Slow Cooker Creamy Black Bean Chicken Soup

Slow Cooker Creamy Black Bean Chicken Soup

2 chicken breasts
1 cup chicken broth
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn
1 can mexican stewed tomatoes
1 can hot Green chiles
1 cup salsa
1 package taco seasoning
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cheddar cheese
Tortilla chips
Avocado
Cilantro


Place chicken in crock pot. Pour broth, beans, corn, salsa, stewed tomatoes, chiles, and taco seasoning over chicken.  Cook on low for 6 hours (or high for 3 hours).  Shred chicken.Add sour cream and cheese to crock pot. Stir until smooth. Cook additional 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips, avocado, & cilantro.

Cheesy Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas

Splash of olive oil
6 cups baby spinach leaves, about 4
handfuls
¼ cup tomato paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 garlic clove, minced
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
3 Tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup flour
2 Tablespoons mild chili powder
3 ½ cups chicken broth
3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
1 ½ cups loosely packed shredded cheese (whatever kind you like)
16 ‐ 6” corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly oil a 9x13 baking dish and set aside.

Heat a large, nonstick sauté pan over medium heat and add in
oil. Once the oil is hot add the spinach and cook until wilted
and most of the moisture has cooked out, about 4 – 6 minutes.
Remove the spinach from the pan and set aside on a plate
lined with paper towels to absorb any remaining moisture.
Once cooled give it a rough chop.

 In a small bowl, mix tomato paste, cumin, oregano, garlic and
salt & pepper – stir to combine and set aside.

Heat a large, nonstick sauté pan over medium heat; add in oil,
flour, and chili powder, stir to combine until it
becomes a thick paste. Add in tomato paste mixture and stir
to combine.  Slowly add in broth while whisking to dissolve the flour
mixture. Continue whisking while adding in all the broth.  Reduce heat
to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow
to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, combine chicken, cooked spinach, 1 cup of
cheese, and 1-2 cups of sauce.

Spoon 1 cup of enchilada sauce on the bottom of the prepared
baking dish. Evenly spread 8 tortillas over the sauce.  Spread the
chicken/spinach mixture evenly over the tortillas, then cover with the
remaining 8 tortillas.  Ladle the rest of the sauce evenly over the top and
cover with cheese.  Cover with foil and place into the preheated oven for 10
minutes. Remove the foil and bake uncovered for 5 additional minutes to
melt the cheese. Serve immediately.

Adapted from a recipe on The Fresh 20.

Deb's turkey tacos

Cisco pure canola
Green olives with pimentos in jar
Green onions
Tomatoes
Shredded leftover turkey
Pablano sauce
Swansens chicken broth
corn tortillas
Colby jack cheese

Put a little oil in a skillet. Sauté green onions, tomatoes and lastly green olives. Sprinkle some Pablano on Turkey. Put as much or as little as you want for flavor.

When mixture in skillet is sautéed, add turkey and some Swansens chicken broth. Let simmer.

In another skillet, put a little oil and heat. Take corn tortillas and quickly dip in oil to soften. Put between napkins to soak oil.

Take a tortilla, sprinkle Colby jack cheese and turkey mixture. Roll and eat!!!!

Enjoy!

Shredded Chicken in Chipotle-Tomato Sauce

Shredded Chicken in Chipotle-Tomato Sauce

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 8

4 Chipotle chiles in Adobo sauce (can reduce amount to your preference)
2 cans of tomato soup (10.75 oz.)
2 cups of onions, diced
1 rotisserie chicken
1 bag tostada shells

Garnish:
Cacique® Queso Fresco, crumbled
1 bunch of fresh cilantro, finely diced
Cacique® Crema Mexicana or sour cream

Preheat pan over medium-low heat.
Pull off all the white meat from one whole cooked rotisserie chicken, shred the meat and set aside.
Puree chilies and tomato soup in a blender or food processor until fully blended.
Place onions into skillet. Once onions are translucent, add in shredded rotisserie chicken.
Add blended mixture to skillet; stir to combine all ingredients. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve chicken on top of each tostada, drizzle with crema Mexicana, lightly garnish with queso fresco and cilantro.

