Crockpot chicken tortilla soup

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken breast or tenders

15 oz. can rotel

10 oz. can enchilada sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

4 oz. can chopped green chile peppers

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups water

14.5 oz. can chicken broth

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

10 oz. package frozen corn

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Vegetable oil

7 corn tortillas

Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.  Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover and cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on high setting for 3 to 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, and then spread on a baking sheet.  Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes.

When soup is done, shred the chicken breasts with a fork.  Sprinkle tortilla strips over soup. Garnish with avocado if desired.

Summer made this for soup night and actually didn’t use tortillas.  It was still awesome! Just more of a broth based soup.  Also, if you don’t like heat, cut the cayenne pepper and replace the can of rotel with a can of diced tomatoes! Add some black beans! Another tweak, use all chicken broth instead of the 2 cups of water.  

Bacon Corn Jalapeno Dip

Ingredients

1 package cream cheese, softened

8 oz (1 cup) sour cream

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can corn, drained and dried

1 package bacon, cooked and drained

2-3 jalapenos, diced

1-2 tbsp hot sauce

Cook and drain bacon, set aside to cool. Stir together cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sour cream. Add in the diced garlic and jalapenos, then the drained corn. Chop or tear the bacon into small strips and stir into the dip. Add hot sauce. Chill for at least an hour and serve with chips, crackers, or raw veggies. 

Made this for a bonfire Thursday night and it was gone before some people even got to try it! I’d say it was a hit. 

Hamburger Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef

3 cups thinly sliced potatoes (either peeled or with thin skins)

1/2 cup chopped onions

1 can cream of mushroom soup

3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese

1/4 cup chopped green onion

1 tsp. hot sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease an 11 x 7 (2 quart) glass baking dish. In medium skillet, cook the onions and ground beef until done. Drain the grease. Add milk, soup, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Stir together with burger.  Layer half of the potatoes, soup mixture and cheese. Repeat with the rest of the potatoes, soup mixture and then the cheese. Sprinkle with green onions.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the potatoes are tender.

Gluten-free Cheesy Pepper Jack Potato Chowder

Ingredients:

8 strips bacon, chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

1 large shallot or 1/2 small onion, chopped

pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes (or more or less)

2 Tablespoons glutenfree or allpurpose flour

2 cups chicken broth, divided

2 cups 2% milk

4 cups southern style frozen hash browns

8 oz freshly shredded Pepper Jack cheese

2 green onions, chopped

In a small bowl whisk together 2 Tablespoons flour with 1/4 cup chicken broth then set aside.

Heat a large soup pot over medium heat then add chopped bacon and cook until crisp. Remove bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain then remove all but 1 Tablespoon bacon grease from the pot. Add celery and shallots, season with pepper, and then sauté until tender, 4-5 minutes. Add minced garlic and red chili pepper flakes then sauté for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.  Add remaining 1 3/4 cups chicken broth, milk, hash browns, and lots of freshly cracked pepper to the pot then turn heat up to high and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Slowly drizzle in flour/chicken broth mixture then stir to combine. Turn heat down to medium-low and simmer until chowder has thickened and potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat then add shredded cheese about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until completely smooth before adding the next batch. Stir in 1/2 the cooked bacon then serve with remaining bacon and green onions.

I made this for the soup cook off I hosted this weekend. It was so good! I made mine in the crockpot so it was even easier and could be kept warm throughout the night.  

Garlic Butter Roasted Carrots

Ingredients:

2 pounds carrots, diagonally cut into about 2 to 3­inch pieces (I used a bag of baby carrots)

5 tablespoons butter

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Preheat oven to 425F.  Grease a baking sheet with cooking spray; set aside.  Melt butter over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet or pan.  Add garlic and cook for 3 minutes, or until lightly browned, stirring very frequently. DO NOT burn the garlic.  Toss the carrots with the garlic butter either in the pan or pour the butter over them in a mixing bowl.  Transfer carrots to baking sheet.

Arrange in one layer and bake for 22 to 30 minutes, or until carrots are tender.  Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and serve.

I served these last night with pork roast and baked potatoes.  They were just the right amount of garlicy goodness.  

Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb. Italian sausage

2 tbsp. minced garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ cup white onion, chopped

24 ounce jar pasta sauce

1 can chicken broth

1 tbsp. Italian seasoning

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

8-10 lasagna noodles, broken into pieces

½ cup mozzarella cheese

1 cup water

½ cup milk

extra mozzarella cheese for topping

Cook sausage in a skillet with garlic, onions and olive oil until done. Drain excess grease.  Place sausage, pasta sauce, beef broth, onion powder, parsley, basil and parmesan cheese in a slow cooker. Cook on high for 2.5 hours.  After 2.5 hours, put lasagna noodles, water, milk, and ½ cup of mozzarella cheese into the slow cooker and let cook another 30-60 minutes, or until pasta is tender.  Top bowls of soup with mozzarella cheese.

I wanted to give mine a little kick so I added a few dashes of hot sauce and red pepper flakes while it was cooking.  I love, love, love this soup! 

Southwest Dip

Ingredients

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 packet dry ranch dip mix

½ Tbsp. taco seasoning

16 oz. sour cream

1 can corn, drained well

1 can low-sodium black beans, drained and rinsed well

½ c. shredded cheddar cheese

4 green onions, sliced thin

In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, ranch mix and taco seasoning until smooth.  Add in sour cream and beat to combine.  With a spoon, fold in corn, black beans, cheese and green onions.

Eat right away with chips or refrigerate to let the flavors blend together. Enjoy!

Variations:

I used half a can of black beans since I’m not a big fan.

I used 1 ½ Tbsp of hot and spicy taco seasoning

I made this dip for tailgating and a party at my house this weekend.  It was magnificent.  My friend Teresa said it was like crack.  Easy to put together.  Cheap to make.  Great flavor.