Adventures of a Military Family of 8: foodie fridays

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Foodie Friday: Tortilla Soup recipe, homemade!

MAJOR apology to Aricka and readers, blogspot held my post hostage in drafts.

Hot....cold.....hot....cold....repeat!!! Mother Nature is again confused. But I am trying to forget that it is 80 degrees here today and pretend it is actually autumn weather outside. I am sure the minute I get too comfortable in this weather it will again rain or become terribly cold. My family is obsessed with Mexican food. Anything Mexican works for my family. Tortilla Soup is a favorite of mine because you can make it as healthy as you want. Mine is a vegetable soup base which is great if you are not eating meat. Then I add chicken in (which you can leave out) and serve with tortilla chips and lots of toppings. Everyone in the house loves soups of any kinds except my daughter, The Tortured Teenager. You can't please everyone. So she is having a cheese quesadilla tonight and not complaining about it.

Quick Chicken Tortilla Soup
1 onion diced
1 bell pepper diced (red)
1 zucchini diced
1 clove garlic minced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 sm can diced chilis
1 can black beans rinsed
1 cup carrots chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 cup frozen corn
2 cups shredded chicken
1 carton chicken broth
2 cups water

Chop and drop the onions, bell pepper, zucchini, and carrots (you could add any vegetable you have that is in the bin. And if you are really out of veggies, frozen veggies work great. Just skip the browning and add to the broth.) I like to add a TB or two of olive oil to the pan first and get it warmed up. Cook the veggies on Medium High for a couple of minutes. This does make a difference in the flavor of the store bought chicken stock later. Make sure to season the veggies with some salt and pepper.

Now add the can of diced tomatoes. I only have plain but you could add the ones that have onions or jalapenos in them. Just do not drain them first. This liquid is huge in the soup. Add one can of Ortega chilis, undrained, one can black beans that are drained and rinsed 1 tsp cumin and 1 tsp oregano (all I have is dried)

Add chicken broth/stock (one carton)and make sure you shake up the box first.

Now add two cups of water. You could do more and it really would not affect the flavor. My family likes a thick soup, sort of like a stew.

Let it all come up to a boil and bring it down to a simmer. Let simmer for 15 minutes
This is when you would add in some leftover chicken. I am not big on leftovers so I have some chicken breast tenders that I am sauteing up with some garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper. I didn't measure the spices, just sprinkled it all over. You can't go wrong with garlic powder or cumin, and there is never too much in a recipe in our house.

Pour the chicken and all the juices in the pan. I hope you were lucky enough to have leftovers but if not these smell really good. The Tortured Teenager is asking if she can make a taco out of some. NO! Soup Hater!

Add 1 cup of frozen corn. I do this at the end. It just needs to heat up not over cook. Taste and make sure you have enough salt and pepper or cumin. We like a lot of cumin in this house. Not everyone likes cumin. If you are really adventurous, you could add a tsp of chipotle adobo sauce, but that is another recipe at another time...

Now, I like to put some cheap tortilla chips in the bottom of the bowl. You could make your own, but this is QUICK Tortilla Soup. This gets to the table in 25 minutes (take that Rachel Ray!) I put cheese and green onions on top of it. Ladle soup on top of it. You could put tortillas on top for appearance but I like how they get all soft from the soup and make the broth all creamy.

I dig around looking for the chips, dodging carrots!

Other Toppings you put on your soup;
Avocado
Cilantro
Cheese
Green onions
Lime
sliced jalapenos
Hot sauce!!

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Foodie Friday: Homemade Sloppy Joes recipe

Aricka has been nominated for Best Foodie Blog of the Year!!!!!!!

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With Halloween this weekend I wanted to share my recipe for Sloppy Joes. This was a Halloween favorite as a child and I made them every year for my kids to eat before Trick or Treating. You remember as a child eating Sloppy Joes. My mom made them out of a can of Manwich. She would serve them open face over toasted buns. You had to eat them with a fork and butter knife. To this day I love them. I can taste them, smell them. Something so simple yet so fulfilling. My mom was not that into cooking. Yet there are a handful of dishes that I loved. She made chicken fried steak that any southerner would love and liver and onions (yes I said liver) that to this day I miss. It is amazing that I miss the simplest dishes. A can of Sloppy Joe sauce and I am back in my mommas kitchen. (don't worry she doesn't know Mr Internet so she has no idea I am talking about her )

Being the control freak I am, you won't see a can of Manwich in my kitchen. I like to control my spices and prevent my brats from eating preservatives. I can't keep them from eating chips and food with the main ingredient being crap but I can ensure that whatever I cook will be completely homemade. So I make as much as I can with seasonings I make myself. You'd be surprised-you have all the spices. And you might as well use them since they are in your cupboard. I get satisfaction when I use all the spice in a jar. I like that I used them rather than them going stale. Plus it is cheaper in the long run! Most of the spices in those spice packets are flour mixed with spices you already have. The real kicker are the ingredients you can't pronounce. Then they charge you over a buck for it! Save your buck and open your spice cupboard. OK off my soapbox!

