Lemony Chicken and Rice Soup

I've been in crock pot mode for a while.  I'm loving my new book American Test Kitchen's Slow Cooker Revolution volume 2.  Most of the following had their beginnings in that book and were modified by me to fit my family/cooking style.
I'd be a total slacker, but the next couple of recipes are things we made while my mom was in town and I told her I'd post them a week ago.  Sick kids and normal business has delayed my posting, but here they are.
This one is for a soup that was very good.  I only moderately modified it from the original.  I loved how it was creamy without cream since I'm currently eating non-dairy for my nursing baby.

Ingredients

• 2 cups diced onions
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced 
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 8 cups chicken broth.  (I use 2 heaping tablespoons of an organic better than bouillon paste that I buy at costco.  I boil the water and dissolve the paste to make my broth.)
• 1 package bone-in split chicken breasts, trimmed (I also skinned mine)
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 cup cooked brown rice

Directions

1. Microwave onions, carrots, garlic and oil in a bowl for 5 minutes stirring mid way through.  Place in slow cooker, stir in broth.  Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to slow cooker.  Cover and cook until chicken is tender.  3-4 hours (book says on low, but I say on high for that short of a time)
2. Transfer chicken to a plate and shred/chop into bite size pieces.  Skim any excess fat from top of soup (I don't find this necessary if you remove the skin from the chicken before cooking.)
3. Whisk egg yolks and lemon juice together in a bowl.  Temper egg  mixture by mixing 3-4 Tablespoons of hot soup into the lemon/yolk mix, then whisk they lemon/yolk mix into the soup until well combined.  Add the shredded chicken and rice and cook until heated through.  (5 minutes or so)  Season with additional salt and pepper if desired.

Bean and Tortilla Soup

This week my cookbook of choice has been another I have checked out of the library called Cheap. Fast. Good!  It is a great book full of time saving ideas ... however, I really had to pick and choose to find ideas that fit with a healthy lifestyle - lots of canned items -of course.  Seems like most of the quick cook books are.  I have to say that I have enjoyed making some quicker meals this week.
I loved this soup - think chicken tortilla soup but with beans instead of chicken.  I loved the addition of lime.  Added a great extra flavor.  I made the recipe as posted here (similar to the book in quantity and it said it served 4)  but if making again, I would more than likely add a third can of beans, more corn, and another cup of broth and adjust spices accordingly (1.5 times chili powder, cumin, sugar and lime) to make it serve my family.  Luckily DH did not eat at home and there was only about 1/2 bowl of left overs.  Aaron wasn't happy about this, but I smashed his beans and he ate at least 10 bites of soup with me spooning it too him.

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 15 oz. can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup frozen yellow corn, rinsed to defrost
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• juice of 1 small lime
• tortilla chips (a few crushed in the bottom of each bowl.
• shredded cheese (cheddar, monterrey Jack, or Mexican blend) if desired - pretty sure we skipped this.

Directions

1. In a 4 1/2 quart soup pan,  saute onion in butter until fragrant.  
2. Add beans, tomatoes, garlic, corn, chili powder, and cumin to the pot.  Stir to blend.  Add broth, sugar and lime juice.  
3. Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes to blend the flavors.  
4. To serve, crush the chips slightly and place in the bottom of the bowl.  Ladle the soup over the chips.  Top with cheese.

loaded baked potato soup

I just did a lot of baking and am actually going to get it blogged right away.  This was the soup we had for dinner that everyone liked.  I was actually surprised because I expected some of my non baked potato lovers to dislike the soup, but everyone liked it.  I had to spoon feed Aaron because he hasn't decided he likes soup yet, but he ate at least 5 bites, maybe more all of which contained bits of potato.
The idea is from a book I have from the library called Cheap. Fast. Good!  This is only supposed to serve 4 according to the book.  I served it with scones and a salad and stretched it to all 6 of us.

