Crazy Delicious

I forgot to bring my egg salad sandwich to work today and ended up at the grocery store looking for something to eat. I ended up with a turkey and cheese sandwich if anyone cares. The check out aisle is always dangerous. I love magazines and there’s alway a new magazine to buy. Today I saw one of those little magazines that was full of crock pot recipes. I opened it up, saw chicken wings, which I am now craving and, of course, I bought it.

Chicken wings didn’t happen for a few reasons. One, I couldn’t fudge them as easily as a non croc pot meal and two, because I decided I would rather make my MIL’s recipe. The only problem with my MIL’s recipe is that they need to be marinated for 2 days and she’s making them this weekend for the Pats game so that was out.

Then I saw tortilla soup. I tortilla soup! My decision was made.

In the end my recipe looks very little like the one in the crock pot book, but boy oh boy was it tasty!

I kinda sorta threw things in and didn’t measure so this is just a general guess at the amounts.

Tortilla Soup

Toss all ingredients in a pot and cook until flavors meld and it’s nice and hot

2 14 oz cans of chicken broth (I ended up using a little more because it got a wee bit too spicy)

1 can of crushed tomatoes

1 can of tomato paste

2 cups frozen corn

1/2 a white onion chopped

Bunch O’ Jalapeños (I had half a jar of sliced jalapeños in the fridge so I threw them in. My guess is that they would be 1-2 whole jalapeños)

1 can of beans (I would have used black, but G always insists we have tons of them and didn’t get me more when he was at the store the other day like I told him to … all I had was baked beans. Probably my last choice, but I rinsed them and they were fine)

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp ground cummin

1 pound cooked ground beef

3 cloves of garlic

Salt and Pepper to taste

Top with: Cheese (I used a taco blend) and tortilla strips.

Tortilla Strips

Heat deep fryer or oil in a pan to 350 degrees. I use a deep fryer because I almost burned down the apt heating oil on the stove.

Cut corn tortillas in strips

Toss them in the deep fryer. Flip when they start to get dark and take them out when crispy. Top with a little salt if it suits your fancy.

I believe that most people know this soup as a variation of Italian wedding soup, but italian wedding soup usually has small bits of pasta in it, this doesnt. According to Greg, who knows very little about cooking, but is Italian, they’re the same.  But I know I’ve heard Lisa (MIL) make it with pasta and call it Italian Wedding Soup.  Pretty much the name of this soup has me confused, but it is beyond delicious!  And the little baby meat balls … so good.

Lisa made some for Thanksgiving and we were supposed to pick up leftovers the next day, but we never got over to their house. I was craving soup today and this seemed like the perfect thing to make and it was great with the chicken pomodoro not-so-pannini’s.

These are the directions Lisa sent me…

Ingredients

2 LARGE (32 oz cans) cans of College Inn Chicken Broth

1 lb Carrots – sliced

2 stalks Celery – sliced (I didn’t use the celery because I don’t like celery)

1 Onion – diced

1 lb of hamburger

1 to 2 bunches of escarole (depending on size) … two bunches look like a lot but it cooks down and becomes really small

Romano cheese ½ cup to 1 cup (Greg, my personal meatball maker used 1 cup)

Bay leaf

Dried parsley

Salt – pepper

Directions

Mix hamburger with cheese, salt, pepper and parsley – form into small meatballs (and small means bitty baby sized). Cook in chicken broth about 20 minutes. Remove from broth and strain and remove grease.

Wash and cut up escarole – cook in water for 10 minutes – drain. Try to get rid of as much of the excess water as possible

Sauté onion, carrots and celery in a little olive oil to release flavors – add bay leaf, dried parsley, salt, pepper, broth, cooked escarole and cooked meatballs – let sit to meld flavors.

Looks like this recipe originally came from Cooking Light, but their recipe is slightly different

I love this soup. The instructions have been adapted for Clara’s level of cooking. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that she doesn’t screw it up

ingredients

1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cans chicken broth (the regular soup size cans)
2 cups broccoli florets chopped (I usually just use frozen broccoli … I heat it for a minute so I can cut it, then I chop it up)
1 1/4 cups milk
8 oz of shredded cheddar cheese
3 peeled and cubed potatoes

you can also top with cooked bacon and green onions (I usually skip the onions, but the bacon is good)

What to do

Mix 1/3rd cup of chicken broth with the 1/4 cup of flour until smooth and set aside

Combine remaining chicken broth, potatoes and broccoli in a pot. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat. Cook for 8 mins or until potatoes are tender. (now here I usually wing it and just leave it uncovered and let it cook until the potatoes are soft … you will need to taste test here so pay attention. Also sometimes I put a few more potatoes and/or broccoli in so I make sure that the broth covers them and if I use more I throw a little bit more milk in …. not half a gallon)

Then you’re going to gradually stir in the flour mixture from step 1 and cook for another 3-5 mins

Then stir in the milk and cheddar cheese. Stir constantly until the cheese is melted and your done.

When you serve it put a little bit of cheese on top and break up a piece of bacon