I've changed my mothers Sloppy Joes. I don't exactly know how it happened. I always serve with homemade coleslaw. My coleslaw that I serve as a side dish is not traditional. It has pineapple and sunflower kernels. It's killer. But The Fireman was not feeling it with Sloppy Joes. He complained. Yes it happens. His coleslaw ended on his sloppy Joe (on purpose) and the extra goodies were not wanted. So I took note and made my Simple Coleslaw (you'll remember it from my Pulled Pork recipe) and once again The Fireman was a happy customer. Only the adults pile the coleslaw on the Sloppy Joes. The kids are fussier. One won't touch it and the other wants it as a side dish. At any rate you will want to prepare the coleslaw first so it can marry in the fridge while you cook the Sloppy Joes.

Sloppy Joes
1 pound hamburger (or whatever your grocer packages)
1 small onion diced
1 large clove garlic minced
1 TB red pepper flakes (just do it!!!)
3/4 to 1 cup ketchup (yes ketchup!!)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
Salt and pepper
2 TB Yellow mustard (yes mustard)
1 TB brown sugar
2 TB Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Brown hamburger, onion and garlic over medium heat.

Add all the other ingredients. Mix well. Taste. No this is important. My family likes it a little spicy and this is where I add more cayenne. Lower heat to low and let simmer ten minutes.
Serve on toasted buns piled high with coleslaw.

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Foodie Friday: Chicken Enchiladas recipe YUM!

Aricka has been nominated for Best Foodie Blog of the Year!!!!!!!

We eat a lot of Mexican food in this house. Now there are a ton of really good Mexican restaurants here. They are practically on every corner yet I still cook it every chance I can.

Enchiladas are a little time consuming and somewhat messy (especially with a camera in one hand) but cheap and feeds an army! I can get two nights out of one tray of enchiladas. Add some Spanish rice and re-fried beans and you will be competing with the corner restaurant! (or so I keep telling my pocket book) Now there are some shortcuts, tonight, I am using the leftover meat from The whole chicken made for tacos (I froze it) and I am using can sauce. I have made the sauce home made. It is by far better home made but time is an issue so the can will have to do tonight! If you don't have chicken handy, take three chicken breast and bake them with salt, pepper and a little olive oil in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until cooked. Even better, go buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store or Costco! I personally like to freeze leftovers for this purpose. But that's another blog post entirely!

Chicken Enchiladas

Meat from one rotisserie chicken or equivalent
1 cup sour cream
1 cup Cheddar cheese plus
3 cups Cheddar cheese
1 SM can of ortega green chilis diced undrained
1 extra lg can green enchilada sauce
9-12 flour tortillas (depends how full you stuff them)

In a medium size bowl mix chicken meat, 2 cup cheese, (in my case it's two handfuls) green chilis and sour cream. Mix well. This mixture will melt down into a creamy sauce!

Now here's where the sloppy part starts!
Pour enough sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan to cover the bottom.
Pour 1 cup of sauce in a pie plate. Take a tortilla and place in the pie plate. Flip over to sauce both sides. This is important to my family...they do not like dry enchiladas. Note: I skip the pie plate and just do it in the baking pan. You can save the dish to wash!

Add 1/2 cup meat mixture and roll up. Keep refilling sauce to moisten tortillas. Nobody likes a dry enchilada!

Repeat until the pan in full or the meat is gone.

Take remaining sauce and pour over top of enchiladas

Cover the top of the enchiladas with cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes uncovered.
Try to resist seconds.

