Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

I ended up having to make dinner on a non-day off day (because yes, I can only manage to make dinner if I have at least an hour before it needs to be done and when I work till five, I dont really have time to get home and make dinner before the family needs to eat at like 5:30). So as always I turned to trusty Pinterest. This soup turned out sooo good (and its leftovers can be turned into a casserole). With really good flavor and not too spicy at all. Plus those onions! They were amazing.

In the Crockpot:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 10oz cans of green chiles

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can corn or two cups frozen corn

1 onion, chopped

900mL chicken broth (I used one of those big boxes of chicken broth that looks like a giant juice box)

1-2 cups of water

1 Taco Seasoning Package

To finish the soup:

tortilla chips

sour cream

shredded cheese

fresh cilantro

This could not have been easier to make. I just put all the ingredients (onion, beans, green chiles, etc) in the crockpot and mixed them around (adding the chicken last and making sure it was partially submerged in the liquid mixture - which wasnt a problem since there was lots of liquid). Then I set the crockpot for low and cooked it for about 8-9 hours. Since I got home after it was ready, Nat broke up the chicken a little bit - which was super easy since it had been cooking all day. 

To serve we crunched up some chips, topped it with shredded cheese and since I like sour cream, I added a spoon full of that. I didn't have any cilantro, but I know it would have only enhanced the flavour. It was amazing (even though Dave doesn't consider soup a real meal). And seriously so easy. I think I could really get into crockpot cooking. 

Zucchini Boats

Living with Dave and Nat is awesome. They're hilarious, encouraging, supportive and full of entertainment. And I have loved being around them and their kids so much this summer. I'm excited for the next year being around them. But occasionally I feel like a bum. Because they do kind of take care of me. So I've been trying to be a more supportive member of the household. Well I have all of these pinterest recipes I've been wanting to try. But I like to do things with other people. So its pretty ideal to have Nat. This week we have been in love with zucchini. And the zucchini boats that we made were bombin! And since sharing is caring, I'll pass this forward. You seriously wont regret the taste explosion of this. Plus, it was crazy simple to do.

1 Tbsp Sour Cream
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Curry
1/2 Tomato (the boat can get a little soupy when it cooks so you wont need a ton of tomato)
1 tsp thyme (we didnt have thyme so we used oregano)
1 onion
Parmesan Cheese (though you could use any kind I'm sure)
Zucchini
Bacon (we used bacon bits that we crisped up when we cooked the onion)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400.
Scrub your zucchini and cut length wise in half.
Scoop out the inside leaving about 1/2 inch on the edges.
Chop the insides of the zucchini. And the tomato and onion.
Sautee the onions in a little bit of butter or oil. When the onions are done, add the 1/4 tsp Curry and cook for another 30 seconds. (It said not to cook longer than that so the curry wouldnt go bitter). We added the bacon bits (Real Bacon Bits, since we decided it was just like cooking real bacon and crumbling it) to the onion to crisp it before adding the curry.
In a bowl, add your cut up zucchini, tomato, onions and bacon. Then add the 1 Tbsp Sour Cream, 1 tsp "Thyme", some pepper and stir it all together.

We used a cookie sheet with parchment paper to cook our boats on. I buttered the parchment paper and then put the boats on and filled them with the zucchini stuffing till they were overflowing. Then I sprinkled cheese over top and ground some pepper over top.

Cook for 20 mins in the preheated oven.

The flavour was seriously ridiculous. So good. We just cut pieces of the boat and filling and ate it all up.

What we learned this week in our zucchini excursions, is that zucchini needs salt. A zucchini that is under salted is good. But properly salted? Delicious. The brilliant thing about the bacon was that it added this wonderful salty flavour to the zucchini. I know that this could be done sans the bacon. And it would have been good. But when you have bacon, why leave it out?

Dining Casa de Lowry

With the recent busyness of my life, I developed a terrible habit. It literally has been months since I've had any sort of food to speak of in my house. Meaning that literally every meal I was eating, I was buying. 

But now that my exams are done and I mostly have nothing to do once I get home from school, I'm going to try to make a push to try to get back into feeding myself, rather than letting the local food shops feed me. 