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 large onion (about 1 cup diced- I used a heaping cup.)
• 6 pre-baked potatoes, scooped from the skins and diced (about 3 cups diced - my third cup was heaping) or 2 packages refrigerated hash-brown potatoes
• 1 32 oz box chicken stock
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper (I just added a few grinds of fresh)

Optional for serving (but tasty albeit not vegetarian :)

• real bacon bits (not imitation)
• shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. melt butter in a 4 1/2 -5 quart dutch oven or soup pot.  Chop onion and add to butter.  Saute until beginning to brown.  
2. Add the stock bring to a boil.  Add the diced potatoes, sour cream, milk, salt and pepper.  Cook until heated through - 3-5 minutes.  Top with bacon bits and cheese.

split pea soup (vegetarian)

Here is my adaption of Green smoothie girl's split pea soup.   I used a brown basmati rice.  I haven't tried that before.  For the soup I'm sure it made no difference, but my regular brown rice was smelling old and I didn't want any excuses for people to complain the soup wasn't tasty.
I did like this soup.  It turned out very nice.

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups diced sweet onion
• 2 cloves garlic, diced or minced
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 cups dried split peas, rinsed well
• 1 cup brown rice, rinsed well
• 14 cups water 
• 4 carrots, chopped
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 potatoes, diced
• 2 teaspoons each parsley, basil, and thyme
• 1/2-3/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 Tablespoon sea salt.

Directions

1. In a large pot, saute onion and garlic in the oil until onions are translucent.  Add the peas and rice and stir to coat.  Add the waster, bay leaves and salt.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the carrots, celery, potatoes, parsley, basil, thyme and pepper.  Simmer for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Creamy curry cauliflower and broccoli soup

So, this week I tried something new.  I actually went to dealstomeals.com and did their free trial and let them plan my menu and do my grocery list.  I'm apparently a big goober because somehow I never found the link for the grocery list.  I'm not sure if I'll continue to do that, but for this week, it was simple -even with making my own list.
I ended up checking out the site yet again because she had a sun oven giveaway going on. That is definitely worth checking out.
So the first recipe I tried out this week was a curry cauliflower broccoli soup.  I did worry about the curry, but had the 2 children at home for dinner that evening smell it and they said they would like it so I went ahead and threw it in.  I liked it just fine.   I don't think either of them did.  I think you could make this soup and omit the curry, but maybe add a bit more garlic and onion.  Maybe some oregano??  Something to give it a different flavor.  DH came through and sampled a bite (he was eating elsewhere with DS1.)  He definitively didn't like it with the curry, but he is not a curry fan.
I found the directions on the site a bit hard to follow - like it wanted you to combine flour and milk but never said how much flour. I actually used white bean flour to thicken it a bit.  That worked well and hey, it added some protein and fiber.  :)
Here is my version of this soup

Ingredients

• 4 cups chicken stock (1 32 oz. container.)
• 1 cup finely diced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (I was out and used 1/2 teaspoon garlic minces.)
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 head cauliflower, finely chopped (It seems like a ton finely chopped but it works.)
• 2 broccoli crowns, finely chopped
• dash cayenne pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 2 Tablespoons white bean flour (or regular flour - although I may start with less on the regular flour)
• 2 cups (or handfuls if you measure like I do) cheddar cheese plus more for serving.

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large stock pot.  Add onion and garlic minces and saute until onion is tender and starting to brown.  Add salt and pepper and the chicken stock.  Add the cauliflower, broccoli and cayenne pepper.  Simmer until vegetables are tender.  
2. Mix in milk and white bean flour (If using regular flour, whisk it into them milk first then add it to the soup.  Cook and let thicken slightly.  At this point I also stuck in my immersion blender and blended up maybe 1/3 of the broccoli/cauliflower.  That made the soup thicker. 
3. Add the cheese and stir until combined.  Serve in bowls.  Sprinkle with more cheddar cheese if desired.

Confetti Pepperoni soup

So, I made a beet soup out of the 10 things you should eat book that I had checked out of the library, and no one liked it -including me and I actually like beets.  So I still had 1 beet that I hadn't used.  I found this recipe in the Family Feasts for $75 a week.  It was great - used a lot of things I already had.  For some reason I kept thinking it wasn't very tasty and haven't used the left overs, but it was good.  A bit spicy from the pepper, and I didn't get the beet and carrots cooked well enough.  I even cooked the veggies a bit longer than the recipe said, and they were still a bit too crunchy.  I'd definitely cook them even longer.

