Archive for January, 2010

This month I am trying to hard to loose weight and get in shape.  (Ask me how it’s going in a week or two, when I hopefully won’t need Advil for my sore muscles anymore.)  Yep, I’m exercising…  and trying to eat right.  The only trouble is, I’ve have never been good at depriving myself.  My compromise is to find really healthy foods that happen to taste great too.

This recipe comes from my Dad who had a delicious Southwest soup at a restaurant, and went home to fiddle with ingredients until he came up with a recipe.

“Muy Bueno” Dad, this soup is a winner.  It even fits right in with my resolution to loose weight, but that’s not why I love it.  I love it because it is hearty and delicious and you would never know it was diet friendly.

Here’s his recipe:

Dennis’ Southwest Chicken Tortilla Soup

• 3 or 4 Chicken breasts (depending on how meaty you love your soup)
• ¼ part Lowry’s Mesquite-Lime Marinade
• ¼ part teriyaki sauce (or soy)
• ¼ part any Italian Salad Dressing
• ¼ part Tequila (optional)

Marinate chicken breasts in a Ziploc bag for at least ½ hour in: (each part equals about ¼ cup) Sprinkle with Lime or Lemon Pepper.  Grill over medium heat for about 7 minutes each side (until firm to touch but not overcooked)  Cut into bite-sized pieces or shred as preferred.

Soup:

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 med. onion
• 1 cup celery (cut into small pieces
• 1 cup carrots (small pieces)
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh garlic (heaping Tbs.)
• 3 quarts chicken broth
• Kosher Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1  14.5 oz. can Stewed Tomatoes (He used Chipotle chili flavored tomatoes)
  
• 1  10 oz. can Rotel diced tomatoes & green chilies
• 1 can green Anaheim chilies
  
• 1  29 oz. can Hominy
• 1 cup frozen corn
• Optional: 1 can of beans of your choice (My dad used S & W Santa Fe style)
  

In a stockpot heat olive oil and sauté onions, celery, & carrots.  Season with salt and pepper and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until just fragrant- about 1 minute.  Add remaining ingredients including chicken.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with fresh avocado, corn chips, sour cream or white cheese, a wedge of lime to squeeze and cilantro as preferred.

Since I’m watching what I eat, I opt out of the chips, cheese and sour cream and go light on the avocado.  The soup is so good, you won’t even miss them.  I’ll take the lime and heavy on the cilantro for me, thank you.

Yesterday I headed up to watch my Dad make his soup and he was sweet enough to send a pot home for me to serve for dinner.  Here’s how he makes it:

Start by marinading the chicken in a Ziplock gallon freezer bag.  He used a 1/3 parts of each of these.  Set aside while you prepare the rest of the soup.

Chop up celery, onions, and carrots.  Hey look, it’s a Mirepoix, the “holy trinity” of French cooking.  Umm.  I think I need to quit watching so much Food Network.

Add the chopped vegetables to a hot pot drizzled with a little olive oil.  Stirring often, saute until the vegies start getting soft about 5 minutes, then add your garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add all the remaining ingredients, except the chicken broth and the chicken of course.

Add the broth until it looks right to you (keep in mind you still need to add chicken later.)  This goes for all the ingredients.  If you love hominy or corn… go ahead and add more.  While soup is at a a low simmer, it’s time to grill the chicken.

Sprinkle the chicken with Lime or Lemon Pepper, and place them on the grill up over medium heat.  Grill chicken until tender but done, about 6-7 minutes a side.  I check for doneness by pressing a finger onto the thickest part of the piece of chicken.  It feels slightly firm when done.  You can also do this on a grill pan indoors.

Once the chicken is off the grill, let it sit for about 15 minutes before cutting into bite sized pieces.  You can also shred it if you prefer.

And add it into the soup.

It’s ready to serve anytime.  It is delicious just as it is and the toppings make it over the top good.  I especially couldn’t live without the cilantro.

Speaking of toppings.  Do you love the little tortilla strips they put on salads that you get at restaurants like Cafe Rio? Ellie Krieger of Food Network showed how to make them at home without deep frying.  We made them yesterday for the soup.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Start with a small stack of corn tortillas.  Brush both sides of each tortilla with vegetable oil.

Cut each tortilla in half and then in 1/4 inch strips.   Arrange on a cookie sheet and season with a little salt.

Bake until crisp and golden, about 12 minutes.  Try not to eat them all before you serve your soup.

Thanks Dad for another wonderful recipe.

After a few months of being way too busy, my refrigerator was downright scary.  I definitely had few science experiments tucked in the back!  I could hardly wait to have some time to dig in and get it cleaned out.

1. Start by taking out all of the food from the main shelves.  Remove the shelves completely and set them aside.  Also remove the drawers.  That way the main part of the refrigerator is empty.  Using a hot soapy dishcloth, wipe down the sides, top and bottom of the refrigerator.
2. If there are odors, fill a container with hot water and add a tablespoon of baking soda to your water and a dash of lemon extract as a rinse to wipe down the refrigerator again.
3. Then go through the food, checking the dates and in my case throw out my science experiments.  I wipe down any messy bottles, and group like things together.
4. Now that my glass shelves and drawers aren’t quite so cold, I wash them in the sink with soapy water.  If you have any sticky oil spills, sprinkle a little baking soda and scrub gently.  It should come right off.  Dry the shelves and drawers and replace them back in the refrigerator.
5. Replace all the food, grouping like foods together.
6. Next I start on the condiments in the shelves on inside of my door.  Follow the same process and remove the food, then remove the shelf.  If they don’t remove, just wash them on the spot with a hot soapy dishcloth.  There a usually a few oily rings on these shelves so I sprinkle baking soda over the spill to make it easy to clean.  Wipe down the inside door and replace the clean shelves.
7. Next wipe down the condiments bottles and place them back, grouping like things together again: salad dressings go together (yes, I have a scary number of of them!) , hot sauces on one shelf, etc.
   
8. Then I place a small container of baking soda at the back for odors.  And stand back to admire.

Now I am ready to go grocery shopping.  Speaking of… it’s a good idea to quickly go through the refrigerator once a week and throw out any old food just before going grocery shopping.  It’s also a great time to quickly wipe the shelves and any spills.

And a few more tips:

• About every six months pull out your refrigerator, unplug it and clean the coils.  The coils will either be located on the bottom (usually with a cover plate) or on the back.  Remove the plate and use a vacuum wand to remove the dust.  If you haven’t cleaned your coils for a long time, there may be oily sticky build up, so use soapy water with a bit of baking soda.  I just sprinkle a little baking soda right on my dishcloth.   This will improve the energy efficiency of your refrigerator and save energy and money.
• Don’t forget to have a Sharpie pen the kitchen to mark the date of foods when you open them, this really helps me to be aware of what I need to use up before it goes bad.
• Another good tip for cleaning under your refrigerator, without pulling it out, is to use a yard stick with an old stocking pulled around it.  You can slide it under, and use it to swipe out the dust bunnies.

Next up for me, it’s time to deep clean the freezer…