Already, my simple meals have reminded me of how nice it is to have a supply of food on hand. Its just nice, to walk to the fridge and pull out something good to eat if I'm hungry. (And Bonus - I feel like its healthier too!)

I'm sure I'll have some take-out withdrawal at some point. 

But lets be real - Fruit salad and brie isn't a take out food. And its delicious.

Honey Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas

I have been neglecting my kitchen since arriving back from Canada. First, I was only in Boston for a short time before going to Guatemala. And now I'm studying for not one but three different licensure exams which are over five days of test taking and officially making my life brutal. Legitimately, studying for huge comprehensive exams is the worst. You never feel like you know enough. And I can't help but feel like I'm gonna totally bomb.

But since I've been "studying" so much, I've also been pinning a lot. This recipe was too easy to pass up.

Ingredients:

15 ounce can Chickpeas (2 cups cooked Garbanzo beans) (Garbanzo=Chickpea)

1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1 Tbsp. Granulated sugar

2 tsp. Vegetable Oil

1 Tbsp. Honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Drain and rinse chickpeas under cool water for several minutes (to clean off starch). You can remove the skins or leave them on. Dry off the beans (which is a step I forgot... turns out you miss steps when the instructions are in a different room... no harm no foul though).

In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, cinnamon and sugar. Place beans in bowl and stir until evenly coated. Spread beans out flat on a large baking sheet. Bake for 35-40 mins or until beans are crunchy and no longer soft in the middle. Taste test until desired texture is reached. (I should have paid more attention at this step and perhaps stirred the beans around a couple times so they cooked more evenly - the outer beans were on the burnt side and the inner weren't quite crisp on the inside - they all taste good to me, but stirring would definitely help make them all a more similar consistency.)

Place hot, roasted beans in small bowl and coat evenly with honey. Spread beans back onto baking sheet and allow to dry. Store in airtight container at room temp (if you have any left that is!)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These were pretty darn tasty. And surprisingly enough, hit the sweet tooth spot for me. Which is kinda a big deal since I'm a total sugar monster. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the results!

Pinterest you win again!

Polenta?

Todays supper was weird.

Polenta, onions, garlic, salsa and cheese all frying panned up.

Not bad, but not my favourite either.

Raw Tacos

Let me start by saying that these tacos are the bomb.

Seriously everything about them made me so supremely happy.

And I couldnt help but be a little impressed with myself, because 1. They are very healthy and 2. All the ingredients were so fresh and homemade (minus the taco shells) and 3. They were SO SIMPLE!

1. Making your raw "meat"

So I got the idea for raw tacos from busybeelauren as well as the above photo. But we made our taco meat a little differently . Since I own zero kitchen appliances, and Alisun only owns a blender (which isnt quite the kick of a food processor), we decided that attempting to blend the walnuts would be our best bet (and as such we still had some nut chunks in our mix! But that definitely added to the taco). Also, we had not soaked and strained the walnuts in water for three hours. That would take forethought and this meal was but a spur of the moment plan. But we werent about to be hindered. So we googled some alternatives. Not only can you make your "meat" from different nuts (for example sunflower seeds and almonds) but you can also add water to the processed nuts so that they arent extra dry and get the right consistency. 

So thats what we did. We blended - trying very hard to not over blend - added some water (just enough so that it had the consistency of ground beef), 2 tsp minced garlic and googled the spices required to make our own taco seasoning. And then we added more taco seasoning (cause the meat was a little on the bland side with the first dose of taco seasoning). 

2. Making fresher than fresh Salsa

Dice and combine:

2 Large tomatoes

1 Red Pepper

1 Green Pepper

1/4 C. Cilantro

1/4 C. Green onions

The juice of 1 Lime

Add salt and pepper to taste

3. Combine and die a Happy Happy food death

 I cannot stress how amazing this meal was. 

We added some lettuce and avocado to our meat, cheese and salsa.

If I could of found sprouted grain tortillas we would of used that, but I couldnt. Which made me mad for people with legit gluten allergies, because while I have the luxury of just switching to the gluten option, how annoying it must be for them to not be able to find a gluten free version.

Besides the point.

It honestly was one of the best and most filling meals I've had.

And so flavorful. It was amazing. When I tell you these tacos are the bomb, that is an understatement.

I, for real, was in love with these TACOS!

