Tortellini Soup

1 pound Italian sausage
onion diced
2 cans Italian tomatoes
1 tsp. Cummin
1 tsp. Oregano
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt
32 oz carton chicken broth
8 oz cream cheese
bag of fresh spinach
bag of frozen cheese tortellini
Brown sausage and onion. Add garlic, cummin, oregano, salt and pepper.  Add cream cheese and stir until cream cheese is melted and blended into soup. Add tomatoes.  Add chicken broth. Add spinach and let cook until spinach is wilted into the soup mix.  Add the tortellini.   Stir gently so you won't break up the tortellini.  When the tortellini
is done the soup is ready.  Only takes 2 or 3 minutes.  Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese on top and some Italian bread.

NOTE...Another version is fire roasted Rotel, salt and pepper to taste instead of Italian tomatoes and the seasonings listed. 

Cream of Mushroom Soup

With colder weather coming on I've been tackling some new soups.   Here are a couple I think you will like.

Cream of Mushroom

drizzle of olive oil
1/4 cup of butter
Small onion diced
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
2-3 cups mushrooms roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon thyme
2 tablespoons flour
Splash of white wine-optional
3-4 cups of chicken stock
Block of cream cheese
Melt butter.  Add the olive oil. Add mushrooms and onions and cook until tender.  Add garlic just before they are done.  Add the flour and the wine.  Cook until the wine has cooked off.  Add the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer.  Add the cream cheese and stir until in melts into the soup.  The soup will thicken slightly.  Salt and pepper to taste.  It's recommended you serve with buttered crackers.  I ate mine with buttered croutons.   Of course good bread will work too.

Buffalo Chicken Chili

This was a recipe that I took to the Chili cook off at my church.  It didn't win but I had people ask for it so I know it was a hit just the same.  This is my easy version.  I revived my Crock pot for this one and I've been using since.  Don't know why I every stopped.

1/4 cup of Buffalo wing sauce
2 large boneless breast
1/2 tsp. dried Cilantro
1 can of whole kernel corn, drained
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 can white navy beans
diced onion
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp. celery salt
1 envelope of ranch dressing mix
1/4 tsp. salt
8 oz. cream cheese.

Spray your crock pot with Pam for easy clean up.  Lay 2 large boneless breast in the bottom.  Can put them in frozen.  Add all other ingredients except for the cream cheese.  At this point you can stir it slightly just to mix the seasonings in.  Lay the 8 oz bar of cream cheese on top and put the top on. 
When the breast are cook, which should be in about 3-4 hours depending on whether you used frozen ones are not, remove them just long enough to dice or shred the chicken. Return the chicken to the crock pot and stir in the cream cheese.  You could eat it now but I let it cook just a little longer to let the cream cheese mix into the soup well.  May 30 more minutes.  It's suggested you serve with blue cheese crumbles but I'm not a big fan of blue cheese so I skipped this part.

FYI...You can adjust the heat by the kind of wing sauce you use.  I actually don't like a lot of heat so I used Franks and added another 4th of a cup once it was done and I tasted it.  I like the taste just not the heat.  This worked for me.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Found this recipe and it sounded good.  Set out to make it as easy as possible

1 lb chicken  (about 2 good size breast)
2 cans of whole kernel corn
2 cans of Rotel Tomatoes
Onion diced
32 oz. Carton of chicken broth
1 teaspoon of the diced up garlic in a jar
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Monterey Jack cheese and  tortilla chips

Pour the broth into large pan. Can also be done in a crock pot.  I cut the breast in half horizontally so they would could quicker.
Lay then in the broth and cook slowly until they are done.  Remove and let cool.  Meanwhile
add every thing else except the cheese and chips.  When the chicken is cool enough to handle,
tear into bite size pieces and return to soup.  Cook on low 20-30 minutes.  Top with Monterey
Jack cheese and serve with tortilla chips.

FYI  You can control the "heat" (spicyness) by the kind of Rotel you buy.

Also, adjust the "soupiness" by adding less broth, if you like.

If you like cilantro is a nice addition to this soup.

After you've ladled  the soup into your bowl you can add a squeeze of fresh lime, chopped up fresh avacado instead of or in addition to the monterey jack cheese.

Butter Bean Soup

Looking at the left over ham on Christmas day,  I remembered a soup my mother use to make and I set out to recreate it.  It turned out just as I remembered.

I took the left over ham and diced up all the remaining ham.  When there was nothing left but the bone, I submerged the bone in water and simmered to create a broth.  I set the broth aside.  Meanwhile I melted about 1/4 stick of butter and added a diced onion.  I then added the diced ham and sautéed until the onion was done. I then added back the broth and a small bag of dried large white limas.  I cooked slowly until the butter beans were done.  As they cooked when I felt I needed more liquid I just added chicken broth.  Salt and pepper to taste and a pan of hot corn bread and dinner was ready.

Easy Microwave Peanut Brittle

The other day at Publix they had the large cans of Planter's Peanuts BOGO.  I had not one, but two coupons I could use.  One store coupon and one manufacturer coupon.  This made these peanuts about $1 per can. Yeah!  I came home with 4 large cans.  I then remembered this recipe that I hadn't made in awhile.  It's so easy and taste pretty much like my Bigmama's homemade brittle that she use to make all the time  when I was a child.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup karo syrup
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup planters peanuts

Place sugar and  karo syrup in a microwave safe bowl.  Stir. Microwave for 5 minutes.
Stir in peanuts and the butter.  Stir and cook for another 2 1/2 minutes.  The recipe calls for 3-4 minutes but I found this to work better.  Remove from microwave and add the soda and vanilla.  Stir and immediately pour onto a cookie sheet that you have sprayed with Pam.  Allow to cool completely.  Break into pieces just the right side to eat.  Store in an container with a good tight lid.

Roasted chicken with vegetables

We had dinner the other night with some good friends at  Cracker Barrel.  We decided to order the roasted chicken since it was only offered for a limited time.  It was very good and I decided that it could be made at home easily.  A few days later I was at Kroger and they had the whole chickens cut in half and marked down in price.  Perfect chance to try this.  I have a large braiser so it was perfect but you can do this in a dutch oven.  I sprayed the pan with Pam.  Then I laid the whole, half chicken in the pan.  I had some Montreal chicken seasoning.  I love the Montreal steak seasoning so I decided, why not.  I shook the Montreal chicken seasoning over the half chicken, both sides but I left the skin side up.  I surrounded the chicken with vegetables.  I had potatoes, carrots, onion and an ear of corn that I broke in half.  I placed this in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes.  I then lowered the heat to 300 and put the lid on the pan.  I check the chicken with a meat thermometer every 20 minutes till it reached the desired temperature.  Couldn't have been easier.

Now, with the left overs...Larry doesn't like left overs so I had to do something completely different if he was going to eat it.  I put the deboned chicken and left over vegetables and drippings in a baking dish.  I had  green peas and frozen corn in the freezer so I added a little of both.  I stirred in a heaping tablespoon of mayonnaise and added a little chicken broth so it wouldn't be too dry.  I took my Pioneer baking  mix and added about a half stick of melted butter and a couple of tablespoons of sour cream and enough milk to be a little wetter than you would have for biscuits.  You need to be able to spread it.  I poured it over the chicken/vegetable mixture and gently spread it out with a spatula.  You don't want to mix it in at all.  I baked it in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes until it's lightly brown.  This made really good chicken pot pie. 

If you happened to have poultry seasoning, it would make the dough extra tasty if you add a little but it's not necessary.