Southwest Chicken Soup (More like a stew!)

My favorite diner - Red Geranium - used to have a cook that made this killer soup. I tried to recreate it and got close enough to cure any cravings I have for it. It's an amazingly filling soup, great on cold fall or winter days, just spicy enough and so thick it's more like a stew than soup.

I made a mistake with the first version by overestimating the rice needed, but the flavor was nearly spot on. The first taste test was right on spice wise, but having to add more water or chicken broth when re-heated cut the flavor a bit. Adding more chili powder helped kick it back up.

It's a quick and easy recipe, make it in a crockpot and let it go all day or throw it together using some handy leftovers and it'll be ready in no time.  I'm including cooking instructions for both methods here, but will give you just one list of the ingredients.

To whet your appetite, here's a sneak peak of the yumminess waiting for you after it's cooked up.

Groceries Needed

Here's the list of what you'll need:

• 1 1/2 to 2 lbs. chicken - use fresh skinless chicken breasts or left over rotisserie chicken
• 2 cans (15 oz. each) tomato sauce
• 2 cans (14.5-15 oz. each) diced tomatoes OR 30 oz. diced fresh tomatoes
• 2 cans (15 oz. each) black beans, rinsed
• 1 pkg. frozen SouthWest Corn (corn with onions, red peppers, green peppers) 
• 1 pkg. (1.25 oz.) McCormick Taco Seasoning (low sodium works great if salt is a concern)
• 1 cup rice - white or brown - uncooked (for stockpot version pre-cooked or leftover rice is needed)
• 1 can  (14.5 oz.) chicken broth

The mistake I made in the crock-pot was putting in 2 cups of rice without enough liquid, and really 2 cups of rice was too much. I've adjusted the recipe accordingly. If you're doing the stockpot version, then for the rice you'll want either unseasoned/un-buttered rice or cook the rice while everything else is warming in the stockpot.

Crockpot Instructions

This recipe will require a 5-quart crock-pot. I strongly suggest NOT using a liner. Instead spray the inside of the crock with olive oil to prevent sticking. Do NOT use vegetable oil, it makes the soup taste funny. If you're good about stirring every few hours, you can get away without spraying the crock.

Here's how I put this soup together. I'm including the step-by-step instructions for the kids I borrow, that way they'll have this available when they go off to college and won't have to call me.

1. Open both cans of tomato sauce and pour into the pot first. 
2. Open the taco seasoning and dump into the pot. Stir this in fairly well.
3. Cut the fresh chicken into roughly 1" chunks and add to the pot.
4. Open both cans of diced tomaoes and add to the pot.
5. Open both cans of black beans. Drain and rinse the beans before adding to the pot.
6. Add the frozen corn to the pot.
7. Turn on the crock-pot to cook for 8 hours on low heat. 
8. After 6 hours add in the rice and the chicken broth. Stir in well, don't forget to "pull up" the heavier ingredients from the bottom of the pot too as this will help ensure the rice soaks up some of the spicy flavor.
9. When the crock pot is done cooking, leave it on warm (mine does it automatically). Serve straight from the pot or place it all in a fancy serving bowl. Using a ladle helps make sure you're getting some chicken from the bottom of the pot into the bowl.
10. Eat. Enjoy. Repeat.

Note on the rice: if you don't want the rice to soak up everything, then pre-cook a cup of rice and add it about 1 hour before the crock-pot is finished cooking. Skip adding the chicken broth to the soup as it shouldn't be noted. If you soup is too thick due to the rice it can be fixed by adding some water or chicken broth when re-heating.


Preferred Brands

In the interest of full disclosure I get nothing from any company, but want to share what brands I use for the ingredients. For the beans I used Ortega and Bush brands. For the tomato sauce and tomatoes I use Hunts. For the chicken I used Tyson; I prefer Perdue or Amish raised but those weren't available. I used long-grain white California rice, and Swanson's Chicken Broth.

This is the crock-pot model I have. I got it on sale cheap at Meijer and absolutely LOVE it! Really though, any crock-pot will work.

Stockpot Instructions

 If you don't have a stockpot, you'll be ok. All you really need is a 5 quart pot of some kind. I use the one that came with my KitchenAid (again, purchased on sale for cheap) anodized non-stick cooking set. I'm stuck with an older electric stove with a glass top that's incredibly picky and tends to warp aluminum cooksets.

