Southwestern Chicken Soup

For Ryan (and anyone else who wants to try this :)

You could play around with these ingredients. I probably never use the same ingredients twice.

-1 lb. chicken (you can use frozen or thawed)
-cup or two of frozen corn (I used mixed veggies that night we had it b/c that's what I had on hand)
-1 can of diced green chilies
-1 can of black beans (or one cup dry beans- soaked of course) I think I might have also put white northern beans in there too that night. You could also use kidney beans. The more, the merrier.
-2 tbs cumin, 1 tbs chili powder, 1 onion (or, you can just use a packet of taco seasoning)
-2 cloves garlic
-1 carton of chicken broth (or more if you want to stretch it- the night I made it for us, I used two taco seasoning packets and two cartons of chicken broth)

I just put all of this in the crock pot and let it go either on high for 4 hours or on low for 7-8 hours. When it's finished, I shred the chicken with two forks.
Use sour cream and cheese for garnish

Potato, spinach, sausage soup (from the retreat)

-5lb peeled potatoes cut in small pieces
-enough water to boil (in retrospect, I didn't use enough at the retreat)- cover potatoes and a little more for a little soupier soup than we had
-1 jar of spinach dip (I used frito lay)
-1/2 jar of salsa (I used restaurant style for no chunks:)
-handful of fresh spinach
-1 pkg. kielbasa
-can add milk if you want

Boil potatoes until tender. Add spinach dip, salsa, and kielbasa. Wait until these things are sufficiently mixed and warmed with the soup and then add fresh spinach. I'd let the soup simmer for 15-20 minutes so everything's hot. Enjoy.

P.S. I've eaten salad every day since the retreat b/c I bought the salad dressing we had at the retreat. Whoever's idea that was, thanks!

Cha Cha's white chicken chili (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
• 3 (15 ounce) cans white beans
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

I leave out the jalapenos and it's just spicy enough :)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir the onion until tender. Mix in the garlic, jalapeno, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano and cayenne. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in the chicken broth, chicken and white beans. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove the mixture from heat. Slowly stir in the cheese until melted. Serve warm.

Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake

Just made this last week and it was by far, the best dessert I've ever made. I thought I'd share it with you girls.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs (about 16 cookies)
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 20 chocolate cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, coarsely chopped

Directions: In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press onto the bottom of greased 9-in. springform pan. Refrigerate while preparing filling.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in chocolate and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Fold in half of chopped cookies. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with remaining cookies. Place pan on a baking sheet.
Bake at 325° for 50-60 minutes or until center is almost set and top appears dull. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Yield: 12 servings.

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Ryan, this sounds complicated, but it really isn't. Hope they turn out well!

French Onion Soup

Fall weather makes me want soup. We had this soup for lunch today and we really liked it. We didn't use a baguette though, we used portuguese rolls from the Fresh market. Yum.

• 4 onions, chopped
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 3 (10.5 ounce) cans beef broth
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 French baguette, cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

1. In a large pot over medium heat, saute the onions in the butter or margarine for 10 minutes, or until onions are tender (I would suggest a little longer so the onions start to dissolve...our's were a little crunchy still). Stir in the flour, ground black pepper and the sugar to form a pasty mixture.
2. Now add the beef broth, water, parsley and thyme and simmer for 10 minutes, Then add the wine and simmer for 10 more minutes.
3. Preheat oven to broil.
4. Fill individual oven safe bowls 3/4 full with the soup. Place a slice of bread on top of the soup and cover with the cheese. Place bowls in the oven.
5. Broil in the oven until the cheese is melted and bubbly

Apple-Cinnamon French Toast Bake

I made this while my mom-in-law was in town and it was really good. The best part is that you can make it the night before and just pop it in the oven the next morning. Or, you could have this with a Sunday lunch and just add a few things to it. I didn't put syrup on mine b/c it's sweet already.

