Chili Cheese Tortilla Soup

1 small onion, chopped
2 T. oil
2 1/2 c. chopped or diced tomatoes (canned 1 or 2 cans according to taste)
3 c. chicken broth
2 - 3 chicken breasts, chopped into small pieces
1 - 2 cans (4 oz.) green chiles, chopped
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
3 potatoes or sweet potatoes, peeled & chopped
1 - 2 carrots, chopped fine

Saute onion until soft.  Add tomatoes, chicken broth, salt, pepper, and potatoes & cook until tender (about 40 minutes).  While that is cooking, cook chicken with a little oil until fully cooked then cut into small pieces.
Once cooked, add cheddar or your favorite cheese and tortilla pieces into your hot soup.  Let each person add their own cheese & tortillas according to their taste.

*Lorena made this while we were in Israel and it made a delicious dinner!

Lemon Poppy Seed Zucchini Bread

½ Cup Butter, softened (room temperature)

1 1/3 Cups Sugar

3 Large Eggs

1 ½ Cups All-Purpose Flour

½ teaspoon Salt

1/8 teaspoon Baking Soda

½ Cup Sour Cream

1 Cup Shredded Zucchini

1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest

2 teaspoon Poppy Seeds

  

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Beat butter at medium speed until creamy.  Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

In another bowl, stir together flour, salt and baking soda.  Add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition.  Stir in zucchini, lemon zest and poppy seeds.  Spoon batter into 3 greased and floured 5” x 3” loaf pans (about 1 1/3 cups batter per pan).

Bake at 325 degrees for 40 – 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool pans on wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove from pans to wire racks and cool completely.

Tomato Feta Salad

Someone brought this salad to our ward Christmas party, and I tried going back for thirds but unfortunately, everyone else had discovered it's deliciousness as well and there was nothing left in the bowl. I knew I should have taken more the second time I went back, but I was trying to be polite.

I tracked down who brought the salad so I could get the recipe, because it's a recipe that I'd love to have on hand. Come to find out, it's just from Ina Garten of the Food Network. You can find the link here.




Ingredients
4 pints grape tomatoes, red or mixed colors
1 1/2 cups small-diced red onion (2 onions)
1/4 cup good white wine vinegar
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 1/2 pounds feta cheese

Directions
Cut the tomatoes in half and place them in a large bowl. Add the onion, vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, basil, and parsley and toss well. Dice the feta in 1/2 to 3/4-inch cubes, crumbling it as little as possible. Gently fold it into the salad and serve at room temperature. 

Cranberry Apple Bread Stuffing

Recipe from here

And another one I thought you all might like. I'm not even a huge stuffing lover, but this sounds delicious:

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 small onion, chopped
1 large apple, cored and chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup fresh cranberries
1 package (8 ounces) corn bread stuffing
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons water
1 egg, slightly beaten

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add onion, apple, and celery; cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Reduce temperature to low; add cranberries and cook an additional 5 minutes. In large bowl, combine remaining ingredients; stir in cranberry mixture. Place stuffing in Crown Roast cavity during last hour of cooking time. Remaining stuffing can be baked in a lightly greased covered casserole dish for about 45 minutes.

Makes about 4 cups stuffing

I was going to add the nutritional information, too, but, it's the holidays, and is that really needed this time of year? You can find it on the link if you're THAT interested.

Roasted Beets and Carrots

I was just about to take a nap, when I decided to quickly browse a free magazine I got at the grocery store yesterday. It had a picture of the most delicious looking cheesecake on the cover, which should have been the first sign that there would be no "quickly" browsing of said magazine once it was opened. And of course, I kept texting Brittany pictures of all of the goodness I was finding inside, adding items to our thanksgiving feast.

 I haven't tried this yet. All I know is it looks amazing, and I needed to write this recipe down before something tragic happens, like I loose the magazine, and all of the recipes contained inside. This magazine is mouth watering...and it's just the grocery stores own magazine for the holidays.

 On with the recipe:

3 medium red beets
1 pound carrots, cut diagonally
1/4 inch thing Olive oil no-stick cooking spray
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp course salt Freshly ground black pepper
2 TBSP white balsamic vinegar or lemon juice
2 TBSP minced shallot
1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp honey

Peel and trim beets; cut in half from stem to root. Place cut-side down; slice 1/2 inch thing. Place beets and carrots in single layer on foil-lined jellyroll pan. Lightly coat with cooking spray and season with sugar, salt, and pepper; toss to coat. Roast in 450 degree oven stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender; about 20-25 minutes.

In small bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients; toss with hot vegetables. Makes 6 servings.

Sounds good, right? I mean, who doesn't love vegetables that are so sweet they state like candy, but ironically are totally healthy for you?

San Francisco Style Bread

My sister-in-law, Sue, called me on Saturday and said, that we needed to try this recipe for San Francisco style bread which has only four ingredients. She stated that the crust has just the right texture. 

This is one recipe that you'll need to plan ahead to make if you want to have it with your meal because it takes 8 - 18 hours for the bread to raise.   

So, here's what I did, right before I went to bed (and I'm not telling how late it was but before midnight),  I mixed-up the batter and left it on my counter to raise.  I woke-up around 6:30 a.m., turned the oven on and placed my little roaster pan in the over to heat up. 

While the oven heated up, I put the dough onto a pile of flour and kneaded it a little.  Once the oven was hot, I took the roaster pan out and placed a pre-cut piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the roaster. Then I carefully lifted the dough and placed it into the hot pan.  I put the lid onto the pan and placed the roaster back into the over. Thirty minutes later, I removed the lid and let the bread bake for an additional 15 minutes.  My oven cooks a little hot so I think about 12 minutes would have been perfect.  

By the time I left for work this morning, my house smelled wonderful and look how this bread turned out!  I broke off a few of the crusty top pieces and nibbled on it hot and oh my goodness, it was so so good.  Do you think my husband will notice that a few of it's pieces are missing?

So excited to have with with our dinner tonight.  I'm wondering if I used buttermilk, would the bread have a sour flavor?  I'm going to try that next.  I'll keep you posted on the results.

Update: I substituted buttermilk for 1 1/4 cups of the water.  I dissolved the yeast in 1/4 cup of water and the bread was even closer to the SF flavor.

Deluxe Mud Pie

Ingredients:                                                                            Time to prepare:  15 minutes 
Ice cream - Cookie Dough, soften about 5-10 minutes
Cookies - Fudge Stripes, crushed
1/3 cup of butter
Skor bar or English Toffee - crushed in the package
1 can of whipping cream

1. Crush the cookies right into the pie pan.  
2. Melt  butter and stir into the crumbs.
3. Add one carton of ice cream
4. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer over night.
5. Cut into serving pieces
6. Top with whipping cream
7. Sprinkle on the candy bar pieces
8. Enjoy!

Preston & Amy are enjoying their Deluxe Mud Pie!  Will you like some too?