Total cook time will depend on what ingredients are already cooked and ready to go, and the thickness of your pot. You'll want it to be nice and hot, which on my stove with already cooked chicken and rice works out to about 20 minutes on medium-high heat.

1. If using fresh chicken breasts, cook the chicken first. Fastest way is to throw some oil olive in a frying pan and fry the chicken, flipping over after 2 minutes. Another option is to put in a baking dish with some water with a dash of lemon juice and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
2. Open both cans of tomato sauce and pour into the pot first. 
3. Open the taco seasoning and dump into the pot. Stir this in fairly well.
4. Cut the cooked chicken into roughly 1" chunks and add to the pot. If you're using leftover rotisserie chicken (lemon herb adds a great flavor to the soup) shredding it will work just fine. If you're using canned chicken chunks, drain it well first.
5. Open both cans of diced tomaoes and add to the pot.
6. Turn the burner on low to start the cooking process.
7. Open both cans of black beans. Drain and rinse the beans before adding to the pot.
8. Add the frozen corn to the pot. Stir again.
9. Turn the heat up to medium.
10. Add in the rice and chicken broth and stir well.
11. Keep stirring every few minutes until the soup is lightly boiling.
12. Serve straight from the pot or place it all in a fancy serving bowl. Using a ladle helps make sure you're getting some chicken from the bottom of the pot into the bowl.
13. Eat. Enjoy. Repeat.

Note on the rice: If you're short on time and rice, use 5-minute rice and chicken broth instead of water. Add in the rice as soon as it's done.

To spice up either version, add in some more chili powder, or hot sauce.

Hope you enjoy it!

Check Yourself!

As the beginning of October is upon us, I've had too many stark reminders that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Please check yourself, every month, and every year if you're of "that age" to get mammograms - this includes you men as well!

Don't be afraid to demand tests, don't hesitate to demand tests.

There are no tests yet for Pancreatic Cancer, but it hit the mainstream with Steve Jobs' death and hit home with my sister's passing in 2013. The symptoms mimic many other illnesses, but if you are having unusual nausea or your skin is getting uncharacteristically itchy keep demanding testing. If your doctor won't listen find another.

Know your normal, trust your gut, and never be afraid to be your own advocate.

Lemon-y Sunshine Muffins

One of my favorite people, and one of the photographers of the cookbook absolutely LOVES lemon poppy seed muffins. These turn out very lemon-y and buttery in flavor. It's like baking up summer sunshine.

This particular recipe is being added to the updated version of the cookbook, so it doesn't yet have all of the typical instructions you will find on this website. If you need clearer instruction, please shoot me an email and let me know what doesn't make sense. I haven't put it through kid-testing yet as the borrowed kiddos are busy with school demands.


Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins

1/4 cup butter (really soft or melted in microwave; I melt mine)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk  (do NOT use water, but skim milk will work)
1 egg (Jumbo or Extra Large AA)
3 packets TrueLemon OR 3 tblsp. lemon extract or lemon juice
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tblsp. baking powder
1-3 tblsp. poppy seeds (this depends on your preference, I tend to use 2 but for big fans I'll use 3)

You'll need 2 bowls. Mix the flour, poppy seeds salt, and baking powder in one bowl and put to the side (I use a whisk or fork for mixing the dry ingredients). In the other bowl mix the butter, sugar, and lemon hoice until well mixed. Add the egg until mixed in.  By hand stir in the remaining ingredients by alternating the milk and dry mixture. Be careful to not over mix.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a muffin tin or use paper cups.  Fill cups about 3/4 full and bake for 20-30 minutes. This will depend on your oven, for mini-muffins mine takes 22 minutes, for regular size muffins it takes 25 minutes, for jumbos 30.  This recipe will usually make 24 mini-muffins, 12 regular muffins, or 9 jumbo muffins (depending on your tin sizes).


Lemon glaze:

1/4 + 2 tblsp. powdered sugar  (no powdered sugar on hand, you can use regular)
1/4 c. water + 4 packets TrueLemon OR 1/4 lemon juice

Mix the sugar and lemon until well mixed. Drizzle over the top of the cooled muffins.

I tend to double this glaze when I make the mini muffins as I remove them from the pan and drizzle it over the whole batch at once, which takes more.

Tomato overload!

Last year I had an overload of grape and cherry tomatoes, this year not as much, but I do have an overload of Roma's, Celebrity, and "patio" tomatoes. Which means only 1 thing...SALSA TIME!