Crockpot Barbacoa (shredded Mexican beef)

Crockpot Barbacoa

3-4 lb beef chuck roast
2 limes, juiced
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (just the peppers, not the sauce)
4 garlic cloves
1 heaping Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp oregano
1½ tsp salt
1½ tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp ground cloves
1 cup chicken broth
3 bay leaves

In food processor (or blender), combine vinegar, lime juice, chipotle peppers, garlic cloves, cumin, oregano, pepper, salt and ground cloves. Process on high until smooth.  In large crockpot, add roast, pepper puree, bay leaves, and chicken broth. Heat on low 6-8 hours.  Shred beef and place back in juice, remove bay leaves.

Serve rolled in a tortilla with garlicky pinto beans, spanish rice, and a squeeze of fresh lime.  This is absolutely delicious!

Mom's Taco Soup

Mom's Taco Soup

1 pound ground beef

1/2 of a red onion

3 cups water

16 ounces canned diced tomatoes

2 cans pinto beans (drained and rinsed)

8 ounces tomato sauce

2-3 tablespoons taco seasoning

Brown the ground beef.  Towards the end add the onion and cook until soft.  Drain.  Combine the ground beef and onion with the rest of the ingredients.  Heat over medium/low heat 15-20 minutes or heat in slow cooker on low for 3-4 hours.  Serve topped with: shredded cheese, sliced avocado, sour cream, Fritos.

Tara's Green Chili (Chile Verde)

I entered this recipe in a chili cook-off recently and won!  It's really, really delicious!
 

Tara's Green Chili (Chile Verde)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 pounds cubed pork stew meat

Salt and pepper to taste

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 small red onion, diced

8 cloves of garlic, minced

27 oz can Hatch Chopped Green Chiles (mild)

(2) 4 oz cans hatch Chopped Green Chiles (hot)

28 oz can Muir Glen Organic fire-roasted diced tomatoes with juice

3 cups La Victoria Thick-n-Chunky salsa verde (medium)

4 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon dried oregano

(2) 15 oz cans pinto beans, rinsed (optional)

1. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat. Season the pork with salt and pepper to taste, then place into the hot oil. Cook until golden brown on all sides. Once browned, remove the pork and set aside. Reduce heat to medium, and stir in the onion and garlic. Cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Return the pork to the pot, and stir in the green chiles, diced tomatoes with juice, tomatillo salsa, and chicken broth. Season with oregano. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.
3. After 20 minutes, remove 2 cups of the soup (ensure there are no pork cubes in it), and pour into a blender. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree until smooth, and then pour back into the cooking pot. This will create a thicker texture for your chili and will eliminate some of the chunky bits of chiles. Stir in the pinto beans.  Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally until the pork is very tender, at least 35 minutes more.      (Serves 12)

Another delicious Mexican meal!

Tonight my parents came over for dinner.  They came early so that my Mom could play with Moose and my Dad could help me cook the meal.  My Dad and I love cooking together!  Dinner turned out really well.  The Chile Verde was flavorful and spicy, and the Refried beans were so yummy.  We ate it wrapped up in fresh tortillas, with Mom's homemade chocolate pie on the side.  Delicious!  Like the other Mexican meal I made, it's a bit labor intensive, but the result is totally worth the effort.  Give it a try!

Absolutely delicious dinner!

I made my first authentic Mexican meal tonight, and it was absolutely delicious!  I made Braised Short Ribs in Tomatillo Sauce.  I followed the recipe exactly as written, other than leaving out the avocado leaves.  I had no idea where to get those, and it said optional anyway, so I just left them out.  The Arbol peppers are dried and are found in the Mexican aisle.  I found them at 3 separate stores, so it seems they are readily available.  The flavor in the finished dish was amazing, and it wasn't overly spicy at all.  I cannot recommend enough putting in the time to make this recipe.  It's wonderful!

To go along with them I made Basic Mexican Pinto Beans.  The only change I made was I added a piece of bacon during the cooking, and just left it in there to boil.  I think it added an extra little kick of taste.  Branden had to work 2 1/2 hours late tonight, and I ate, hmm, several bowls of beans waiting for him.  I just couldn't stop eating them.  They were very good!

I was planning to have Branden pick up some fresh tortillas from a Mexican bakery on his way home, but by the time he got off work it was already closed.  So instead we ate the meat on tortilla chips, and I must say it was really good that way.  In the future I'm not sure I'd even want tortillas with it, and may just go for the tortilla chips again!

The Shortribs take a bit of time and labor to make, but are so totally worth it.  The beans are extremely easy to make, so that helps balance out the time spent on the meal.  Definitely give this one a try.  You will not regret it!  We had a little bit of the Shortribs left over, so I am going to mix it with scrambled eggs in the morning.  Totally looking forward to that as well!