Caprese

Tomato

Basil

Fresh Mozzarella

Easy as 1, 2, 3!

For real, this salad just tastes so fresh and delicious!

I added just a smidge of olive oil and a dash of salt. But other than that this is au naturel.

Cheese is pretty much the reason I could never be vegan (in case you were wondering) - that and actually caring about animals. A little bit, I feel like when you decide to be vegan you really take to heart the bus posters about saving every animal in the world. And thats just a tidge on the crazy side for me. I will say this though, most vegetarian/vegan food is mondo delicious. So props herbivores. I salute you!

Soiree Into Quinoa

So with my weight-loss ambitions, I'm trying to gravitate to healthier foods and branch out with vegetables. I am in general not a picky eater, but when it comes to veggies, I tend to play it safe and buy what is familiar and what I know I can feasibly handle in the kitchen. I'm kinda a wuss like that. But since I'm eating alot more veggies, I'm trying to be braver and try new meal ideas so that I dont get bored. My mom has been raving about the virtues of quinoa (I say it Quinn-no, because its proper pronunciation is beyond me), and I stumbled across a recipe involving it on a blog that I read. So since I was going grocery shopping today I decided to give it a go.

Quinoa with Asparagus and Onions

Start quinoa cooking based on instructions on the package

Mince garlic and cut asparagus and onions

Add veggies to pan on medium heat and add olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Cover and cook.

Combine and EAT!

So some things about this meal:
- I ate fresh raspberries as I waited for it all to cook. Best decision ever. They were AMAZING. I love raspberry season.
- The quinoa made a lot more than I was anticipating - which works out because the veggies also were in abundance so I now have a ready-made meal for tomorrow.
- I wished I had salted the water before adding the quinoa, but I remedied it by salting the quinoa.
- Being totally sauce-less over in this region (yup no soy sauce or sauce I cant pronounce... I dont even have ketchup), I was worried that my veggies would be lacking a certain saucy component, so I got creative and added balsamic vinegar to them while they cooked. It was indeed a great decision.

Needless to say, I'm quite pleased with the result.

Cake Pops

Once upon a time, I took a soiree into domesticity.

I'd heard about cake pops and wanted to try making them.

We were having a girls night, so I decided to try making them.

This is what I did...

Some things I wish I knew before making Cake Pops:

1. When in doubt, freeze it out - The cake balls should be frozen before you attempt to coat them in chocolate. Because if they arent set enough, they fall apart. And after you stick the sticks in with chocolate, that should be frozen too. Otherwise as you're coating with chocolate the balls fall off the sticks.

2. Microwaving the chocolate works the best. Just microwave it till melted and then re-heat 15-20 seconds if the chocolate stiffens. I completely ruined an entire bag of chocolate chips by heating the chocolate on the stove. 

3. I didnt have lollipop sticks, but I took shish-kabob sticks and cut the pointy end off and cut them in half and they worked great

4. The back of a spoon works great for spreading the chocolate around the balls.

5. Size matters. Smaller cake balls were easier to coat in chocolate than bigger cake balls.

So they say to let the chocolate coated cake balls set stick side down in styrofoam, but I just set them cake/chocolate side down on the tray. They werent pretty by any means but they worked out just fine.

And they were a big hit at both the girl night and the book club I went to.

The hardest part was coating them in chocolate. And if I had thought to freeze them I'm sure I would of had less issues.

Almond Chicken Sweet Potatoe

Today has been a bit of a blase day for me. And even though sometimes I dread the thought of what to make to eat, I decided to be adventurous. Royall lead me to the whole living website as part of her healthy living cleanse, and I found this recipe:

Almond Chicken Soup with Sweet Potato, Collards and Ginger

Serves 4

• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced (2 cups)
• 8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup smooth almond butter
• 1 cup collard leaves, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions

1. Combine the stock, onion, garlic, and sweet potato in a stockpot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the chicken, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the almond butter and 1/2 cup of the soup mixture into a thick paste. Add the collard leaves and ginger to the soup and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Stir in the almond butter paste. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Ladle the soup into bowls, and squeeze with lime wedge.

 Which totally sounded awesome.

But instead of following the directions I decided to just keep a general thought of what they were and add whatever amount pleased my little soul. 