• 10 (3/4 inch thick) slices day-old French bread
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 3/4 cups milk
• 2/3 cup sugar, divided
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 medium apples - peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon butter
  

Place bread in a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Combine eggs, milk, 1/3 cup sugar and vanilla; pour half over bread. Top with half of the apples. Combine cinnamon, nutmeg and remaining sugar; sprinkle half over apples. Top with the remaining apples. Pour remaining egg mixture over apples and sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture. Dot with butter. Cover and chill 8 hours or overnight. remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 1 hour or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Massage Oil recipe

4 oz. oil (apricot, jojoba, grape seed, almond, or avocado)
50 drops of whatever essential oil you like (I used orange)


I got this stuff and a glass bottle to hold it at Green Life. They have a million essential oils to choose from. I smelled half a million and decided on the orange. They have relaxation oils and love potions and...well, a million choices.
I picked avocado oil b/c it is supposedly the most moisturizing (and with this time of year, that's a good thing). Anyway, this stuff works really well as massage oil and as a little side benefit, it made my feet really smooth too (I put it and socks on my feet before I went to bed the other night). My bottle looks like the dark one in the middle of the front row. Happy massaging.

Homemade peanut butter cups

I just made these for my hubby for Valentine's Day but I didn't have mini cupcake liners so I made BIG ones. I used dark chocolate chips instead of milk choc. and they were very easy and very good. Not as pretty as Tabi's cupcakes, but for those a little less creative or ambitious, this is perfect :)

The first picture is from the internet, the second is what mine looked like, and the third is Eli, taste-testing for me.

1 cup creamy peanut butter, divided
4-1/2 teaspoons butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
4 milk chocolate candy bars (1.55 ounces each), coarsely chopped
Colored sprinkles, optional

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup peanut butter, butter, confectioners' sugar and
salt until smooth; set aside. In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the
chocolate chips, candy bars and remaining peanut butter; stir until smooth.
Drop teaspoonfuls of chocolate mixture into paper-lined miniature muffin cups.
Top each with a scant teaspoonful (mine were not very scant) of peanut butter mixture; top with another teaspoonful of chocolate mixture. Decorate with sprinkles if desired. Refrigerate
until set. Store in an airtight container.


ALSO: I made homemade massage oil for my hubby for Valentine's Day. It turned out great. It's not food, but if you want the "recipe," just let me know. It was EASY!

Chicken cacciatore and cracked pepper cheddar muffins

This is not what I have in mind when I think of chk cacciatore but it's my sister-in-law's recipe and this is what she calls it. This is a very easy and delicious recipe.

2 potatoes (I use sweet since they metabolize as a protein instead of as a carb, and my hubby has blood sugar issues)
2 pieces of chicken
2 carrots (the big kind)
1 green pepper
1 onion
garlic powder and oregano to taste
1 cup of white wine
1 can of diced tomatoes (Walmart has organic for not much more than non-organic)
(you can get the tomatoes with oregano and not have to sprinkle the oregano yourself)

I cut the carrots up into sticks and put them in a pile in the middle of a 9 x 13 pan. Then I cut up the potatoes and place them all around the edges of the pan. Cut onion and green pepper and put it around the edges too. Sprinkle with garlic powder and oregano. Put cut-up, raw chicken on top of carrots in the middle of the pan. Sprinkle the tomatoes all over the casserole and pour white wine in as well. Cook on 400 for 20 minutes and then turn down to 350 for 50 min.
Serves 6. Serves 3 if you are married to Ken.

Muffins
2 cups flour (I use half unbleached white and half wheat)
1 tbls sugar (turbinado works fine)
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse ground pepper
1 egg
1 1/4 cup milk
2 tbls veggie oil (I use applesauce in all of my baked goods that call for oil- even non-sweet baked goods. I wasn't sure how it would work but I even use it in my cornbread and it's great!)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl. Then wet ingredients in another. Combine and fold in cheese. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 way full. Bake at 375 for 25-30 min. Makes a dozen.