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice
• 6 cups stock -it called for beef broth - I used 1 container of beef stock - and 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1 14 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 beet, peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup chopped pepperoni
• 1 cup uncooked small pasta (like elbow or shell)
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• salt to taste

Directions

1. combine rice, broth, and tomatoes in a soup pot and bring to a boil. (I'd add the carrots and beet here too.)
2. While the broth comes to a boil, heat oil in a small skillet and saute onion until softened.  Add garlic and cook for another minute or 2.  Add onion, garlic and remaining ingredients to the soup.  Cook until vegetables are tender and pasta is cooked al dente, 10-15 minutes.  (I'd probably wait to add the pasta next time until the veggies had cooked for 5-10 minutes.)

Creamy Mexican cooker pork stew

Here is another one from the saving dinner basics book I checked out of the library.  This one actually had some strange directions -I didn't follow them particularly well -got everything done much quicker that way.  I also added the corn - it was a pretty plain stew with out it.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds pork loin cut into 3/4 inch cubes
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dehydrated onion (original called for green onions, but I didn't have any - that is one change I didn't make on purpose and probably wouldn't next time.)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 cup salsa
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 3 Tablespoons flour
• 2/3 cup half-and-half

Directions

1. In a skillet, brown pork on all sides over medium-high heat.  Transfer to a slow cooker.  Stir in chicken broth, garlic, onion, oregano and salsa.  Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8.  
2. Towards the end of cooking time, turn temperature to high (if not already there)  Add the corn. 
3.  Combine flour and half and half, mixing until smooth.  Gradually stir into stew.  Heat through.  (I put the lid back on and made quesadillas.  

Chicken, vegetable and bean soup {slow cooker}

This original recipe idea came from the new saving dinner basics I checked out of the library.  I just changed it to use up some veggies I had.  Turned out great - kids liked it.  I always forget they like soup.  (Except Aaron who didn't try it at all even though I separated the chicken, beans and veggies.  Go figure.)
I liked that it used dried beans.  I'm always trying to become more proficient at using dried beans.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried great northern beans
• 2 green onions (I just tossed them in to use them up.)
• 1 Tablespoon dehydrated onions
• 5 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, quartered
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon pepper (I used my same teaspoon and filled it just under half way.
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 - 1.25 lbs)  mine went straight from the freezer to the crock pot.
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 can Italian style diced tomatoes (undrained)

Directions

1. Soak beans overnight  - or if you are me and always forget to plan ahead, - toss them in a bowl covered by 1 to 2 inches of water and microwave for15 minutes.  Drain and rinse beans.  (I chopped my veggies while my beans were in the microwave - got everything ready in the 15 minutes it took.)
2. In a slow-cooker, place carrots, green onion, celery, dehydrated onion, parsley, thyme, marjoram, pepper, and garlic.  Place beans and chicken on top of veggies; Pour chicken stock on top.  Cover with chicken stock.  (I made sure to push my chicken down to be covered by the stock because it was frozen and I wanted to make sure it cooked well.  I also came back after a couple of hours and split the 2 breasts in half.)
3. Cover and cook for 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.  During the last 30 minutes, shred the chicken and add the diced tomatoes.  Cover and let cook last 30 minutes then serve.  (I really only let it warm up for 10-15 minutes.  We were eating between soccer and scouts.  :)

Tomato Oregano Parmesan soup -Slow cooker

Here is the soup that we had with the peasant bread in the previous post.  It too comes from recipe shoebox.  I did actually change this one a little bit.  I'm not a huge fan of dried basil - love the stuff fresh, but dried just doesn't have the same flavor, so I swapped my amounts of oregano and basil making this a tomato Oregano rather than tomato basil soup.  I'd love to make it with more basil, but would do that when I had some fresh out in the garden.  While this was good, and I had seconds, I haven't eaten the left overs yet, so it gets bumped from 4 to 3.5 star rating.  :)  There is something to be said for whether or not I choose to eat the left overs quickly or not.

