Mexican Chicken Soup

This has quickly become one of my favorite soups for cold days. It goes together fairly quickly and has a wonderful fresh taste with just a hint of spice.

I actually had saved the recipe back when all or most of my kids were still living at home but had never gotten around to making it. I found it again a while back when I was looking for a soup to make for dinner. You see I love a nice hot bowl of soup on a cold evening and we have had more than our share of cold evenings this winter.

This soup has so many things going for it but if I had to pick just one way to describe it I would say it just tastes so fresh.

I like to start by chopping all the veggies, I line up my soup pot and a bowl next to my cutting board and just start chopping. The veggies that are going to be cooked in the first stage go directly into the soup pot and those for later go into the bowl. Next I put on a pair of disposable vinyl gloves (from the first aid aisle in the grocery store) and cut/seed the jalapeno. Then (still wearing the gloves) remove the skin and any excess fat from the chicken. The jalapeno goes directly on a piece of foil on a baking sheet for later. The chicken goes right on top of the veggies in the soup pot.

After I clean up my work area I add the water and seasonings to the soup pot and bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer while I check my email or whatever.

It is very important that the chicken you use is on the bone because that will give so much flavor to the soup. Boneless chicken just can't give enough flavor to the broth.

When you drain the veggies from the first stage of cooking be sure to get as much of the flavorful broth back into the pot from them as you can. I use a wooden spoon and mush the veggies against the strainer to get all the juices out of them.

That first batch of veggies are there to give the flavor to the soup. The ones in the second stage of cooking give some flavor but also some texture too. By doing the soup this way you get the vegetable flavor in the broth and still have wonderful veggies in the soup that are not over cooked. Also because the broth is made fresh you get the wonderful fresh flavors at their peak.

There is plenty of meat and a perfect amount of veggies in each bowl to make for a filling and warming dinner on any cold night.

I hope you enjoy this soup as much as I do.

Mexican Chicken Soup

1 lb. to 1 ½ lbs. bone in chicken parts (thighs or breasts work the best) skin removed

3 cups water

1 cup chopped onion, divided

1 cup chopped celery, divided

½ cup chopped tomato

¼ cup chopped cilantro (stems and leaves)

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon Tabasco sauce

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

¾ cup chopped carrot

1 jalapeno pepper, cut in half seeds removed.

1 small avocado

In a soup pot combine the water, chicken pieces, ½ cup onion, ½ cup celery, tomato, cilantro, salt, cumin, hot sauce, and ground pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.

Remove chicken from pan and set aside to cool.

Strain broth, reserving broth and discarding vegetables.

Add the remaining onion and celery along with the carrot to the stock in the soup pot.

Bring back to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until vegetables are just tender.

Meanwhile heat oven to 425° and roast jalapeno until skin blisters and is dark (about 10-15 minutes) Move pepper pieces to a bowl, cover and allow to cool about 15 minutes. Remove most of the skin and chop pepper.

Remove cooked chicken from the bones and chop or tear it with your fingers (my preference)

Add the chicken and peppers to the soup and heat just until hot through.

Serve in bowls topped with chopped avocado.

Makes 2 large servings

Chicken Artichoke Pizza

I have an interesting history with this particular recipe. I first found it by accident and passed by it quickly without much thought (other than thinking it was an odd combination for topping a pizza)

You see I was trying to find a recipe for a pizza similar to one I had eaten out. It had been topped with among other things chicken and artichoke hearts. It was so good and I really wanted to make one like it. So I did the natural thing I went to Google to try to find a recipe. The thing is the pizza I am sharing today was what came up. And boy did it come up, there were what seemed like an unlimited number of pages with recipes for this pizza. Then I bought a copy of my favorite cooking magazine a week or so later and right there in the pages of my magazine yet another version of this pizza. I might add here that I still hadn't found the recipe I was looking for.

So I decided that since so many people were so enamored of this recipe that it was the only chicken and artichoke pizza I was finding I should probably give it a chance. (even if the toppings seemed a bit unconventional)

My youngest son was still living at home at the time so we talked about it and he was up for trying it. So I picked one of the many versions of the recipe and made it. We were cautious but hopeful that we would like the end result.

Well, one bite and were were both addicted to this pizza. We also figured out what the draw is. That strange combination of topping ingredients, well they just happen to be the same ones that make up artichoke dip. Yeah, that wonderful gooey concoction that I can not be trusted around. I will eat the entire dish given the opportunity. So this pizza takes that dip, puts it on a pizza crust adds meat and allows you to call it dinner instead of an appetizer. It even takes the work of dipping out of the equation, its on a crust so it is even easier to eat than a dip.