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Foodie Friday: Chicken with White Wine Gravy (Pantry Meal)

Aricka has been nominated for Best Foodie Blog of the Year!!!!!!!
If you agree, which you should!! ;) go on and vote for her, voters are also eligible for a prize!
http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/504857
Don't forget to add her name on the bottom of the form for the vote to count "Shamrocks and Shenanigans"

Guess what day it is?!? It's Foodie Friday with My Dear Friend Aricka at Shamrocks and Shenanigans. For today's post she made an AWESOME Chicken with White Wine Gravy (Pantry Meal)

My cupboards are bare. It is the night before I shop and there is literally two nights of meat left in the freezer and a bunch a canned goods. The Fireman is home so I am expected to cook. This is where I pull out my Pantry meals. This one is an old one too. I took this from Gram (back when I was barely married to The Fireman) who probably took it from a Woman Day's or some sort of magazine. It has been copied to the backs of envelopes and tweaked for my family. I have to make twice the gravy. Just don't tell The Tortured Teenager that it has Cream of Chicken soup in it or she will never eat it again! She has a thing against any recipe with Cream of Anything Soup in it!

Chicken with White wine Gravy-Pantry Meal
Printer Friendly Version

1 cut up chicken (like what you would use for fried chicken but all I have is breasts)
1/2 finely chopped onions (the smaller the better for picky eaters)
1/2 to 3/4 cup white wine (make sure it's a dry wine you really would drink...I prefer to drink red but I will drink this too!)
2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
salt and pepper

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Mine are old so I added some olive oil.

Salt and pepper chicken. Add to skillet skin side down. Cook 5 minutes

turn, cook another four minutes.

Squish meat to one side of the pan (see I put mine on their sides) and add onion and cook till translucent. Aww heck, we like a little color on ours!

Add wine, carefully...drink some too! Let cook for a minute...stick your face in the fumes...don't you want to bathe in that?

Add the soup and 1/2 can of water and mix it all well. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until your chicken is done. Again, mine were big pieces and I do not want raw meat. I don't have a lid for this pan, so I'm about to put foil over it!

Gram used to serve over Smashed Red potatoes but I dont have that in my bare cupboards so skins on mashed potatoes will have to do!

This is The Fireman's FAVORITE chicken gravy! Why? It's canned soup and wine! But it taste like what he ate in elementary school...at school! Lucky me! I am being compared to lunch ladies in the 60's! Such is my luck!

The Tortured Teenager practically licked her plate clean. God help me if she ever reads my blog!

For my crock pot cooks, you could brown the meat pop all ingredients into the crock pot and let cook on low for 3-4 hours. You can even toss in the potatoes! This would be perfect to make before a baseball or football game! Toss in before you leave and it will be perfect when you get home.

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Foodie Friday: Crock Pot Roast with Gravy recipe with Shamrocks & Shenanigans

Guess what day it is?!? It's Foodie Friday with My Dear Friend Aricka at Shamrocks and Shenanigans. For today's post she made an AWESOME Crock Pot Roast with Gravy recipe!

When I was asked to do fall recipes for my buddy Adventures of a Military Family 8, I was thrilled! I have a ton of wintery recipes. Growing up the first part of my childhood in the snowy mountains, my family ate foods rich in gravy or stewed. I didn't know it at the time but my grandmother was cooking for a large army. Every meal was at least ten hungry adults. My grandmother had a way of making cheap meals taste elegant. This happens to be right up her alley. The nice thing about this meal is the crackpot does most the work. You do a little prep. It cooks slowly all afternoon and then you pile it on some mashed potatoes and add a veggie.

Now my buddy Adventures of a Military Family 8 has never made a pot roast before so I'm going to take a little extra care on some of the details. Buy a pot roast (or two if you have an extra large family) when they go on sale. You don't have to use it right away. I really like Chuck roast but this week Rump roast was on sale. Rump happens to be prettier but chuck has more flavor. Both do just fine. I find that one roast feeds about five. So that's perfect for my family of four. If you have a larger family, buy two! And definitely wait until they go on sale to the price of hamburger. If you are still a little hesitant on the size, ask your butcher. The worst they will do is make you buy too big of a roast. And I promise you won't mind that the next day! Pot roast sandwiches are fought over in my house.

Crock Pot Roast with Gravy
You will need the following ingredients for my pot roast. You probably have them all. If you use two roast, double the rest of the ingredients.

1 cup (at least) red wine
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 onion sliced
Salt, pepper and garlic powder
Oil (about 2 TB)

Season your roast up good with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Don't be stingy! This is a thick piece of meat and you really can not over season it.

Brown in a very hot pan with a TB or two of oil on all sides. You could omit this step if you are short on time but trust me, it adds flavor to the gravy!

Toss that baby into your crock pot.

Add one onion, halved and sliced or if you are lucky enough to have some in your freezer, Pearl Onions are amazing in this! They are The Fireman's absolute favorite! I just have way too much in my freezer right now to dig them out!