Ingredients:

• 2 cans (14-ounces each) diced tomatoes, with juice (or 1 28 oz can)
• 1 cup finely diced celery
• 1 cup finely diced carrots (I sliced mine for laziness, and would dice them next time.)
• 4 cups chicken stock (1 32 oz. container)
• 1  onion, finely diced  
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Tablespoon. dried oregano 
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups half and half, warmed
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper

Directions: 

1. In a large crockpot, combine tomatoes, celery, carrots, chicken broth, onions, bay leaf, oregano, and basil.  Cover and cook on low for 5-7  hours, until flavors are blended and vegetables are soft.  
2. About an hour before serving prepare a roux:  Melt butter and whisk in flour until smooth.  Slowly stir in 1 cup hot soup from the slow cooker.  Add another 3 cups soup and stir until smooth.  
3. Add all back into the slow cooker.  Stir and add Parmesan cheese, warmed half-and-half, salt, and pepper.  Cover and cook on low for another hour until ready to serve.  Serve with fresh hot bread.   Makes about 2 quarts--6-8 servings.  

Chicken fajita chowder

This soup is also from my Taste of Home magazine.  I really liked it.  I just had some of the left overs for lunch.  You know when I've eaten all of the left overs that I really liked the food, and this was the second day I've had the left overs.  I also enjoyed the colors of the veggies - I love when I've diced everything up and have it sitting on the cutting board in little groups.  It is so pretty when it is colorful.  Here I had Red, yellow and Green peppers and white onions.  Looked so nice I almost took a picture.  I also loved that it has tons of veggies.  I feel very good about eating it.  :)  I certainly am not getting enough veggies lately, but when I eat this soup, I know I've eaten a good serving or 2.  Wonderful soup.  Give it a try.
Here is how I made it.  Not many changes from the original.

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, chopped (I used i container of my pre-cooked chicken)
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 - 2 Tablespoons butter (can use olive oil to be healthy.  I just love my onions sauteed in butter.)
• 3 cups water
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 1 cup uncooked brown rice
• 1 can (10 oz) green enchilada cauce
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
• 1 cup sour cream (I used fat free)
• (original reciepe called for 1/4 cup canned chopped green chilies.  I only had whole and didn't want to chop them.  It would have been great with the addition of the chilies.)

Directions

1. In a large Dutch oven over medium high heat, saute onions in butter for a couple of minutes, add peppers and continue to cook for another couple of minutes. (If using raw chicken, add it at the beginning.)  Stir in water, corn, rice, enchilada sauce, chicken (if using pre-cooked) and salt.  (add chilies if using.)  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat;  cover and simmer for 35-40 minutes or until rice is tender. 
2. Remove from heat.  Stir in cheese and sour cream until cheese is melted.  

Brandon tossed some tortilla chips on a cookie sheet, threw some cheese on top of that, and baked it in the oven until the cheese melted as a side for our soup.  

Quick beef and Barley soup

Here is another one from Eating well.  This one from a few days ago.  This actually wasn't my favorite, so I'm only including a link.  I did double the recipe, but that is about it -didn't have fresh thyme and used dried, but nothing massive - oh, I did use only beef stock, not broth and water.  Still, it was not what I wanted my vegetable beef soup to taste like, and I love vegetable beef soup, so I was a bit disappointed.  It didn't taste bad or anything, it was just only OK, and really not exactly what I was hoping.  :(

ham and corn slow cooker casserole

Although this recipe says it is a slow cooker casserole, it really is a chowder.
So, I have made my menu for the week, and for some strange reason I included no slow cooker meals on the menu.  That really doesn't work for me because Tuesdays are rather busy.  This one in particular because Basketball Practice for DS2 was at 6 rather than 7, and DS1 still had wrestling at 7.  Plus I now have piano lessons again on Tuesday from 3:30-5.  So, if I want to have dinner on the table for people having to leave the house, slow cooker it has to be.  I still have no idea why I planned no slow cooker.  I know my schedule - even without basketball being earlier, I don't have a lot of time for making dinner on longer piano lesson days.  So yesterday I took DS4 to the library for toddler time and grabbed a couple of slow cooker books to look through.  I picked a recipe and wanted to stop by the grocery store on the way back to pick up DS3 from preschool, but somehow had no wallet -such a nice day, I know.  :) Finally got all of the ingredients (after going home for wallet, to 1 store who moved their diced ham, but I had no time to search -bought 1/2 of my ingredients before I had to go back to pre-school to pick up my child and then to another grocery store for the rest of the ingredients.)  After all of this running around, and getting my meal ready for the slow cooker, my piano lessons didn't even show up.
Luckily this soup was so tasty, It made the end of the day nice.  Since the piano students didn't come, I got to make some 30 minute rolls to go with our soup, and that too was nice.  This recipe is from fix it and forget it recipes for entertaining.  I did make some changes because it seemed to have way too much ham.  Plus it called for an 8 oz can of cream corn.  I had a regular size can (15 oz or thereabouts.  Not sure, I just know it was about twice as big.)  I also cut out 1/2 of the butter.  Didn't seem to lose any flavor because it was super tasty.  Yum!

