Hearty Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is an incredibly easy meal to make and you probably already have most, if not all, of the ingredients at home. Simply chop some onion and place in a hot pot with a bit of olive oil. Simmer for a few minutes. Add chopped up chicken and continue cooking until chicken is almost cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add some freshly chopped veggies. I added zucchini, carrot, potato and celery. Cook for a few more minutes. Then, add some chicken broth to cover the chicken and veggies. I used some frozen homemade chicken broth. (Did you know how easy it is to make your own broth? Take a whole chicken, place in boiling water for hours with some celery tops and viola!) Then add some cans of beans you have on hand. I used some black beans, pinto beans and kidney beans. I also threw in a can of turkey chili for some thickening power. Then toss in a can of corn or a frozen bag of corn or heck some freshly cut corn. Add a can of diced tomatoes. Finely chop some fresh cilantro and add to the pot. Let the soup simmer for an hour or more to blend the flavors. Add some salt if needed.
Serve in a bowl with some fresh cojita cheese and mexican crema or sour cream. Top with fresh cilantro, avocado and crumbled up tortilla chips. Then, if you are like me, dump some cholula or your favorite hot sauce, stir and enjoy the goodness! Slice up some freshly baked cornbread and you've got yourself a meal.

Sunburst Avocado Salad

INGREDIENTS
4 whole wheat tortillas (10-inch), warmed
1/2 pound chicken, cut into cubes
1/2 cup of my mom's vinaigrette dressing (see below)
1 1/2 tablespoons cocktail sauce
2 blood oranges (or 1 grapefruit), peeled and sectioned
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
1/8 cup chopped toasted pecans
1 bag (about 8 ounces) salad greens

DIRECTIONS
Heat the oven to 400°F. Line 4 (7-inch) oven-safe bowls with 1 tortilla each. Place the bowls onto a baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes or until the tortillas are golden brown and crisp. Let the tortillas cool in the bowls on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove the tortillas from the bowls and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Stir the chicken, half the dressing and the cocktail sauce in a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Stir in the blood oranges, avocado and pecans.

Divide the greens among the tortillas. Top with the chicken mixture. Drizzle with the remaining dressing.

Mom's Vinaigrette
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange muscat champagne vinegar (tj's)
1 cup oil

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Prepping! This week's contents include: 1 bag of chicken mixture. 1 head of lettuce. 1 bag of frozen gyoza from Japanese market. Dipping sauce for gyoza (can also be used as extra sauce in wraps).

Ingredients
1 teriyaki-flavored rotisserie chicken
1/4 cup red pepper, diced small
1/4 cup water chestnuts, diced small
1/4 cup bamboo shoots, diced small
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic - minced
12 lettuce leaves

Directions
1. Remove meat only from rotisserie chicken and dice small. This should give you about 2 cups of diced chicken.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken and remaining ingredients.
3. Cook until heated through -- about 5 minutes.
4. Serve with lettuce leaves for wrapping.
(recipe credit here)

CHANGES? Next time instead of rotisserie, I would marinate chicken breasts in teriyaki sauce, cook and cube. The rotisserie shredded too thin and I didn't love the texture.

Side dish: Gyoza (instead of that asian salad)!

Chicken Noodle Soup

I had never made chicken noodle soup from scratch before... it always seemed somewhat daunting and involved and it's never been my favorite type of soup. But, it's been cold, and rainy, and gray and that kind of weather makes me think of soup so I thought I'd give it a try.

This recipe from Bon Appetit via Epicurious seemed easy enough (you don't have to make your own stock) so I decided it was time to make some soup! I read through a bunch of the comments and seasoned the chicken with Lawry's seasoned salt but I should have done more - I ended up adding some into the soup right before serving. Next time I might try it with rice instead of noodles but it was pretty good! Serve it with your favorite salad and some bread for a warm, hearty meal.