Now pour one cup of red wine in the pot...make sure it is something you would drink. If you dont drink red wine, ask the store for a recommendation. There are some pretty decent cheap wines out there right now. (That or I am just not that picky anymore!) I would pour myself a glass, but it is only 10:00am!!! I'm saving the rest of the bottle for dinner!

Now the easy part! Cook on low all day....
Remove the meat to a serving plate. Don't worry if it is falling apart! That means it is PERFECT!
Skim off the grease from the juices. Or don't but my spare tire is big enough...
Add one can of Cream of Mushroom Soup (shhhh!!! Hide the can after-wards! My kids have an aversion to Cream of Anything soup)

It may not look pretty...Mix well! It will come together and make the most beautiful gravy!

You won't even need to yell DINNER!

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I will post my roast when I make it ;)

Foodie Fridays... Fast & Spicy White Bean Chili

I have a surprise!!! After many weeks, I finally got the courage to ask a wonderful friend, who's blog I LOVE, if she would like to do a Foodie Friday weekly post on my blog. She said "YES!" ;D I am so excited to share with you my friend, her blog, and great recipes. Meet Aricka, writer and great cook on Shamrocks and Shenanigans. She is a Mom, a Wife to a brave Fire Fighter, and she has recipes that make me wish I would get off of my couch ;D If you love food (because who doesn't?) visit her blog, you won't be sorry ;) Now without further ado, here is Aricka's 1st post, for "Fall Fridays" on Foodie Friday post...

Hi Everyone! I'm Shamrock and Shenanigans and I was so kindly asked to write a Friday post of Fall recipes for my buddy Adventures of a Military Family of 8. If you follow my blog, you know I love to cook. I like it all. I cook the recipes that are quite time consuming but my favorite are the ones you toss together and get on the dinner table in no time. Being that I started with a full house of four bratty kids, I can appreciate that time is limited and the kids are hungry.

Everyone is on Monday night football kick. When I think of football I think of snack foods and hearty chilis. We eat a lot of chili around here when it's cold. I love the versatility and how it feeds a crowd. My son, The Ballplayer has his favorites. We battle over which one I will make. He prefers my white bean chili. My daughter prefers more a traditional kidney bean chili. My husband, The Fireman has no preference. He just likes being fed. It's so rare that my son likes a dish that I can't help but make his favorite.

You can make this chili in less than 30 minutes. I like meals like that. I am not garnishing with yummy tortilla strips but only because A. I don't have any and B. I'm trying to watch my carbs....again. It's a work in progress. But you will love that this is just a bunch of ready to use food that you toss in a pot and simmered till warm. You can add more veggies to this chili. A bell pepper or even some carrots would be great. We unfortunately won't be making any special trips to the store for any extra ingredients. My family is pounding their spoons on the table as I cook. They are hungry! You will see I show ingredients you could use if you dont have what I am using. Using what you have on hand is huge in keeping on budget in my family.

Fast & Spicy White Bean Chili

serves 4

6 cans navy beans (I only had 4 and half were butter beans. Use what you have)

2 medium onions chopped

3 cloves of garlic minced

2 celery stalks minced

1 package of hot links sausage chopped (use any hot sausage you prefer but this one gets used a lot in my house)

2 TB olive oil

1 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce (or tomato sauce will do but the spaghetti has lots of flavor)

1 cup chicken stock (if you have none, use water)

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp oregano (Italian seasoning works great too)

1 tsp smoked paprika (this is must! I use it in a huge amt of my recipes)

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1 tsp parsley (all I had was dried)

Salt and pepper

Cut each sausage into four strips and cut into chunks. In a sauce pot, combine the sausage, the 2 TB oil, onions, and celery and cook until tender. Season with some salt and pepper too. Add the garlic and the red pepper flakes and just let it get a little color.

Once everything is tender and smelling good (I mean really, I could eat it right now but this is chili I am making, so lets finish) add the beans, (drained and rinsed because I am not sure what they are really packed in but slime is not good in my chili) spaghetti sauce (or tomato sauce is fine) and the chicken broth/stock. You want it to be a little saucy but not soup (unless soup is what you are going for)

Now we need to spice this baby up! So add the 1 tsp cayenne, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp parsley (all I had was dried) and salt and pepper to taste. Remember that cayenne tends to release flavor after it simmers for a couple minutes so dont add more just quite yet. If you are wimpy (or your kids are sensitive) to the heat, add half of the cayenne and work your way up on spice.

I recommend you make a double batch. No really! I never have leftovers and the kids are fighting over what is left in the pan. If you are lucky enough to have leftovers, try topping a crunchy baked potato with some chili. It is heaven!