Buffalo Chicken Soup

You have probably noticed by now that I love buffalo chicken anything. Buffalo chicken wings. Buffalo chicken dip. And now *drumroll* buffalo chicken soup! Yep, all that buffalo-y goodness in a soup. I have been waiting to make this soup. And when I saw that milk was only $2.49 for a gallon, I jumped at the chance! This was super easy and it is good! Perfect for cold weather! It is a little odd though - the sour cream didn't melt down. I think that next time (and yes, there WILL be a next time), I will whisk together the sour cream and cream of chicken soup before adding everything else. Just to ensure that there are no weird sour cream curds floating around. Still good though :)

Ingredients:
6 c. milk
3 cans cream of chicken soup
3 c. cooked, shredded chicken
1 c. (8 oz) sour cream
1/4 c. - 1/2 c. hot pepper sauce

Directions:
Combine everything in the crockpot.

Cook on low for 4-5 hours.

Yield: 8 servings (2 quarts)

Source: Taste of Home's "Quick Cooking Annual Recipes" 2002 edition

Baked Potato Soup

I hope everyone hates this soup. By the time I got to dicing potato number 3, I wanted to quit. I wanted to throw away the other potatoes. I hope I never have to cut up potatoes again. So, logically, if everyone hates it, I won't EVER have to make it again and therefor, never have to dice up potatoes again.

Quite honestly, it isn't that bad. It's a little bland, but I think you could dress it up with cheese, bacon, sour cream, etc. and it would be great. When I was looking for this recipe, I was purposely looking for something that it didn't have a lot of extra stuff. My sister is pregnant and she keeps saying that baked potato soup sounds good. And I know that, like me, she is picky about her baked potato soup. We don't like big chunks of potato, we don't like onions in it. I know you are totally wishing you had kids just like us.

Ingredients:
6 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large onion (I used onion powder)
5 c. chicken stock
1 15 oz. can evaporated milk (I only had a 12 oz. can)
1/4 c. butter (I love butter, so I used a little extra)
salt & pepper

Directions:
Place potatoes, onions (or onion powder) and chicken stock in crockpot.

Cook on low for 9 hours (or high for 5 or so).

Mash potatoes with a potato masher (which I don't have, so I used my immersion blender).

Add milk, butter and salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Serve.

Yield: a freaking lot of soup. 6 potatoes worth.

Source: www.dinnersforayear.blogspot.com

Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese

I was going to make chicken tonight, but the boy had a business dinner and I am apparently catching whatever cold is going around, so I decided to make some good ol' tomato soup and grilled cheese. Nothing like comfort food to make you feel, well, comforted. I actually made the tomato soup. No, really. I did. And it is healthier than my normal Campbell's Creamy Tomato - no cream or anything like that. It is actually pretty good. I didn't have any curry - so I substituted with cumin, ginger and cayenne pepper. And look at the grilled cheese. Seriously, that is like, the best grilled cheese I have had in a LONG time. I used a slice of cheddar and a slice of provolone. So yummy. And I know you are totally jealous of my oh-so-cool Mickey Mouse serving set.

Ingredients:
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. curry
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1 46 oz. can tomato juice
1/4 c. sugar

Directions:
In a large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour and spices.

Gradually add tomato juice and sugar.

Cook, uncovered, until thickened and heated through - about 5 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings

Source: Taste of Home's "Quick Cooking Annual Recipes 2002"

P.S. I didn't win the cake contest at work. I placed fifth. :(

Roasted Red Pepper and Black Bean Soup

I saw this recipe a month or so ago and immediately bookmarked it. I have been wanting to make it for awhile now. I modified it a bit because I didn't have any dried black beans. It was pretty good. I would definitely make some changes next time. I would use a whole jar of roasted red peppers instead of just part of it. I would use more jalapeno peppers (I didn't have any chipotle peppers in adobe). I also didn't use the entire cup of parsley, because I don't really like parsley. It also needs a bit more salt. So, basically, don't follow my recipe. Use the original! Still, I'm pretty impressed with myself.

Ingredients:
2 cans black beans, drained
1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1 c. onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced (this was a first!)
8 oz. roasted red peppers, chopped
1 big spoonful of chopped jalapeno peppers
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tbsp. parsley
salt
2 c. chicken broth

Directions:
In a soup pot, heat olive oil. dd onion and garlic and cook until tender.

Stir in red peppers, jalapeno peppers, oregano, parsley and salt. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth and blend.

Stir in beans and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for one hour.

Remove to blender or use an immersion blender to puree soup.

Yield: 2 main dish servings

Source: www.agoodappetite.blogspot.com

Mexican Chicken Soup

So, I have been wanting to try making soup for some time now. It's a good cold-weather food and I always think of soup as relatively healthy. This is what I was planning on having for lunch today, but I ended up just having dessert instead (see next post!). This is great for leftovers - I just kind of threw in what I had; I didn't really use a recipe. I was actually pretty surprised that this was good! I wasn't expecting it to be very flavorful, and it is!! I was going to add some tortilla strips, but my tortilla kind of caught on fire in the toaster oven... Speaking of, if anyone has any ideas of how to get the smoke smell out of the house, I would really appreciate it :)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. EVOO
Some onion powder (or chopped up onion, if you have it)
Some chili powder
Chopped up red and green peppers
1/2 c. salsa
1 can of black beans
1 can of corn (I actually used an individual Green Giant Steamers corn packet - it is all I had!)
Cooked chicken, shredded (I used 1.5 chicken tenders)
2 cans of chicken broth

Directions:
Heat up EVOO in the pan and add peppers, onion and chili powder.

Then add salsa, beans, corn and chicken.

I let all of this heat up for 3 or 4 minutes and then added the chicken broth.

Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15-20 minutes. I also added some extra chili powder after a taste test.

Yield: This made 6 cups or so.