushy. Add the vanilla off the burner and pour mixture over the apple sliced dumplings, wow yeah, feel the loveliness of all the butter and sugar.

Next, pour Sprite around the edges of the pan and down the middle if you feel like doing so. Sprinkle the tops of each dumpling with the pumpkin pie spice and place in the oven once again, on 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. Now this said anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes or until the tops are crisp and brown but not overly brown.

When you get this out it will seem like an awful lot of liquid is sloshing around in there but it settles a bit and becomes the sauce to drizzle over the top. Boy howdy, my husband said he could feel his arteries clogging but he took a second helping so, clogging arteries in this case equals delightful lip smacking tasty.

I served this with a dollop of Cool Whip because it was what I had on hand but ice cream would be fabulous. My little something extra was going to be orange zest into the sugar butter mixture but I was in a hurry and forgot, I still think this will be an excellent addition and will add it the next time I make this.

Enjoy or go look at her website to see the pictures. I will take pictures of the next recipe and post it for you to look at so you can see the process right here.

I hope you love these little dumplings, the crispy cinnamon top and the dumpling gooey bottom makes these fantastic so much so, my daughter Emily requested these instead of my famous Cream Cake for her birthday in April.

Original Apple Dumpling Recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/02/apple_dumplings/