Slow Cooker/Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Now that my travels are over for this year it is time for me to get busy and start cooking some nice meals for my wife and myself.  I had talked to my daughter recently about Slow Cookers and Crock Pots and whether I should get one or not.  She thought they were very good to have and even recommended the Ninja MC702.  Being me I thought I should take her advice and get one and specifically the one she recommended.  

Well yesterday it showed up and I had to decide what to make as my first try at using one of these.  Yes I am not young and to the best of my knowledge I have never used a slow cooker or crock pot in my whole life. So decisions, decisions and more decisions. After going through some of my Pinterest boards that have a lot of Slow Cooker/Crock Pot meals I settled on some soup, better yet some Chicken Tortilla Soup.  Here is what the final soup looked like.  The avocados were cut a little large but trust me this tasted good.

The total prep time was only about 15 minutes and the cooking time was 2 hours.  The first thing I learned is that I need to pay better attention to time.  When I first read the recipe I thought it said 4 hours cooking time so I got started.  Then as I was cutting up the onions and the garlic, I saw that it said 2 hours total cooking time.  So what do you do when you have started 2 hours earlier than you needed to, stop, put the cut up onions and garlic in some small bags and take our dog for a walk.  So that's what I did.  Addis really enjoyed the walk since we went to a new park right down the street.

Anyway, the necessary ingredients are:

Salt and Pepper to taste.

1 1/4 pounds of chicken breast.  About 2 chicken breasts.

1 teaspoon canola oil.

1 medium onion, chopped.

2 cloves garlic, chopped. (see my note below)

2 cans diced tomatoes, 14.5 ounces each, undrained.

2 cans enchilada sauce, 10 ounces each.

Low-sodium chicken broth, 15 ounces.

1 can back beans, 15 ounces, undrained.

1 package frozen corn, 16 ounces, thawed.

1 tablespoon ground cumin.

1 tablespoon chili powder.

1 ripe avocado, pitted, peeled and diced.

5 corn tortillas cut into 3x1/2-inch strips.

Instructions for this great soup:

Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste.  Pour the oil into the pot and turn the pot on STOVETOP Medium and heat the oil.  Once the oil is heated up place the chicken into the pot and cook for about 5 minutes on each side to brown.

While the chicken is being browned you could chop up the onion and garlic.  This is when I realized I had way to much garlic as you can see by the picture below. Before I go any further I have to explain my note on the garlic.  I had never used fresh garlic in the past so when I went into the store to buy it I asked the employee if what I had in my hand were 2 cloves of garlic.  He said yes and so on my way I went.  When I got home it seemed like a lot of garlic which you can see on my cutting board so here I go to Google.  What did I find out, well I had bought two heads of garlic, not 2 cloves.  Glad I found this out before I put it into the soup.

Once the chicken is browned take it out of the pot, put all the ingredients into the pot and mix very well.  Place the chicken back in the pot and turn in on SLOW COOK High for 2 hours.  Place the lid on and away it goes.

Once your 2 hours are up, take out the chicken and place it on the cutting board.  Using 2 forks shred the chicken, return the chicken to the pot and stir it all together again.

Grab yourself a couple of bowls and serve it.  You can also add corn tortillas and avocado.  I added both but my wife did not add the tortillas.

Overall my wife loved the soup.  The only two points she made is that it could of used a little more salt and it was kind of spicy with the chili powder.

I myself, not a soup eater thought it was very good also.  The one thing I have to remember in the future is that there are only 2 of us that I am cooking for so before starting I need to reduce the amount of the ingredients so instead of making enough for 6 I only make enough for 2.  Now we have leftovers for lunch for a couple of days, but it tastes good enough to be more than happy to have those leftovers.

Beef Enchiladas and I love them !!

Normally I only cook for my wife and myself, but this weekend I had the chance to cook for other members of the family while in New York.  Of course I needed to cook something that I enjoyed and something I thought they would enjoy also.  Since my wife likes my beef enchiladas so much I thought I would give them a try.  So off to the store we go to get all the ingredients that I would need and then off to the cooking we go.  This is what the final product looks like, and it tasted pretty good, if I do say so myself.

When you are use to cooking for 2 and must plan for cooking for 10 people, making sure you get enough of everything is not as easy as it sounds.  I did well, only got one thing that was to much and here are all the ingredients shown together.