When I make salsa I use every tomato I have from my garden, including the cherry and grape tomatoes. This year I did two batches of salsa, and a batch of "soup starter". Soup starter is very similar to salsa, at least it starts out the same.

Soup starter includes every left over, stray, and odd ball veggie from my garden that I like thrown in with the tomatoes, bell pepper, onions, cilantro, and oregano. I also add in one can of tomato paste to thicken it up a bit. I use this soup starter with chicken in my crock pot in the cold wintery months. It sure makes things speed up quite a bit.

Even my neighbors had tomato overload, one dropped by with some beautiful read tomatoes and a bell pepper. I still owe him a jar of salsa, so I think there's another batch that's going to have to be done up this week.

What do you do with your excess tomatoes?

Changes to Amazon Kindle and Amazon CreateSpace

Amazon is winding down CreateSpace and having the authors move their printed version to KDP (think eBook) as they're moving the printing functions to that platform. If you currently own a Kindle copy of the cookbook it may disappear from your library. I'm trying to avoid that, but I will need to purchase new ISBN numbers and am still drudging through the details on moving my print copy to KDP and enabling all of the DRM pieces. There is a point at which the old version will get removed from KDP and a new version will replace it. I'm hoping it goes smoothly, but I've been hearing some horror stories about the process.

Please bear with me, and all of the other authors that have been using CreateSpace as we get things shuffled around to the appropriate places.

If you've downloaded a PDF copy from some "free" PDF site, I strongly urge you to get better anti-virus and anti-malware software and check your credit reports. These "free" sites are notorious for stealing information. The least of my worries is missing out on any royalties (frankly I'm lucky if I make $1/paperback and $0.50/eBook); I'm more concerned about the spread of more viruses and malware.

A Snickerdoodle Fail

This spectacular fail is courtesy of the youngest borrowed kiddo. Our "bird" as my husband affectionately calls her (she leaves behind something every time she vists, we tell her she's nesting) was thoroughly disappointed. I decided to use it as a teaching opportunity and explain how this can happen when using my Snickerdoodle recipe.

People have told me these are so hard to get right, I've read lots of posts about how Snickerdoodles are too finicky, or the recipes simply don't work out. I'm here to tell you, that's not the case with my recipe. It's pretty foolproof as long as you follow the steps.

For those of you who haven't gotten my cookbook, or haven't read the recipe on this site yet, let me give you the backstory. I've been making these cookies since I was 5 years old, and it's the first cookie I teach all my new bakers. The kids do great with these, and our bird normally has no issues with them as she's been making them with me since she was 6 years old.

First, let me show you the "fail" photo. To be fair they tasted ok, but were a bit odd texturally and drier than usual.

They shouldn't be rounded up like this, they should have gone flat and spread more upon baking. Instead they look pretty much like they did once they were rolled and placed on the baking sheet.

There are several reasons why this may happen.

1. Either the Cream of Tartar or Baking Soda, or both, were left out
2. The dough was rolled too roughly
3. The dough was packed like a snowball - NEVER do this!
4. The flour was added in using a mixer - another No-No

In this case, she was rushing the dough. My mom was out for a visit and the kiddo wanted to impress her with her baking skills. She was adding the flour using the mixer, making the dough a lot tougher.

Here's how to avoid getting cookies that look like this picture:

1. Don't rush the dough, take your time; they don't take that long to begin with
2. Make sure you use the correct amounts of Cream of Tartar and Baking Soda
3. Mix the dry ingredients - namely the flour - in by hand [#1 Rule of cookie baking]
4. Treat the dough gently, pull a bit off and roll it like it's a raw egg; do not pack or squish the dough

If you still have issues, feel free to drop me a picture and notes in the comments section, or you can email me at merrymaryscookbook@gmail.com.

Happy Baking!

Lemon Blueberry Brownies

As promised in my previous post of the recipe, I finally grabbed a picture of the completed brownies. Fair warning, these don't travel well as the glaze has a tendency to melt. I prefer them chilled anyway as I make these in Summer and Summer in Michigan tends towards hot and humid.  Who really wants to eat hot food when it's already hot?

Bear with me, I am not a professional photographer and do not have the funds to pay one to stop by and snap shots every time I bake something new. These were taken with my old phone, not too bad for a older model.

 

Here's another view with a filter added:

If these are enticing you to whip up a batch you can grab the recipe here:  Lemon Blueberry Brownies Recipe.

These have been a big hit this summer, hope you enjoy them too!