Ingredients

• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 1 small green pepper, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 4 cups milk (I used 1 cup 2% and 3 fat free)
• 1 can (15 or 16 oz?) cream-style corn
• 3 small-medium potatoes, diced (about 2-2 1/2 cups) - the recipe called for slightly cooked?  I tossed these in the pan after the other mix, but of course they stuck, so I didn't leave them long.  I'd just go with raw next time - or slightly saute them in some butter before the onions
• 1 12 oz. package diced ham
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. In a large skillet, Saute onion and green pepper in butter.  (While this sauteed, I measured my flour, added the spices to the top of the cup, and measured out my milk to help move the process along.  I think you could probably sub out some frozen obrein potatoes for the pepper, onion and diced potatoes, but not sure it would be quite as tasty - I guess you could saute it all in butter, not just the onions and peppers.  It was just a thought I had while cooking on how to make it speedier.)
2. Stir in flour and seasonings.  Gradually add milk and cook until thickened.  Pour into slow cooker.  
3. Stir remaining ingredients into the slow cooker.
4. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.  (I cooked mine on low for 2, then high for 3-3.5 because that is when I wanted to eat - basically you want to get the potatoes cooked.  I also stirred mine a couple of times because the mix was sticking to the sides -I'm thinking the cheese?  That is not normal for a crock pot meal, but I would suggest it with this.)

White Bean Chowder Mix in a Jar

Wow, 9 days since my last post. That has to be a record on this blog. I'll make up for it today though.  I've been busy practicing choir music and crocheting.  I'd forgotten how much I like to crochet.  Anyway, on to the recipes.
This recipe is from a really old little booklet that I have on soup mixes to make and put in quart jars.  (I can't believe they had it on amazon - I looked out of curiosity fully expecting it not to be there.  Anyway, that is the book to the side there.  Published in '99 - just a pamphlet really.)  So, I like these jar gifts at Christmas, but I hate to give something away if I don't know if it tasted any good, so every once in a while I decide to try something out of this book. This week it was white bean chowder.  It was relatively easy to put together, and really cooked up well.  I will write the directions as given in the book - as far as cooking times, but I'm writing how to make it for dinner.  I will also add notes as I go along.  I will write out the jar directions at the end of the recipe.
This was pretty good.  I actually liked it.  Ours was a bit thick, but I boiled it at too high of heat, and I'm pretty sure I forgot to cover it so I was low on liquid at the end.  I added some, but probably not enough.  The flavor was great though.  We didn't add the bacon until the very end (I was out and DH picked it up on the way home from work.) Probably would have been even better if I had added it earlier.   I served it with some 30 minutes rolls and it was tasty.  It simmered while I taught my piano lessons, so that was convenient.  This picture isn't the best.  I took it, then decided to thin this with more water.  Looked better then.

Yield:  9 cups of soup
Ingredients

• 2 cups dried Great Northern beans
• 2 cups instant potato flakes
• 1 14 oz. can diced or crushed tomatoes.  (I used diced with added celery, bell pepper and something)
• 1/3 cup imitation bacon bits (we used real)
• 1/3 cup dried minced onion
• 2 Tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 1/2 teaspoon celery powder (no idea what this was.  I didn't know if it wanted celery seed or celery salt.  I ended up finding a dried celery and I used 1 Tablespoon)

Directions

1. Rinse beans.  Place beans in a large microwave safe dish.  Cover with 1 - 2 inches of water.  Cover dish loosely with plastic wrap.  Microwave on high 15 minutes.  (I did 20 - was slow starting this meal and had to pick up a kid from school and go to the pharmacy and pick up a prescrip - I let this cook while I was out.)
2. Rinse and drain beans.  Place in a large pot.  Add 8 cups of water, diced tomatoes and seasonings.  (everything else except the potato flakes.)
3. Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer 1 hour and 45 minutes (I forgot to cover mine and had to add water later.)
4. Stir in potato flakes.  Turn off heat.  Cover and let stand 5 minutes.  Serve immediately.  If not serving immediately, wait until ready to serve to add the potato flakes.

