Southwestern Style Chicken Soup

This Southwestern Style Chicken Soup is my new favorite soup (it used to be the lasagna soup, which is still a favorite btw) because it is so flavorful.  I love the lime and cilantro in the soup so I would not leave those out, especially the lime.  It is also a great way to use up any leftover cooked chicken.  Another plus is that this is a gluten free meal and it is healthy.  Feel free to add more veggies, this soup is versatile.  Overall, this soup is warm, hearty and perfect for fall. Enjoy!

Southwestern Style Chicken Soup

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup onion, diced (I used 1 medium sized red onion.)

1 hot pepper, diced (I used a Hungarian wax pepper.)

3 garlic cloves, minced

5 cups vegetable broth (or use chicken broth)

¼ cup uncooked white rice (or use brown rice)

1 teaspoon cumin

15 ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (or any white bean)

2 cups cooked chicken breast, chopped

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½ cup frozen corn 

½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

½ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup tomato, diced

1 avocado, diced

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (I used 1 lime.)

Directions

Heat olive oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat.

Add in onions and peppers.  Sauté for about 3 minutes until slightly softened and add in garlic.  Sauté for an additional minute until garlic is fragrant. 

Add in broth, rice, cumin, and beans.

Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.   Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Uncover and stir in chicken, corn, cilantro, pepper, and salt.  Simmer for additional 5 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly heated.

Remove from heat.  Stir in tomato, avocado and lime juice.

Serves 6 to 8.

Slow Cooker Santa Fe Chicken

I love using my slow cooker and this Santa Fe Chicken is a super simple recipe.  I am pretty sure Santa Fe Chicken was originally a casserole type dish but making it in a slow cooker is so much easier.  I have seen several slow cooker recipes where you only need chicken and salsa, but I wanted to add a little bit more.  I already had a can of black beans and a can of corn, and those work well together.  Feel free to add in kidney beans or pinto beans instead of black beans and use your favorite salsa.  Prepare the ingredients the night before and just turn on your slow cooker in the morning.  You will have a great dinner by the time you are home.  The shredded chicken is so versatile too.  I made a little bowl of the chicken, topped it with a poached egg, shredded cheddar cheese, and plain greek yogurt; and I served it with some tortilla chips.  It was delicious!  Also,  I made a bunch of burritos with the leftover shredded chicken to freeze for future meals.  I'll try to post that recipe tomorrow. 

Slow Cooker Santa Fe Chicken

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 ½  pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs (5 pieces)

15 ounce can black beans, drained

15 ounce can corn, drained

16 ounce jar salsa (I used Desert Pepper Trading Co.’s Salsa Del Rio – Medium.)

salt and pepper

Directions

Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper.

Place chicken thighs in slow cooker.

Top with drained black beans and corn.

Stir in salsa.

Cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours, until chicken is cooked through.  The chicken should shred easily just by stirring after cooking.

This is great served over rice, in a burrito/taco, or as a sandwich.

Serves 6 or more.

Butter Chicken

My best friend Sarah has shared this butter chicken recipe with me a long time ago and I haven't been able to make it since I could never find the Indian spices at the grocery stores around me.   I'm finally going to try to make it since Sarah got me the spices at the Indian store near her.  This butter chicken is amazing, and it smells so good when cooking.  It is a little bit spicy, but has just enough kick that it's not overpowering.  You can always add more or less spices to adjust to your taste.  I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do, thanks for sharing Sarah!

   

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, divided (equals to 1 ½ sticks)

1/2 onion, minced

1 tablespoon minced garlic

8 ounce can tomato sauce (equals to 1 cup)

2 cups heavy cream

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon garam masala

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons tandoori masala

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Stir in minced onion and garlic, and cook slowly until the onion caramelizes to a dark brown, about 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat along with the tomato sauce, heavy cream, salt, cayenne pepper, and garam masala.  Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low.  Cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Then stir in caramelized onions. 

While the sauce is simmering, toss cubed chicken breast with vegetable oil and tandoori masala until coated.  Spread out onto a baking sheet. 

Bake chicken in preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 12 to 15 minutes.  Once done, add the chicken to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes before serving. 

This is great served over plain, white rice. I always have rice available, its a staple in a Chinese kitchen :)

Serves 4-6.  FYI,  the sauce is so good, I could just eat it alone with rice ;)

I couldn't resist posting this picture of Ellie.  She tends to follow me around and she fell asleep in the dining room, which is right next to the kitchen.  How cute is she?