Ingredients:
8 pounds of ground beef no more than 80%.
80 ozs of Old El Paso Enchilada source (mild).
1 package of McCormick Taco Seasoning, yes I said Taco Seasoning.
2 Pounds of Kraft Sharp Cheddar Cheese.
2 Pounds of Borden Mozzarella Cheese.
30 Mission flour tortillas.  I use the smaller ones since they are easier to place into small containers to take to work and re-heat in the next day or two.
Daisy Sour Cream 8 oz.
Cholula Chipotle hot sauce 5 FL oz.


The truth is that you can mix and match the ingredients to make something that not only tastes good to you but also those you are cooking for.  I list the names of the products that I used just so you have an idea, but feel free to use whatever brands you like.

Prep and cooking time is about 1 hour and 15 minutes; could be a lot less but since I am retired I am never in a rush.

So let's get started:

Throw all your hamburger meat into a large pot/pan and start cooking it on about a 4 or 5 setting,
Now comes the real unhealthy part.  DO NOT DRAIN and I repeat DO NOT Drain the grease,  I find that cooking the grease all the way down makes the meat taste better and not dry at all.  This also slows down the cooking but to me it is worth it.

After you have the meat cooked turn off the stove and add the Sharp Cheddar Cheese, 24 ozs of the Enchilada sauce, and the taco seasoning.  Start mixing the items together.  You do not need the stove on since the meat is hot enough to melt the cheese and you will see as you stir that it starts to have a gooey consistency.  If you like it a little drier then reduce the sauce by a third.

I use Sharp Cheddar mixed with the meat and sauce because like using Taco seasoning I like the taste that it brings out.

Once you have it all mixed together it is time to get the tortillas out and start putting the meat mixture in them.  Depending on how thick you want the enchiladas will determine how much mixture you put in each tortilla.  I put about 4 heaping tablespoons in each one, roll them up and place them in the backing dish.  Either glass or metal pans work about the same so use what you have handy.  I ended up having to use three different ones since I ended up making 30 enchiladas.

After you have them placed into the plans get the rest of the sauce and evenly distribute it over the top off the enchiladas.  Making sure you cover them all with the sauce, not to top of the pan, but ensure that all the enchiladas have lots of sauce on them.  Now, take the Mozzarella cheese and spread it generously over the enchiladas, once again making sure that you thoroughly cover the enchiladas with the cheese.

Heat the oven to about 300 degrees and place the pans into the stove.  The idea is to not cook everything since it is really already cooked.  What you are doing is heating up the sauce and melting the cheese.  I bake them for about 15 minutes and depending on what type of mood I am in I may turn on the broiler for an extra 5 minutes.

You will notice that I used both the sharp and mozzarella cheese for the top of one of them since the sharp cheese is one of the things that I bought to much of. Also, I wanted to see how it turned out once melted.  Yes, I like the white on top.  I also put sour cream and hot sauce on mine because, once again, I love the taste and I figure if I am going to cook I should enjoy the time, taste and company.

Great Looking Pizza

Having a family that has one Chef is great when you are not sure what you are doing in the kitchen like I usually do as I stumble around.  Our family is lucky in that not only do we have children that love to cook, well most of the time, but we are lucky to have two chef's in the family.

Melissa recently gave birth to our 6th grandchild and she still finds time to cook.  One of my favorite things to eat if you do not count BACON is pizza.  Melissa wants to share with you her pizza recipe which she recently cooked.  Here is the after picture, her list of ingredients and directions.

Here is the pizza dough recipe she has been using:

Ingredients:

1 tsp active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp kosher salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Combine yeast and warm water in a small bowl. Allow it to sit about 10 min
2. Add flour to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment
3. Sprinkle with salt
4. Turn the mixer on low, then slowly pour in olive oil
5. Pour in the yeast/water mixture
6. Stop mixing when everything comes together. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise 1 hour before using.

Cook at Degrees for minutes and you now have a great tasting pizza.

Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for several days before using.

And Of Course My Wife Is Never One To Be Out Done

Of course what would life be like without having such a wonderful and caring wife as I do.  She herself is a major addition to the family and her recipes are some of the best....

Yes you can also make this wonderful looking drink.  The recipe has not been shared by my wife but it should be.

One of my other sons is an Executive Chef at a fine eating establishment and still finds the time to make some good food for the family.  Below is just a sample of what he enjoys making.

As always the food comes out just right.  To make this yourself at home follow the below instructions: