Chicken Enchilada Soup

It's kind of ridiculous how many recipes I have on here for taco soup, or enchilada soup, or some variation, but this is another new one and it's the best yet! My little sister Heidi (shout-out!), who happens to be an awesome cook, made this for me and my family last summer when we were visiting her in Iowa.  It was so delicious and I'm not sure why it took me so long to try it out myself.  There are so many wonderful flavors going on in this soup.  It's cooked in the crockpot all day, but then you add lots of fresh vibrant toppings that livens it up.  The whole family loved it!  I'll definitely be making this again.

Crockpot Chicken Enchilada Soup

2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 c. low-sodium chicken broth
8 oz. can tomato sauce
1-2 tsp. canned chipotle chili in adobo sauce, chopped
15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
2 c. frozen corn
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 lb. chicken breasts
1/4 c. chopped green onions, for topping
cilantro, roughly chopped, for topping
sour cream, shredded cheese, & tortilla chips, for topping

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic and saute until soft, about 3-4 minutes.  Slowly add the chicken broth, tomato sauce, and chipotle chili and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and pour into crockpot.

To the crockpot, add beans, tomatoes, corn, cumin, and oregano and stir.  Add the chicken breasts; cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Remove chicken and shred with two forks. Place back into the soup, taste and add more salt if needed.  Serve in bowls and top with desired toppings.

Source: Skinnytaste

Southwest Stuffed Bell Peppers {and some Halloween fun!}

This was a great simple recipe with lots of flavor.  I think stuffed bell peppers are fun, and luckily my kids thought so too!  This recipe has a lot of great southwestern flavors - cilantro, jalapeno, tomatoes, chili powder, etc.  These are meatless, but you could easily add some cooked ground beef or turkey to the mix if you prefer.  I fancied these up a bit this week by carving little jack-o-lantern faces in a few.  They were a hit!  Happy Halloween!!

Winter Salsa

I LOVE this time of year for many reasons - the cool crisp weather, the apples and pumpkins in abundance, the fall colors, etc.  However, I always find myself missing some of the great summer produce, namely tomatoes.  We eat so many delicious tomatoes in the summertime that nowhere near resemble the tomatoes you find in the stores year-round.  Salsa is one of those things we love to whip up with our summer tomatoes, but if you love homemade salsa all year long, don't fear!  This recipe uses canned tomatoes, and it is really delicious!  In fact, I make it a lot in the summer too, because it's so convenient, taking just a few minutes to whirl together, and it still has that fresh taste from the onions and cilantro.  Honestly, I couldn't believe how good it was the first time I made it and I have made it well over 10 times since.  Enjoy!

Taco Soup (so easy!)

This is a recipe I've been making for a long time, but after a little tweaking, it's finally ready to make its appearance!  My sister gave me this recipe back when I was a single college student and I have made it many times since!  This taco soup is SO EASY, but it's also so tasty and it makes a great meal when you are low on time - or when you're just in the mood for a delicious soup!  I always use ground turkey, but ground beef works great too.  You just cook up the meat with some onions and garlic, and after that it's just dumping in cans and spices.  My husband and my kids LOVE this soup, so for me - that makes it a winner!

Taco Seasoning

It has been many moons since I bought packaged taco seasoning.  Since then, I usually just dump a little of this, a little of that, when a recipe calls for taco seasoning (or when I'm making taco salad or something), but I finally decided to just go ahead and make taco seasoning.  Hello!  What was I waiting for?  This takes at most 2 minutes to combine, and then when you need it it's there and it's so easy.  I just keep it in a jar or spice container and I only have to pull out one thing, instead of five.  I also have a tasty taco soup recipe coming up that uses this in it!  Stay tuned!

Homemade Corn Tortillas

I am slowly starting to realize that there just aren't enough hours in the day to make every single thing from scratch, but that sure isn't going to stop me from trying!  There are some things you can buy in the store that are somewhat close to a homemade version, but let me tell you, corn tortillas are not one of them.  Store-bought corn tortillas are pretty awful, depending on the brand, and you aren't left with many options other than frying them since they are dry and break apart if you look at them wrong.  So unless you've got a great Mexican market close by, your corn tortilla experiences may not be the best.  BUT...they are SUPER easy to make at home!  I'm not sure why I never tried them before, honestly.  They are way easier than flour tortillas and are quite delicious and addicting!  My boys and I made these together a couple weeks ago and they were great to munch on while we were making and made a delicious taco shell for our chicken tacos that night.

Peach Salsa

Sick of peach recipes yet?  Just wait, I have more!  This was a fun thing to whip up with our dinner a few weeks ago.  This peach salsa actually only calls for peaches - no tomatoes, which was great for us because I didn't have any tomatoes that day!  It's pretty much pico de gallo, with peaches subbing in.  Extremely addicting and delicious!  You can serve it with grilled chicken or fish, or just dig in with some tortilla chips.  Summer's not over yet with this around!

Black Beans {a la Cafe Rio}

These beans are delicious!  We love them in tacos, burritos, taco salad, or just on their own.  They are a total breeze to put together and turn plain old black beans into something totally amazing!

Mexican Quinoa

It's another quinoa post!  Since our family has been cutting back on meat lately, we've been looking for good plant-based sources of protein.  Quinoa is a great choice!  Mix it with beans and lots of Mexican flavors and you get a great healthy meal.  This dish is delicious served in bowls along with desired toppings (green onions, sour cream, cheese, avocado, etc.), and we also loved it as a taco filling.  Yum!  It comes together really easily too, which makes it even better!  I've made it twice in the last couple weeks and it has fast become a new regular.