So needless to say we ended up having that pizza fairly often. Then the day came when my son moved out. I didn't want to not eat this pizza, but I knew I couldn't be trusted around the “family sized” version. I simply had to reduced this recipe ASAP.

The only ingredient that I was concerned about was the artichoke hearts, since they come in a fairly large can and I wasn't going to need all the can for the smaller recipe. Then I remembered that I had noticed frozen artichoke hearts at the grocery store. I decided to try those and they work perfectly.

The recipe I am sharing is how I make a small version of this pizza and it is based on the recipe I worked out for my son and I using our preferences and likes.

For the crust on this any 6” pizza crust will work, you could use the recipe for par-baked individual crusts that I shared in my Pizza Kit blog post, a Greek pita bread (the kind meant to be folded) or a pre-baked crust from the store (like the ones from Boboli)

I find I love having the frozen artichoke hearts in my freezer, they keep well and are nice to throw into a lot of recipes besides this one. I just put the opened package into a reclosable freezer bag.

A small note, I normally use green onion for the topping but the day I made this I had forgotten to get any at the grocery store so I used some chopped yellow onion. Any onion you have on hand will work just fine.

Chicken Artichoke Pizza

1 small (about 6”) pre-baked pizza crust

3 Tablespoons mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

8 frozen artichoke heart quarters, thawed and coarsely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

½ cup shredded 4-cheese Italian blend cheese (or shredded mozzarella cheese)

¼ cup chopped cooked chicken

1 green onion (or 1 Tablespoon chopped onion)

Preheat the oven to 450° F.

In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, grated Parmesan, artichokes and garlic. 

 

Spread mixture over pizza crust leaving a small border all around.

Top with about ¾ of the shredded cheese, the chicken, and the onion.

Top with the remaining cheese. 

 

Bake directly on the oven rack for 8 to 10 minutes (when the cheese is melted and the pizza is thoroughly heated through.

Serves 1

Enjoy.

Kielbasa and Cabbage over Noodles

This is a recipe I have been playing around with for a couple of years making little changes here and there. I think I have it just where I want it so I thought it was probably time to share it with all of you.

This is a recipe I turn to a lot especially during the colder months of the year. It is filling and just a great comfort food all around. It also is made of ingredients I almost always have on hand and they are all inexpensive ingredients. The four main ingredients: kielbasa sausage, coleslaw mix, onion and noodles are pretty much always here. The other stuff I can work around if I am missing any of them.

So lets talk first about those ingredients that I do have on hand that show up here.

The kielbasa sausage I watch for sales on (the last batch I got was $1 for the ring) so I can stock up. I cut the larger piece into 4 oz chunks, wrap each chunk in plastic wrap and store them in the freezer in a labeled re-closeable freezer bag. They are surprisingly handy to have around. The coleslaw mix is also usually around $1 in my grocery store and I use it several times a week. Not only for coleslaw but also to throw into soups and casseroles. And of course onions and plain egg noodles are a must haves in my pantry.

If I am out of bacon I just use cooking oil or butter the seasonings are pretty much standard fair if you are missing the caraway seeds or the paprika just skip it, the dish will still be good but I do recommend you pick some up so you can get the full experience.

The part of this dish that takes the longest is wilting the coleslaw mix before you start cooking. If I am short on time I occasionally skip this step but it is better if you have the time. This just gives the dish a better texture in the end. And don't worry about the amount of salt you are rinsing a lot of it off before you use the cabbage.

The amounts I am giving here is for 1 serving but I have scaled it up for 3 with no problems at all. Just multiply the amounts by the number of servings you need. (and use a bigger pan)

Kielbasa and Cabbage over Noodles

3 cups coleslaw mix

1 tsp salt

1 strip bacon, chopped

¾ cup wide egg noodles

¼ lb Kielbasa sausage (sliced ¼” thick)

small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

½ teaspoon caraway seeds

¼ teaspoon paprika

salt and pepper to taste

¾ cup wide egg noodles

Place the coleslaw mix into a colander and give it a quick rinse under cold water. Add 1 teaspoon salt and mix together. Place the colander over a bowl to catch any drips and allow to stand for about 45 minutes. (this allows the cabbage to wilt a bit) Rinse and drain really well.

Cook bacon in a medium saute pan until crisp. Remove bacon to use as garnish and reserve drippings in pan. Add sausage slices and onion to pan of drippings and cook until the onion is tender. Add the garlic, caraway seeds and paprika to onion mixture and cook until fragrant, stirring often.