I wanted it to be more of an almond chicken sauce with spinach.

So my proportions were different and not very by the book.

3/4 C Chicken Stock

Heaping Tbsp. Almond Butter

Diced Green onions

1 Clove Garlic minced

tsp-ish ginger minced

tsp-ish lime juice

half a chicken breast cubed

Several handfuls of spinach

I mixed all my ingredients together and let them simmer together of a medium-low setting.

And I cooked my sweet potato in the oven for about 45-50 minutes.

And then I put the sauce over top of the sweet potato.

It was actually pretty good. A little of the gingery side but I feel a little proud about it.

So yes, I'm totally patting myself on the back. What of it?

Bruschetta Irony

At Yankee, they had a great fortune teller box. Which was really just a lady in a box who when you pushed the button would "come to life" and wave her hands and hand you a card into the slot.

I thought this was a particularly ironic fortune for me.

Because lately I've been feeling a little like all I want is immediate gratification.

But slowly, I'm remembering how foolish that is. 

Good things take time.

This applies to pretty much everything but I'm trying to re-vamp my eating habits, I've decided that having food in my house and actually making it would be good.

 I almost broke my new resolve tonight (since I was feeling particularly hungry and lazy - which is a terrible combination mind you), but I have good friends sending me tasty recipes that I really do want to try. But actually cooking requires a little more effort than I've previously been putting in.

A few things about tonight's attempt at domesticity:

1. I should of cut the tomatoes into smaller pieces. I feel like smaller pieces would make it so the tomatoes fall off the bread less. 

2. More garlic. I was nervous about the garlic. Because truthfully it seemed like alot to me when I was crushing it and finely chopping it. But taste wise... I coulda done with a bit more I think.

3. I absolutely forgot to salt and pepper it. It slipped my mind. Until the very last piece of bread with bruschetta. And well, I love me some salt. The salt just brought out the flavour so much more.

4. I also didnt let it set or toast the bread - kinda forgot to do that. So when I say I follow directions, obviously I use that quite loosely. Whoopsies.

2 and 1/2 CUPS DICED TOMATOES*
1/2 CUP GREEN ONION CHOPPED FINELY
1 TEASPOON DRY BASIL
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed**
1 TEASPOON OREGANO
1/4 CUP OLIVE OIL
some salt and pepper

Mix, and set at room temperature for an hour or two.

*Roma tomatoes are nice because they're firmer inside than other tomatoes
**OPTIONAL, YET RECOMMENDED: saute the garlic (after you crush it) in a little bit of butter. you will know when it's done cause it will start to brown slightly.

serve on lightly toasted artisan bread. a sprinkle of fresh parmesan could be added as a finishing touch.

Enjoy!

Jumping Jacks

One of Ryder and Katie's favorite things are jumping pictures. 

Ok... they really like pictures in general but jumping pictures are just that little extra something.

 They could jump down those two steps over and over and over again.

And then do it some more. 

And each time they call out for someone to be documenting it with the camera.

I really love that they hold hands as they jump. Their little hands clasped together and their little faces shining with joy. Its exactly how a brother and sister should be. And I love it. I hope they always remember how to have fun together in such a simple way.

Sometimes Auntie Lindsay even jumps with them.

They're such funny little children. And I love the pure joy in their faces. Just jumping down the stairs and they looked like they were having the best time of their lives. I made orange julius for them when I was home. They'd never had it before but when they tried it they proceeded to have this little conversation:

Ryder: This is SO good. Its better than ichiban.
Katie: Ya its better than macaroni.
Ryder: Better than pickles!
Katie: Better than snowmen!
Ryder: Better than cheese sandwiches.


They went back and forth for a good five minutes naming everything that orange julius was better than. It made me laugh. And wish that I was recording them. And a couple hours after I'd made it, Ryder came up to my room. 


Ryder: Auntie Missy? Can you make me more orange julius? It was SO good.


So I went back down and made another batch and the kids compared who had the best orange julius moustache. 


For any interested in making their own orange julius here's the recipe - its ridiculously simple. 

