Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is a recipe I pulled out from way back when I was first married.  It is one of the easiest I have and it tastes pretty decent.  I got it from Ashely Stevens but I added corn to it because I thought it needed more sustenance.  I love this recipe because I usually have all the ingredients on hand and it tastes better than  you would expect for how easy it is.

4 chicken breasts halves, uncooked  (Beth never knows what that means---2 or 4?--I just throw in two frozen breasts from Costco that are already singly packaged)
2 15 oz. cans black beans, undrained
2 15 oz. cans mexican stewed tomatoes, drained
1 c. salsa
4 oz. can chopped green chiles
14 1/2 oz. can tomato sauce
1 can corn
tortilla chips
grated cheese
sour cream

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker except chips, cheese, and sour cream.  Cover. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.  Just before serving, shred chicken and put back in soup.  Put handful of chips in bowl then soup and top with cheese and sour cream.

Parker House Rolls-easiest so far

This recipe for Parker House Rolls worried me so much whenever I'd think of trying it, that I never did. Until yesterday. I took the plunge and made them.

This is from Mel's Kitchen:

Parker House Rolls

Yield: Makes 36-42 rolls

Note: as with all yeast doughs, I never use the flour amount called for in the recipe as a hard fast rule (unless a weight measure is given and then I pull out my kitchen scale). Because humidity, temperature, altitude and a multitude of other factors can impact how much flour you need in your yeast doughs, I always judge when to quit adding flour by the texture and look and feel of the dough rather than how much flour I’ve added compared to the recipe. This tutorial on yeast may help identify how a perfectly floured dough should be.

Ingredients

• 2 cups hot water
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons instant yeast
• 6 – 7 cups flour
• 1/4 cup butter, melted, for shaping rolls

Directions

1. Add hot water to sugar and oil and beat with electric mixer (or by hand). Add eggs and salt; beat well. When mixture is lukewarm, add yeast and keep beating. Add flour until a soft dough forms. Do not knead. Let rise in a lightly greased, covered, bowl for one hour or until doubled.
2. Divide the dough in half. Pat each portion of dough into an 9X14-inch (or so, doesn't have to be exact) rectangle. Brush with the melted butter.
3. Cut the dough into three long strips (see pictures below) and then cut each strip into 6-7 sections. You'll have about 18-21 little rectangles for each half of dough (so 36-42 total rolls).
4. Fold each little rectangle about a third of the way down over the butter; flip over and place seam-side down on the baking sheet. Overlap the rolls so that each roll is sitting about 1/3 of the way on top of the roll above it. I place about 6-7 rolls down the short side of a 12X18-inch rimmed baking sheet with a total of 6 rows across the length of the baking pan (the pictures below help illustrate this - it isn't as complicated as it sounds)
5. Cover and let rise for 30-45 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes. Brush tops with additional melted butter, if desired.

Recipe Source: from Aunt Marilyn A Few Step-by-Step Pictures: See the recipe for specific instructions.


 Despite the "do not knead" instruction that worried me so much, they turned out great! I have to admit, I did use my bosch dough hooks, and mixed a bit, which you might consider kneading, but this recipe doesn't require much kneading at all.(update12/8/15: I'd forgotten that this didnt need any kneading and i like to knead in the machine until it forms a soft dough...maybe I don't need to, but kneading doesn't hurt! they were so yummy) I have used a couple other recipes (trying to, sort of, combine Grandma Lois' and Martha Stewart's recipes) but because this simpler recipe turned out, I'll probably stick with this one.  I'll have to update later though, cuz after eating one of these, Caleb asked, "Mom, when are you going to make Grandma Lois' rolls?" I told him that they WERE those rolls. and he said "exactly her rolls?" and I said, "well no, there are a few differences in shape, and few other things, ..." so even though they tasted close enough to me, maybe i can't quite forget about grandma lois' recipe just yet...

chocolate chip toffee bars

This recipe turned out to be very yummy. All I had on hand was the chocolate covered toffee bits, so I decreased the amount of chocolate chips. Also, we like milk chocolate, so I knew this would be very sweet. and it was.  BUT who doesn't like sweet? I took some of these to some other people and we ate the rest. Fast.

Strawberry, Banana, Blueberry green Smoothie

I am posting this only because sometimes I forget what a basic green smoothie contains. embarrassing but true. I don't follow this exactly AT ALL. But it's good for me to have a guideline.

 

Ingredients

• 2 cups spinach, fresh
• ³⁄₄ cup water
• ³⁄₄ cup orange juice
• 1 cup strawberries
• 1 cup blueberries
• 2 bananas

Instructions

Blend spinach, orange juice and water until smooth. Next add the remaining fruits and blend again.

*Use at least one frozen fruit to make the green smoothie cold.*

 
 As a reference, here are a couple of other smoothie options too, including one from costco's.

Side of Fruit

some one brought this to me when I had Maylee and it was SOOO stinkin refreshing I was in love. I love how simple, yet fancy it seems. You just rinse and dry some quartered strawberries, blueberries, and halved grapes(green look good with the other colors). This time I'm doing blackberries cuz they were on sale instead of blueberries, but I don't think it matters. Spread out in foil pan (if you are taking it somewhere)or whatever you have and drizzle 1/4 honey and 2-3 Tbsp. Lime juice over the top. I like just 2 Tbsp. lime juice. Yummy!