Green Enchilada Sauce

I was SO excited when I found this recipe!  I love this enchilada recipe, but I've hardly made it the last year because I hate buying the canned enchilada sauce.  It is full of nasty stuff and I can't find any that don't have hydrogenated oils and and a whole lot of other ingredients unnecessary for enchilada sauce.  I decided I just needed to make my own and discovered it was SO EASY.  This recipe is from the blog Our Best Bites and it made enough for 5 batches of enchiladas.  I wanted to find a can-able recipe, but I just poured it in pint jars and popped them in the freezer to use as I need them.  I made the enchiladas with the sauce the other day and it was amazing!  If you're trying to cut out processed foods and/or just want an awesome enchilada sauce recipe, this is the one!  And your body will feel great after eating it too.

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake

I've really fallen in love with this simple dinner.  It's essentially a casserole, but somehow "bake" sounds cooler, I guess. :)  I found this via Pinterest and it was a winner!  I've made it several times now and sometimes add some extra things to it.  It's one my kids love and will eat a lot of which really makes it a win in my house.  Brown rice, black beans, corn, chicken, etc.  It's delicious!  It can easily be made ahead of time, which is another reason why I love it.  If you have some chicken already cooked that makes it a lot easier too.

Spicy Bean Burritos

We've been trying to cut back on our meat consumption these days, and it's going pretty well.  I mean, we're no where near being vegetarian or anything, but we're trying to not eat meat every single day.  I wanted to find more recipes that I loved (like this tabbouleh) that were meatless.  So I went on a search and found these.  Now if you know my husband, you know that he used to detest beans.  Like if a bean happened upon his plate, he would not eat.  Okay okay, maybe not that bad, but he really didn't like them.

Grilled Chicken Fajitas

I'm back! This cutie has been keeping me very busy the past few months, along with the fact that we're moving across the country in a couple weeks, so I apologize for the lack of blogging!

Easy Chicken Tacos

I got a new cookbook for Christmas and I LOVE it! I've only tried 2 things so far (and I forgot to take a picture of the first!) and both have been delicious. I was drawn to this one because of the word "easy". Haha. The cookbook is The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2011 (we love America's Test Kitchen - same people that do Cook's Country and Cook's Illustrated), and although everything I've ever tried from them turns out perfect, they're not always the simplest recipes. But...this one was very easy! And extremely tasty. We love Mexican food around here and this was a fun new way to enjoy it. It was a little spicy, but not overpowering and it had lots of yummy flavor.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I've been wanting to put up this recipe forever, but I never could seem to get a very good picture. Well, I still didn't get a very good picture, but I'm putting it up anyway! I love this meal. Let me tell you why. Two reasons: it's delicious, and it's SO easy. Seriously. Dump stuff into your crockpot and 8 hours later enjoy a delicious dinner. I do this a lot on busy Sundays or days when I know I'll be out and about right up until dinner time. This would be great for students because you can stick it in the crockpot before you leave in the morning and then enjoy it when you get home at night! I hope you try it!

Leftover Roast - Beef Tacos

Growing up, we always had a roast every Sunday along with mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots & peas, salad, etc. Now that I'm grown up (somewhat) it's still one of my favorite meals, although I don't make it every Sunday. When I do make it, like I did on Mother's Day, I always have a lot of leftover roast, and this is one of my favorite ways to use it up. It is so super easy and if you need a quick meal some night and you have some leftover pot roast, give this a try! It is juicy and flavorful and delicious. You can use it for burritos, tacos, or whatever you like. It would probably work great with a pork roast too (as long as it's tender enough to get all shredded), but I've just always used beef.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

We love Mexican food at our house, and homemade tortillas just takes it to a whole new level. Of course it's way more work than buying tortillas, but it's worth it. They are soft and pliable and delicious. I got this recipe from my mother-in-law and I've made it several times and several ways. The recipe calls for shortening or lard, but this last time I made them I used butter and it was great! Of course butter is way better for you than shortening and I don't usually have lard around, so from now on I'll be using butter. You may even be able to use oil, but I've never tried it. Also, it says to divide into 12 pieces. I like my tortillas a little bigger, so if you want 6-8" tortillas, do 12; or if you want 10" do 8.

Bean Salsa

Yum!!! That's all I can say about this dip. I love it so much. Every year for Christmas Eve, my family gets together with another family that my parents met back when they lived in Pittsburg, CA and the past few years, they have brought this dip. It is sooo tasty. I asked for the recipe and found out it comes from the daughter's sister-in-law (make sense?), so I'm crediting this to Suzy Varga Patey, whoever and wherever you are! :) Anyway, this makes a GREAT party food and it's super easy. You only have to chop a few things and everything else you just dump in from a can. But don't be fooled....it is DELICIOUS.

Honey Lime Enchiladas

Honey Lime EnchiladasOkay, this pictures does not do this justice, but these are seriously the best enchiladas I've ever had. Every time I make them, Jeremy acts like Bob on "What About Bob". "Mmmm, these are soooo good". Yes, they really are that good. Anyway, I found the recipe on The Sisters' Cafe blog. As usual I will put up the recipe and add my little notes in italics. You have to try these. They are so tasty!