Add the rinsed coleslaw mix, season with salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile cook the noodles in boiling water as directed on package and drain well.

Serve the cabbage mixture over a bed of the noodles.

Sprinkle with the reserved bacon.

Serves 1

Be My Valentine Cupcakes (small batch)

This is the first of what I hope will be a once a month series of cupcakes that are themed for each month. We will be using our divided cake mix portions from my last blog post. If you missed that post here is a link to it. Basically I show you how to divide a box of cake mix from the grocery store so you can make small batches of cupcakes.

This cupcake actually caused me to loose some sleep because I woke up at 1AM one morning with the idea starting to form in my brain. I couldn't go back to sleep until around 4 because I kept thinking of what I wanted to do with it. In those 3 hours although I missed out on sleep I came up with this cupcake recipe. I had to be at work that day at 9AM but as soon as I got home I started working on my test batch. They turned out just as I had imagined during those hours of not sleeping.

My inspiration for these is simply a box of Valentine's Day chocolates. I wanted to represent those wonderful chocolates in a cupcake form and make something special that you can make for someone special.

So for the base of the cupcake I wanted a really nice rich, dark chocolate cupcake. I used my Devil's Food cake mix and by using regular strength coffee in place of the water I knew that would deepen the chocolate flavor without adding much in the way of coffee flavor. I simply made a cup of coffee (use whatever plain coffee you have) and allowed it to cool to room temperature. The rest of the ingredients were done as normal for my cupcakes. I got 7 cupcakes this time which is pretty normal sometimes I do get 8 sometimes 6 it all depends on how much batter goes in each cup of the pan.

Bake as directed on the box (350° F for 20 minutes) be sure to test a couple of them to make sure they are all cooked.

Just before the cupcakes are done baking we are going to make up a small batch of Cherry Jello. I use the kind with real sugar so that is what the measurements I am giving will work with.

Now it was time to frost these beauties. I used my go chocolate frosting but replaced some of the liquid with more of that coffee. My standard cocoa powder is the Hershey Special Dark variety. If you love dark chocolate and can find this in your grocery store I definitely recommend picking it up. The result is a rich dark chocolate frosting that pipes beautifully and tastes divine. You will notice that I use vegetable shortening in my frosting instead of butter. That is because a nice fresh batch of shortening doesn't really add any flavor of its own while I find that although I love butter the flavor can be overpowering in frosting.

Here are the recipes I hope you like these cupcakes. I look forward to bringing you more special cupcakes in the months to come.

Be My Valentine Cupcakes

1 egg

1/3 cup coffee (room temperature)

3 ½ Tablespoons vegetable oil

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 of a box of devil's food cake mix (15.25 oz size box)

Line the wells of a muffin/cupcake pan with paper liners. 

Heat oven to temperature required on your cake mix box directions.

Combine the liquid ingredients and beat well. Add the cake mix, stir and then beat with hand held mixer for 1 minute 15 seconds to 1 minute 30 seconds.

 

Divide batter between the prepared liners and bake as directed on the box. 

 

During the last few minutes of baking prepare the Jello.

Combine

1/3 boiling water

2 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of the cherry jello powder

Stir to combine, if the jello doesn't dissolve I usually put mine in the microwave oven for about 30 seconds to dissolve it. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes then transfer to a squeeze bottle. (If you don't have a squeeze bottle you can use a spoon it is just a lot messier)

 

When cupcakes are cooked through use a bamboo skewer to poke holes in each one (I like 5) Then carefully pour the jello over all the cupcakes. Try to divide it evenly and allow it to soak into the cupcakes.

Cool on a rack for 10 minutes then move to the refrigerator to cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

¼ cocoa powder

3 Tablespoons all vegetable shortening (Crisco)

2 Tablespoons room temperature coffee

1 Tablespoon half and half or milk (this amount is approximate you might need a bit more or a bit less to make the frosting the correct consistency)

Mix the powdered sugar and cocoa powder then add the shortening and using a hand held mixer combine well. Add the coffee and beat thoroughly. Continue beating and add the half and half (or milk) until the correct consistency is reached.

Put frosting into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 4B pipingtip. Pipe the frosting in a simple swirl sprinkle with holiday sprinkles and enjoy.

Yield:7 to 8 cupcakes

Small Batch Cupcakes from a Cake Mix

I love to bake, I find it to be not only enjoyable and a wonderful creative outlet it is also a good stress reliever for me. I find that if I am having a stressful week if I can take a short time to bake something I feel so much better.