To make in a quart jar.

1. Place beans in the jar first.
2. Mix seasonings (bacon bits, minced onion, bouillon, pepper, sage, celery) together and place in a thin zip top bag.  Place it in the jar and gently flatten so it is visible from all sides of the jar.
3. Place potato flakes in another zip top bag.  Add to jar.  Place lid on jar and attach recipe.

Recipe should read as the directions, possibly adding - remove bag of potato flakes, set aside, remove seasoning packet, set aside.  at the beginning.

Brown Jug soup

This was a pretty good soup we tried from the fix it and forget it cookbook.  I changed a bit, but not much.  The original called for 1 can of chicken broth, then a quart of water and 4 bouillon cubes.  I thought that was strange.  I just used 1 quart + 1 cup of chicken stock.  I also found the measures to be weird.  I debated all day whether or not to add chicken.  I finally decided to add some chicken when I added the cheese thinking that maybe the 2 year old would at least eat chicken - no such luck, but I didn't mind the addition of the chicken.  It could be added raw at the beginning of the day.  The soup would be great without chicken as well.

Ingredients

• 5 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups diced celery (it was 5 or 6 ribs for me but recipe says 3-4)
• 2 cups diced onion (my 1 large was more than 2 cups -recipe says 2 medium.)
• 4 cups diced potato (3 large was more than 4 cups -recipe said 4)
• 3 cups diced carrots (3 large were plenty for me - recipe said 8)
• 10 oz. package frozen whole kernel corn (mine was 16 oz.)
• 2 10 3/4 oz cans cream of chicken soup
• 8 oz. Velveeta cheese, cubed
• optional (2 raw chicken breasts diced, or 2 cups precooked chicken)

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients except cheese (and chicken if using pre-cooked only.) in slow cooker (my 6 quart was perfect size for this meal.)
2. Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours or until vegetables are tender.  (Ours cooked for about 9 and it was perfect.)
3. Just before serving, add cheese (and precooked chicken if using)  Stir until cheese is melted.  Serve.  (My chicken was a bit cold so I left the soup in the slow cooker for 10-15 minutes until it heated through.)

Chicken corn soup

This week at the library I checked out a fix it and forget it book because I'm looking for more crockpot recipes. I have looked at this book before but had forgotten that it was a compilation of many slow cooker recipes from different people.  Each recipe says who it is from.  I chose quite a few different ones to try.  This was the first one I tried.
Sadly I was unimpressed.  The ingredients all looked good, but maybe I got a really strong onion or something, but I felt like the overpowering flavor of the soup was onions. I also didn't like the texture.  The soup part of the soup was kind of grainy - kind of like the junk you get at the bottom of the pan when pan frying meat, but my chicken was boneless skinless chicken breast - chopped and de-fatted.  No reason to have anything funky in the soup.  I think it may have been from a combination of the cream style corn and the tomato sauce?  Tavio really seemed to like it - he even had seconds, and he doesn't like onions.  I found that surprising, but he does like soup.   We did not even save the left overs.  I post it because the idea was good, and the kids seemed to like it more than the parents, and it got plenty of veggies in the kids.  I'll leave my suggestions for next time throughout the recipe.  I just got a new thought - maybe I will have to challenge myself to makeover some of my recipes that I didn't like.  I invariably post some suggestions to make it better, but never have tried any of them.  Maybe I can make a once a month challenge??

This recipe says it is from Eleanor Larson of Glen Lyon, PA - I changed nothing, so I must give credit where it is due.