Salad with Blackberries and Balsamic Vinaigrette

I am off work every Friday due to working a flex schedule at my office.  Since I am usually home for lunch, I was trying to think of what I wanted to eat today.  I like to eat a light lunch and what is lighter than a salad.  I had all these ingredients at home already to make this flavorful salad.  It took me less than 10 minutes to put it all together!

P.S.  Thank you Sarah for the LeRoux Pomegranate Balsamic Vinegar and Tracy for the Regusci California Extra Virgin Olive Oil!  I have such great friends who bring me back food gifts from their travels :) 

Ingredients

prepacked salad mix (I used an italian mix, but spinach would be great or any other type of greens you prefer.)

blackberries

goat cheese

pecans, chopped (You can also use walnuts, almonds, or pine nuts.)

salt

freshly ground black pepper

olive oil (I used an olive oil from the Regusci winery in California.)

balsamic vinegar (I used LeRoux pomegranate balsamicvinegar.)

 

Optional Protein Add-Ins

hard boiled or poached egg

sliced, cooked chicken breast

garbanzo beans

Directions

For the salad:

Place salad mix on a plate.  Top with crumbled goat cheese, blackberries, and some chopped pecans. Drizzle some balsamic vinegar and olive oil and top with salt and pepper to taste. 

For extra protein, I added in some leftover ChickenInvoltini, sliced.  Feel free to add in whatever leftover protein you may have or even an egg (hard boiled or poached) would be great.  For vegetarians, I bet some garbanzo beans would be good.

This turned out to be a beautiful salad.  I hope you like it as much I did, enjoy!

 Buddy and Ellie were hoping I had something for them too!

Chicken Involtini

I took a cooking class recently with several of my girlfriends and the dish we learned to make was chicken involtini.  How have I never heard of it before?  It actually sounds and looks like a complicated dish to make, but its not that hard!  I didn't have all the ingredients to make the same chicken involtini dish I made in my class, so I did my own version based on what I had in my kitchen.  I will have to try to recreate it another time, but here is my version of chicken involtini, enjoy!

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 ½ - 2 cups chicken stock (You can also use white wine)

2 tablespoons pesto (I used a premade pesto)

½ cup mozzarella & provolone shredded cheese mix

salt

garlic powder

crushed red pepper flakes

1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

½ cup flour

Directions

For the chicken:

You will need to butterfly each chicken breast.  This is actually very simple to do.  Place the chicken breast on a cutting board and place your hand on top of the chicken breast. Carefully insert the knife into the thickest part of the chicken breast, and draw it almost all the way through the chicken breast. Be careful so you don’t cut it all the way through.  Open the chicken breast like a book and, and if needed, use the broad side of your knife to even out the butterflied chicken breast, by lightly pressing the flesh down until it is an even thickness.

Place the butterflied chicken breasts on the cutting board, cut side up.  Sprinkle crushed red pepper flakes, garlic powder and salt on each chicken breast.  Add more or less seasonings to your taste. 

 

Next spread 1 tablespoon of pesto on top of each seasoned chicken breast.

 

Add ¼ cup of cheese on top of the pesto.

Roll each chicken breast tightly away from you and place seam side down.

 

You may use twine to wrap each rolled chicken breast or you can use aluminum foil strips instead!  This is a new trick I learned at my cooking class.  You cut a strip of foil and use that as twine to wrap around your chicken.  No need to keep twine in your kitchen again!

Place the flour in a shallow dish, and dip each rolled chicken breast in flour to lightly coat. 

Heat 1 -2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy pan on medium high heat. 

 

Add the rolled chicken breasts into the hot pan; make sure you hear it sizzle so you know the oil is hot!  This is how you know you will get a good sear on the chicken.   Turn the chicken so it gets a nice sear and is lightly browned on each side.   You do not need to cook it all the way through.

 

Remove the lightly browned chicken and place on a dish.  You may cover to keep warm.  Next, add 1 ½ - 2 cups chicken stock and 1 tablespoon butter into the same pan and bring to a simmer.  Using a wooden spoon, stir and scrape to get all the nice browned bits off the bottom of the pan.   Let the chicken stock (or wine) reduce a little.  This will make a nice sauce to go with your chicken.

Reduce heat to low and add the chicken back into the pan with the sauce.  Cover with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes. 

You can cut the chicken into slices and pour the sauce over the chicken slices.  Add a side salad and you have a complete dinner!

Serves 2.  This is a simple dish that will still impress anyone you serve it to!