fiesta in a bowl!

our good friends asion and jason decided to take over heroes/dinner party night. asion made the one thing he says he makes well: cheesy chicken empanadas, courtesy of paula deen. jason, who never disappoints, made some awesome mushroom dip stuff. kiran made some bombin' 7 layer dip (actually, 6 layers because she omitted the beans). i was brainstorming at work (because i think about food ALL day) and realized that i still had a ton of homemade chicken stock to use up from my roasted chicken last week. what makes more sense that chicken tortilla soup? nothing, i say!

this was my first attempt at making chicken tortilla soup. i browsed a few recipes and this is what i came up with based on what i had in my kitchen on monday. it was slightly spicy with a nice consistency that was a bit thicker than broth (but not too much) and had the tasty sweet pop of corn and roasted red peppers going throughout the soup. sooooo good!


chicken tortilla soup
2 tbsp olive oil
3 chicken breasts, diced
1 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded & minced
1 tbsp chipotle chili powder
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp coriander
2 tbsp tomato paste
6 cups chicken stock
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1 cup corn (frozen or canned - i used frozen)
1 can black beans
1/2 cup roasted red peppers, chopped
crushed tortilla chips
chopped cilantro, chopped red onion, sour cream, cheddar cheese for garnish

heat the olive oil in a large soup pot. after a minute, add the diced chicken and brown. after about 5 minutes, add in the onion, garlic, and jalapeno and cook the veggies with the meat for about 4 minutes, until the onions start to get translucent. add in all the spices and the tomato paste and mix in until the spices and paste are fragrant (about 2 minutes). then add in the chicken stock and the tomatoes, with their juices. break the tomatoes apart with a wooden spoon in the pot. allow it to come up to a boil, then knock it back to a nice simmer. (SIMMA DOWN NOW!) add in the corn, black beans, and roasted red peppers. be sure to get all the starchy bean juices out of the can and into the pot as well. this will help the soup thicken up a little bit. simmer the soup for an additional 6-7 minutes.

put some crushed tortilla chips at the bottom of a bowl and ladle the soup on top. serve with any of the garnishes listed above, and you have yourself a mighty tasty bowl o' soup!

oscar night and tacos!

a few weeks ago, my friends sarah and tony decided to invite themselves over to my place for the oscars. i had also made a promise to my friend travis that i would invite him over for tacos at some point, so i decided to kill two birds with one stone and have a small oscars get-together with tacos! sarah and tony thought ahead and brought oscar ballots so we could play along. unfortunately, most of us got our asses handed to us by leila, who predicted the majority of the oscar winners correctly. [sidenote: how awesome was hugh jackman? give me him in a tux (or wolverine gear) any day. mmmm hmmmmm. okay, moving on...]

my goal was to make dericious (yes, i'm spelling it like that - it's so much more fun to say!) and healthy tacos. i think it turned out pretty well, and it gave me an excuse to make my guac again. :)


errrca's award winning (someday) tacos - ayayayayaya!!!

2 lbs. ground turkey
1 yellow onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapenos, seeded & finely chopped
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 yellow squash, finely diced
1 zucchini, finely diced
1 bell pepper, finely diced (any color works)
1 tbsp chipotle chili powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp coriander
1 tsp cinnamon
couple pinches cayenne
1 tbsp honey
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

6 avocados
4 roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 red onion, finely diced
4 limes
1 cup sour cream
corn tortillas
salsa
shredded sharp cheddar cheese

preheat the oven to 400. heat up the olive oil in a large deep skillet. when the oil is hot, add the ground turkey, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. while the turkey is browning, you can make the guacamole. combine the avocados, tomatoes, red onion, half the jalapeno, juice of 3 limes, and half the cilantro. mash everything together, leaving it a bit chunky (i use my hand, but that's because i like playing with my food). salt & pepper to taste.

when the meat is browned, add the yellow onion, garlic, the remainder of the jalapeno, and crushed red pepper. stir and cook for a few minutes, then add the squash, zucchini, and bell pepper. cook for another few minutes until they just start to get tender. then add all the spices (chipotle chili powder through cayenne) and stir into the meat mixture. cook for another 2-3 minutes so the spices get distributed through the mixture. then add the honey and the chicken stock and allow to simmer until the liquid has mostly evaporated.

while the turkey mixture is working, combine the sour cream, juice of 1 lime, pinch of cumin, and a small handful of the cilantro. mix together and set aside. wrap the tortillas in foil and put in the oven to warm.

when the stock in the turkey mixture is mostly evaporated, fold the remainder of the cilantro in. serve the tacos with the warmed tortillas, meat, sour cream mixture, cheese, salsa, and guacamole.

OLE!