Ingredients

• 2 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed (I may have used 3- I think 1 lb 3 oz or something.)
• 1 onion, chopped (I used 3/4 because mine was large and this was vague.  Probably only use 1/2 and saute it in butter first or just use 1 Tbs onion flakes next time.)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 2 medium potatoes, cubed
• 1 teaspoon "mixed dried herbs"  I think I ended up going with 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning and 1/2 teaspoon garlic and herb seasoning
• 1/3 cup tomato sauce (I'd leave this out all together.  I wanted a bit more corn flavor.
• 1 12 oz. can cream-style corn
• 1 14 oz. can whole kernel corn
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients except parsley, salt, and pepper in slow cooker.
2. Cover.  Cook on Low 8-9 hous, or until chicken is tender.
3. Add parsley and seasoning 30 minutes before serving.

Taco soup

This is the recipe I usually use for taco soup.  After the taco soup we had a few weeks ago, I was craving this one.  I did try and make up my own taco seasoning today.  It wasn't up to par, so I won't post that yet.
I love this taco soup because it is super quick and super simple.  I was lazy today and didn't even chop the green onions.  I already had onion in my pre-cooked beef and onion in my taco seasoning, so I didn't think it was too big of a deal.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Lean ground beef
• ¼ cup sliced green onions
• 1 pkg. Taco Seasoning mix
• 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes, undrained
• 1 cup frozen corn (but I usually use 2 cups)
• 1 cup water 
• 2 oz (1/2 cup) finely shredded Cheddar cheese

 Directions

1. In large saucepan, brown ground beef until thoroughly cooked.  Drain. (or use pre-cooked)      Add onions and taco seasoning mix;  cook 1 minute. 
2. Stir in tomatoes, corn and water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes.
3. To serve, ladle soup into serving bowls; top with cheese.

Panera broccoli cheddar soup

This is what we had with the chicken fingers.  The recipe again comes from my sister Karley.  My boys automatically think everything from Karley is wonderful because she gave us cafe rio pork, and that is a favorite of theirs.
This too was tasty.  I did lighten it considerably.  I used 1/2 the butter it called for and I used fat free half and half.  I have actually laughed at the fact that they make a fat free half and half when I have seen it in the store.  While I wouldn't try it for ice cream, I didn't think it would change the quality of a soup too much, and it cut the calories from the cream in half.  The soup turned out good.  Again, everyone with taste buds :) liked it.  Aaron first used it to decorate his chicken finger.  Benjamin complained about it, but everyone else wanted more.  I thought it was a nice change to a regular veggie dish.  I'm writing this how my sister gave it to me with what I did in parenthesis today.

Ingredients

• 6 Tablespoons butter (I used 3)
• 1 small onion, chopped 
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups half and half (I used fat free)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I actually freshly grated my nutmeg - so proud.)
• salt and pepper to taste - I used 1/4 teaspoon of each
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 cups broccoli florets
• 1 large carrot, diced

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large dutch oven or pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.  Whisk in the flour and cook until golden, 3-4 minutes (I only did this for 1 because I had less butter so it was a more pasty mixture.)  Gradually whisk in the half and half until smooth.  
2. Add chicken broth, bay leaves and nutmeg then season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered until thickened, about 20 minutes.
3. Add the broccoli and carrot to the broth mixture and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Discard the bay leaves.  Puree soup in batches in a blender until smooth;  (I used my immersion blender and just did short bursts until it was the consistency I wanted.)  If using a blender, return to pot and add cheese to the soup and whisk over medium heat until melted.  Add up to 3/4 cup water if the soup is too thick (I thought it was thick, but fine.  I added no water.)

Southwestern bean chowder

Yet another recipe from my healthy cooking magazine.  I guess I have to have a healthy dinner to try and counterbalance the sugary breakfasts I've made this week.
I really liked this meal.  I debated making some quesadillas to go with it, but I actually didn't want to make anything else that day so I just served it with a slice of wheat bread.  (which then turned into 2 or 3 pieces for everyone.)  I still think quesadillas would have been yummy, but I didn't have any tortillas, and I spent the 15 minutes they should have been resting trying to choose a recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 cans (15 oz.) white kidney or cannellini beans, rinsed, drained and divided. (I used great northern beans)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped celery (I just chopped 1 stalk)
• 1/4 cup chopped green pepper (I used red, and I used 1 whole)
• 1 Tablespoon oil (I used butter)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups vegetable broth (I used chicken -didn't have vegetable)
• 1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed (I used more like 2 cups)
• 1 medium carrot, shredded (I used 2 that were a bit small)
• 1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 cups milk (I used skim)
• 1 cup (4 oz.) shredded cheddar (I used about 1/2 sharp cheddar and 1/2 Monterrey jack)
• minced fresh cilantro and additional cheddar for topping

