Chicken Tortilla Soup

Wow! It's been awhile since I last posted on here! It has been a whirlwind of a month and we haven't really been cooking much blog-worthy meals. I am excited that with the WC Nestie Recipe exchange and being a new member of Daring Bakers, it will pick up more! I am also sad to report that my camera has been on the fritzo lately. For some reason it thinks it needs NEW batteries every single time I use it. Because of this, I do not have pics for several of the recipes I am going to post tonight. No worries though! I will be making these recipes again and uploading photos as soon as I can. This soup is delicious and easy. I have never had much luck with soups....they either turn out too thick, too thin or just no flavor. This was not the case with the Chicken Tortilla Soup from the Buon Appetito blog that I visit.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
(source: Buon Appetito)

Ingredients

2 skinned and boneless chicken breasts, cubed
1 10 oz package frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 14 oz cans chicken broth
1 10 ½ oz can tomato puree
1 10 oz can diced tomatoes and green chiles
¾ tsp salt
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 bay leaf

Directions
Combine all in crockpot. Cover and cook on High 6 hours. Remove and discard bay leaf.
Serve with sour cream, tortilla chips and garnish with fresh cilantro.


This averaged out to about 3 points per good sized bowl (about a cup and a half).

Comfort Food! Slow Cooker Style...

With the weather being the way it is (upper 90's with 100+ heat index) the last thing we wanted to do is turn the oven on for an hour for supper. This was most discouraging when I did a pantry raid and found that really the only thing we could make without going to the store would be meatloaf. Hmm...what to do! So I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and altered it to our liking. It was SOO good! It was moist and fell apart, which is great since I just had my wisdom teeth removed last Friday! We served this with some mashed potatoes and corn. It was a great comfort food dish and even more comforting to me, since I have lived on pudding and applesauce for 5 days. :o) I apologize that I do not have a picture of this meal. My camera was not cooperating tonight and I was hungry and just wanted to eat! I will warn you though that it is not a "beautiful dish" by any means, but it is mighty tasty!

Slow Cooker Meatloaf

2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup bread crumbs
1 lb ground beef
1/2 onion soup packet (I used Liptons)
1/2 of each a red and green pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp red pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Sauce **this is so good! we usually just use ketchup**

1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp dry mustard
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg

1. Combine eggs with milk, bread crumbs,onion,salt,and sage,and meat.
2. Mix well and shape into a 9x5 in. rectangle or oval.
3. Carefully place into slowcooker pot.
4. Cook on low for about 6-7 hrs.
5. Combine sauce ingredients and pour over meat loaf and cook on high for about 15 minutes. I did this step an hour before serving and just continued to cook on low. It was perfect!