Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup

Well, it is officially fall, and you know what that means....soup time!  Chicken Tortilla is one of my favorite soups so I decided that should be the first one I make this season.  This is a different recipe than I normally use, but I decided to try it because it uses those canned chipotle chilis that I love so much.  I always seem to have some extra I need to use up.  This soup is so so good and was really fast to prepare.  I cooked my chicken the night before so that made it even faster.  It is really spicy though, spicier than I thought it would be; but I don't mind spicy food, so something to think about if you don't like things really hot.  Maybe only use one chipotle.

Based off of Rachael Ray

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
4-8 cups chicken broth, depending on how soupy you like (I use closer to 8 cups because I like a thinner soup)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 chipotles in adobo, plus 2 teaspoons sauce
28 ounces canned fire-roasted tomatoes (I used diced)

For Serving:

Crushed Tortilla Chips
1 Lime, cut into wedges
Shredded Cheese
Sour Cream
Chopped Onion
Chopped Cilantro

Directions:

1.  In a soup pot, heat olive oil and cook onion and garlic for 5 minutes then stir in chipotles and tomatoes.
2.  Add in chicken and broth.
3.  Serve with crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese, a squeeze of lime, and any other toppings you like.

DElish!

Corn Chowder

**post edited October 26, 2011 to add pic**  Made this last Sunday night when it was cold and windy.  We stayed in to watch the Cardinals play in the World Series.  Yummy!

Source:  Pat and Gina Neely

I forgot to take a picture of this Thursday night, but I'll try to remember to snap one when I have a bowl of leftovers. 

This is perfect on a cold snowy night, like the past few we've had.  It has a little kick to it, but it is DE-lish!  You can use just 1 jalapeno or leave it out if you don't like spicy food.



Ingredients

• Bacon, 6-8 slices, chopped
• 1 large onion or 2 small
• 2 red bell peppers
• 1-2 jalapenos, seeds removed and diced
• 3 or so Garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup AP flour
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 4-5 red potatoes, scrubbed well and diced small
• 2 cups heavy cream or half-n-half
• 2-16 oz. packages frozen corn
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• bay leaf
• Garnishes: cheese, green onions, sour cream

Directions

1. Saute bacon in a soup pot until browned.  Remove to a paper towel-lined plate but leave the drippings in.
2. Add in onions and both peppers.  Saute until tender, add in garlic and season with S&P.
3. Stir in flour and cook for a minute.
4. Add in chicken stock and potatoes. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
5. Add in corn, cream, bay leaf and cayenne pepper.  Simmer for 15 minutes or until ready to serve.
6. Garnish with the bacon and cheddar cheese.

This is a good base recipe for chowder.  You can sub onions, carrots, and celery for a more traditional version.  Or you could add some chicken, that would be really good as well.

Printable Recipe

Gumbo

This is the quick-cooking gumbo I make for weeknight meals. It's not the "real" Cajun way of starting out with a roux, that takes 8+ hours to make. I wouldn't be eating till 1 o'clock in the morning if I made it that way!

And please don't ask me if it has seafood in it. We don't eat anything that swam to the kitchen.

This recipe makes a TON. Most of the time I half this recipe; I would say a half recipe has 6 servings. I still use about 4 cups or so of chicken broth for a half recipe, I like it more soupy. The whole recipe will serve at least 8 with seconds. My mom wanted to make this last night and invited us and some of their friends over. We had 8 people, some of them having second and third bowls, and STILL had some left over!

Adapted from Rachael Ray's recipe.

Printable recipe

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. BS Chicken Breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
  
• 2 packages Andouille Sausage, cut into discs or half-moons
• Trinity - onions, celery, bell pepper - 1 large onion, 4 or so stalks celery, 2 bell peppers
• Garlic - a few cloves, however much you like
• Cajun seasoning - sometimes I make a batch of Emeril's seasoning to use, and sometimes I just use Tony Chacere's or whatever
• 2 Bay Leaves
• Thyme - half a palmfull
• Butter
  
• 1/4 cup AP Flour
  
• 4-6 cups chicken broth
  
• 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• Okra - frozen or fresh - I used some from Papa's garden that I froze this summer
• Rice for serving
  

Directions

1. Cook the chicken in a BIG soup pot with EVOO, cajun seasoning, and maybe a little pepper, breaking it up as you go. (I like small pieces.) Remove it from the pot, cook the sausage and then remove it.
2. Cook the celery, peppers, onions, and garlic in 1/2 stick of butter, until they're a little soft. Season with hot sauce, thyme and bay leaves.
   
3. Add flour and cook for a minute, then add the chicken broth and bring to boil. This is what will thicken the gumbo.
4. Add in tomatoes, and put the chicken and sausage back in.
5. Let it simmer for a few minutes, or longer if you have time.
   
6. Wait to put the okra in until you're about ready to serve. It only takes about 5 minutes to cook. You don't want it to get gummy.
7. Serve over rice.
   

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

Adapted from this recipe.

Printable recipe

Ingredients (I don't really measure anything)

3-4 chicken breasts
1/2 onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 carrot, shredded (I used the pre-shredded ones)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon thyme
6-8 cups chicken stock (depending on how soup-y you like it)
2 cups half-and-half
16 oz. gnocchi
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
2-3 tablespoons cornstarch (optional)

Directions

1. Brown chicken in skillet with EVOO, S&P (or you could bake it). Remove from pan and shred/cut into really small pieces.
2. Saute the onion, celery, onion, garlic, carrot in oil over medium heat until onion is translucent.
3. Add chicken back to pan, thyme, chicken stock, and half and half. Heat to boiling, then add gnocchi. Gently boil for 4 minutes, then turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes.Add spinach and cook for another 1-2 minutes until spinach is wilted.
4. Heat to boiling and add cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tbsp water at this point if you want a thicker soup.
   

The first time I made this soup I didn’t add the cornstarch slurry, but I’m so glad I did this time! It is pretty good thin, but was sooo much better a little thicker.

The Hubs said he liked it...but he didn't have his usual second helping and there was a little bit left in the bottom of his bowl. Maybe he's just not used to gnocchi...he's not very gourmet.