Easy peasy tortilla soup

Wow! Time sure does fly! It's hard for me to believe it has been 2 months since my last post! CRAZY! 

With the beginning of a new year, most of us are looking for ways to eat healthier. My easy peasy tortilla soup has been a great way for us to get in more veggies and eat something that feels like comfort food.

INGREDIENTS:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

6 cups low sodium chicken or veggie stock

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp dried oregano

2 cloves minced fresh garlic

1 tsp Mrs Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning

2 carrots pealed and sliced into thin coins

1 15oz can no salt added petite diced tomatoes, drained

4 corn tortillas chopped into 1 inch strips

GARNISH OPTIONS

chopped bell pepper

diced avocado

sliced jalapeño

cilantro 

crushed tortilla chips

shredded Mexican cheese

hot sauce 

DIRECTIONS

1) Place chicken, stock, & spices into a large stock pot and simmer until chicken is cooked through.

2) Remove chicken, chop into bite sized pieces, and set asside.

3) Add carrots, tomatoes, and tortillas and continue to simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.

4) Meanwhile, chop and prepare the garnishes you are choosing to use. We like all of them! I usually put everything in desperate bowls on a lazy Susan so that everyone can add their own favorites.

5) Just before serving, add the chopped chicken back to the pot, and allow to simmer for 5 minutes- just until heated through. 

6) Ladle into soup bowls, top with your favorite garnishes & enjoy!

The verdict...

Family Dinner Night was OUTSTANDING! The company was delightful, the soup was excellent, and the brownies were not too bad! Plus the weather was nice enough we dined alfresco - which is good because my patio farm house table seats 6 adults way more comfortably than our tiny indoor table.

THE SOUP: we made some modifications to the original recipe due to some food allergies of our "family" members. One friend is allergic to dairy and citrus, I am so sad for her! So, for the meatballs we left out the lime juice and served lime wedges on the side. And we substituted 1/2 a cans worth of diced green chilies for the pepper jack cheese. Another friend is allergic to avocados, like really REALLY allergic, so we didn't even slice into them. Can I just say... I LOVED this soup! LOVED IT! The most time consuming part was the meatballs but it was oh so worth it! I can see maybe making up a triple batch of them, browning them, and freezing the extra for another time. And maybe making the meatballs smaller too. They were 2 -3 bites each and a smaller meatb all would make for mour refined eating with company. ;-) I will definitely be adding this to our regular rotation of soups!

THE BROWNIES: these were ok. I made some modification to the original recipe. I substituted granular maple sugar for the white sugar. I like the deep but less sweet flavor of the maple sugar, and it is less processed than white sugar, which is something I'm trying to reduce in our diet. I also added some coffee extract which always helps in intensifying the chocolate flavor in my opinion.

So... what went wrong you ask? Well, I'm going to go back and measure my pan - I think I used a 9 x 9 instead of 8 x 8. The brownies were thin and a tad dry in my opinion and the size of the pan may have been the cause. I might try date paste as the sweetener next time instead of the maple sugar. Date paste should still give it that rich deep flavor, plus add extra moistness and more sweetness that most people expect in a brownie. That said, my husband said he liked them - he liked that they were less sweet and thus had a deeper chocolate flavor. And when I told him the were completely grain free and made with black beans, we was shocked.

CONCLUSION: make the soup. Tonight. I mean it. TO-NIGHT!! But take a pass on the brownies. If you are really curious, stop by my place, I have left overs you can try.  Although, I'm not done messing with the recipe. I'm going to see if I can make these work. You may see "Black Bean Brownies, Part Two" in the near future!

(Here is a photo of my husbands 2nd bowl. My 1st AND 2nd helping was gone before I remembers to take a picture, it was THAT good!)

Family Dinner Night...

Just over two years ago, we started Family Dinner Night. My husband had a standing gig on Tuesday nights that left me on my own to take care of dinner, bath, and bed time for our girls who at that time were almost 2 and almost 1. A few of my dear friends took pity on me and started coming over each week. They'd help me feed the girls, play with them in the bath, get them in their pjs, and read bedtime stories. Once my sweet babies were sleeping, we'd finish making our yummy adult dinner, crack open a bottle of much deserved wine, and sit down for some girl talk over a wonderfully gourmet meal! One of them started referring to our Tuesday nights as Family Dinner Night, and so it was!

My husband no longer has a Tuesday night commitment AND we've had a third baby, so we haven't gotten together as regularly. But we definitely all look forward Family Dinner Nights and it is something we're trying to get back to doing more often. We've even started a group pin board on Pinterest for future meal ideas.

 Well... tonight IS a Family Dinner Night! Woohoo! We will be making a delicious looking Meatball Tortilla Soup by Ree Drummond (aka The Pioneer Woman) and a Pinterest recipe I tweaked just a bit for Black Bean Brownies. And no wine tonight - Mexican food calls for beer!  Though none for me, I'm still nursing.  Check back in with me tomorrow to find out how it all turned out - I'll also share the brownie recipe if the Family likes them!