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mash one can beans with a fork; set aside. (not sure I'd do this again.  I'm sure it thickens it, but I think a lot of beans mash automatically when cooking.)
2. In a dutch oven, saute the onion, celery and pepper in oil (or butter) until tender.  Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer.  Stir in the mashed beans, broth, corn, carrot, chilies, cumin, chili powder and remaining beans.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.
3. Combine cornstarch adn milk until smooth.  Stir into bean mixture.  Bring to a boil.  Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.  Stir in cheese until melted.  Serve with cilantro and additional cheese if desired.  (We topped ours with white cheddar.)

Taco soup

I tried a new taco soup recipe today.  It made me realize that we haven't had taco soup in ages.  We used to rotate it in every other month or so because it was simple and yummy.  I don't even have it on my blog, so we haven't had it in a long time.  I prefer my other taco soup to this one, but this one wasn't bad.  It was tasty.  I had used a mild taco seasoning packet, and I think I should have used a regular one, but it was still fine.  It was simple and it was good.  What I really liked was the salad that was paired with this recipe in my simple and delicious magazine.  Since I liked the salad more than the soup, I'm going to make a separate post for it.
The great thing about this soup is that everyone seemed to like it.  I'm noticing a pattern here - both soups this week, everyone has eaten very well.  Hmm.  Maybe I should make more soup.  I just find it hard to want to make soup in the summer.  Brandon had just been asking for soup for a couple of weeks now.  Should listen to him more often I guess.  :)
This soup was super simple and quick.  (even quicker if you have precooked beef) I thought it was unusual because none of the canned foods it used were drained.  I think this is the first recipe I've added an undrained can of corn to.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef (I only used 1 and it was still fine.)
• 1 envelope taco seasoning.  
• 2 cans (15.25 oz) whole kernel corn, undrained
• 2 cans (15 oz.)  Ranch Style beans
• 2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
• Crushed tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and/or flour tortillas for sides or toppings

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain (Or use precooked)  Stir in the taco seasoning, corn, beans and tomatoes.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally.  (I actually didn't cover it because I thought it had plenty of liquid and didn't mind if some boiled off.) 
2. Ladle soup into bowls.  Serve with your choice of toppings.  We used tortilla chips and shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses.  One son added sour cream as well.

Ham and Corn Chowder

Yet another easy recipe from my simple and delicious magazine.  I thought this was lacking something in the flavor department.  I added cheese, then sour cream, pepper helped a lot.  It wasn't bad, I just felt like it needed a little something.  The family however seemed to love it.  They all had seconds (minus the baby who wouldn't even try it.)  The seconds impressed me because it had potatoes and I have some that gripe about potatoes, but they ate this without complaint and had more.  Maybe it is because I used canned.  (was going to just use regular, but bought canned in case I had no time - this was picked because we had gone to the pool and got home late and we wanted a quick meal.
We served this with sour cream biscuits.  Definitely still a 5 star.  I hate all of the shortening in them, but it makes the outside so crisp (in a good biscuity way.)

Ingredients

• 1 can (10.75 oz.) Healthy request cream of celery soup 
• 1 1/2 cups fat free milk
• 1 can whole kernel corn, drained (I missed this.  Bought it and not cream corn, but when making it, I saw cream corn and not this.)
• 1 can cream style corn
• 1/2 cup cubed fully cooked ham (we added more)
• 2 Tablespoons minced onion
• 2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley (never went to the garden to grab this.)
• 1 can diced potatoes, drained (I only found sliced to I quartered the slices)
• Sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, and/or paprika for toppings

Directions

1. The directions in the magazine say to combine the soup and milk and heat that then stir in everything but the potatoes, simmer 5 minutes and add the potatoes.  I just tossed in everything and heated it through. I did let it simmer a bit because I was waiting on biscuits.  It worked fine.