For many years I only baked from scratch and I still do sometimes but I do love to make quick batches of cupcakes from boxed cake mix. I know the box makes around 24 cupcakes and that is very far from being a small batch. However, because of the way cake mix is made it is really easy to divide it up to make smaller batches. Think about it, they don't make that stuff box by box they make huge amounts and divide it up to the amount for the box. I am going to show you how I divide it up a bit more to make just a few cupcakes.

The first step is to look at the directions on the back of the box. Check to see how many eggs the entire box needs. That is how many potions we are going to divide into. That's because it is a lot easier to divide the liquids than the egg. (a white and a yolk are different in size and act differently in the batter)

I have found that most of the cake mix in my grocery store asks for 3 whole eggs for most flavors. White cake mix usually gives that option as well an all egg white option that calls for 4 whites. (Angel food cake mix doesn't rely on any added eggs and I haven't tried it yet, that will be a blog post later on) As a note I do prefer my white cake to made from just egg whites so I make 4 portions of white mix and 3 of most others.

I happened to be just about out of cake mix a while back when I came upon a sale, I picked up my 3 standard flavors for $.78 each. I try to keep white, yellow and Devil's Food on hand all the time. Those are my most used flavors and the ones I turn to repeatedly. I do pick up other flavors as I want to or as I see something I want to try.

This time since I was pretty much out of mix in my cupboard I divided all three the same day. Sometimes I wait until I am going to use the box the first time and sometimes I do like I did this time and get all the mess done with at one time. I just do a quick wipe of the measuring tools between flavors and then I can clean up everything at one time.

I only took pictures of the Devil's Food being divided thinking I was going to use it to make a sample batch of cupcakes for this blog post. Then when it came time to make cupcakes I decided to make white ones instead since I had an egg white to use up. More about those cupcakes later on.

Anyway, check to make sure how many eggs the mix calls for and get out that many zipper style sandwich bags. I like to use small drinking glasses to hold my bags upright and open (see the photo)

Also gather some measuring tools- a ¼ cup dry measuring cup, 1 Tablespoon measuring spoon, and 1 teaspoon measuring spoon.

Remove the bag of cake mix from the box and before you cut the bag open kind roll it around to make sure it is well mixed (just in case the ingredients settles during shipment/storage)

Now cut the bag open carefully and measure out the dry mix into all the bags. I use the measuring cup first and put one scoop into each bag. Making sure you put the same number of scoops in each bag. When you get to the point you don't think you have enough to add ¼ cup to each bag switch to the Tablespoon measure and use it the same way followed by the teaspoon measure. You will probably need to eyeball the very end of the mix.

Now just seal the bags up and put them back in the original box for storage. I find they keep just fine for a few months.

Other than the amounts of ingredients to add to the mix there are a couple of changes that you will need to remember.

First when mixing up your batter combine all the liquids together really well before you add the cake mix. (I do this even when I am using an entire box of cake mix though)

Then after you add the cake mix to the liquids only beat the mixture for about 1 minute 15 seconds to 1 minute 30 seconds. I find that most boxes of cake mix tell you to beat the batter for 2 minutes and for the small quantity I find that over mixes the batter and I have problems with the cupcakes falling.

The other change I recommend is to add a bit of vanilla extract to the liquids (another think I do most of the time when I make up a box of cake mix) I find the vanilla kind of hides the “cake mix” flavor and makes the finished cupcakes taste a bit more like scratch made.

I created a PDF for you to print out, cut apart and tape to your box(es) of cake mix so you can write down the amounts of everything you need and the above changes. You can find it here.

Now for those amounts of liquids you will need to use, here is a handy list of the ones that seem to be the most common.

If you are making 3 portions and your mix calls for:

1 ¼ cup use- 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon

1 cup use- 1/3 cup

½ cup use- 2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons

If you are making 4 portions and your mix calls for:

1 ¼ cups use- ¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons

1 cup use- ¼ cup

½ cup use- 2 Tablespoons

Here are some photos of my cupcakes and the process of making them. As you can see it is pretty much like making the entire box just using the smaller amounts.

When I started making my cupcakes I had every intention of making them with water like the box calls for. Then I remembered I had a carton of milk with just a tiny bit left so I used the milk in my cupcakes. I especially like white cupcakes made with milk because of the texture the milk gives them. If you haven't tried it I do recommend you give it a try. 

 

liquids combined

cake mix added

beaten for 1 minute 15 seconds

in the pan

baked and cooling

ready to eat

Use your favorite frosting on your cupcakes and enjoy.