6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar (half regular half powdered to make it more creamy!)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8-9 ice cubes

1. Combine all ingredients except ice cubes in blender.
2. Blend for about 1-2 minutes, adding ice cubes one at a time

To be fair I just blended it all together instead of actually reading the directions and we doubled it since our orange juice cans were massive... but we have a vitamix which is the bomb of all blenders and wins at life. 

Tortilla Shell Pizza

So easy. So quick. So delicious.

I am a big fan of tortillas. Mostly cause I love cheese quesadillas (and the easiness to deliciousness factor). 

But I decided to branch out tonite on a whim. 

And it actually turned out pretty fantastic.

I used ranch dressing as the "sauce", tossed on some pepperoni lunch meat, green peppers, tomato and cheese. And viola! Fantastic meal in literally under five minutes. 

Mm... so good. Best whim ever.

PCS BP - The Made Up Recipe

As requested here is the recipe.

Its ghetto and for awhile I couldnt remember what a frying pan was called.

But it gets the jist of it all across. 

And I promise... I'll stop only talking about this one meal.

Ingredients (most things are cut up to be bite sized)
2 Peppers - cut into strips (or could be cut into squares)
Four thin steaks (about 2 pounds of meat total) - cut against the grain into strips (easier to cut if the meat is frozen while you're cutting it)
One large white onion - chopped 
Package of mushrooms - chopped
Two green onions (scallions) - chopped up really small
Six or seven Russett potatoes - washed, dried, stabbed with a fork and the outside buttered
Package of provolone cheese - could be cut into cheese slices or grated
Tablespoon of olive oil
Montreal Steak Spice
(Makes enough for six or seven large baked potatoes with plenty of topping)


Instructions
Set oven to 350 F and wrap potatoes in tinfoil and place on a baking sheet for an hour and a half. Half hour to forty five minutes before you want to eat, set out two stove top pans with lids and set the burners to medium-low. In Pan 1 - throw olive oil and onions in and let cook until they are starting to go translucent. Meanwhile in Pan 2 - put meat strips in, season with montreal steak spice and cover till cooked well through - flipping midway through and seasoning the other side (if you have a lot of meat you might have to do multiple pans but the cooked meat can be set aside and covered to keep the heat). Once onions are mostly cooked, stir in peppers and mushrooms and continue to cook. When peppers and mushrooms are mostly cooked, take meat from Pan 2 and mix into Pan 1. Throw strips of provolone cheese on and when melted stir it all together. 


Then you take your baked potatoes out of the oven, cut them open and put meat, cheese and vegetable mixture over top and eat!

(Brilliance and simplicity of this recipe go to the credit of Benjamin Rex TeWhiti Lowry)

Stuffed With Love

Its nights like tonight that make me wish I had someone. Not because I hate being alone... no, more like it'd be fun to have someone to share things with. Like the fact that I made stuffed peppers. And they were good. Brittney tipped me off to the Kraft website. Which is brilliant. And inspired me to try something not dessert related (cause thats really the only kind of cooking I usually do). I mean, lets not pretend... I made cookies too. But I tried a main course dish for once. It was really really easy.

It called for simulated beef pouches.

Hello. I'm from Alberta. We dont do "simulated beef"

So I mixed the beef, salsa, corn, instant rice and water together. Cut some peppers and then stuffed them.

Covered them with tinfoil and popped them in the oven.

Then uncovered and baked some cheese on top.

And Viola!

Something mouth watering.

Dont be hatin.

If you were here you

coulda had some.

What do you think?

Will my recent domestication

reel in some visitors?

Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef

1 can (12 oz.) whole kernel corn

1 cup salsa

1-1/2 cups water, divided

1-1/2 cups instant white rice

1/2 cup Cheese, shredded

3 large bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed

MIX 1 lb. ground beef, 1 can (12 fl oz / 341 mL) whole kernel corn and 1 cup each salsa and water in a large nonstick frying pan. Stir in 1-1/2 cups instant white rice. Bring to boil, stirring frequently. Cover and remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup grated Cheese; mix well.

CUT 1 each red, yellow and green bell pepper in half lengthwise. Remove and discard the seeds. Spoon burger mixture evenly into pepper halves; place in 13x9-inch baking dish. Pour 1/2 cup water into dish; cover with foil.

BAKE at 400°F for 30 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with additional 1/2 cup cheese. Bake an additional 10 minutes.

Enjoy!