Santa Fe Chicken

A friend sent this to me as one of her "food storage" recipes -- something you eat when it's the end of the world and you don't have anything else more worthwhile to eat. But it's delicious, and (especially if the chicken is precooked) it's super fast.

In a large skillet, boil

• 2 cubed chicken breasts*
• 1 cup of salsa**
• 1 cup water
• 1 packet taco seasoning***

*I used precooked shredded chicken.
**I always throw my salsa in the blender and whirl it up. I don't like chunks and neither do some of my kids, but if it's blended we'll lap it right up on its own or in recipes.
***We use taco seasoning in several recipes, so instead of dropping 70 cents each time, we bought a big container of it from Costco for $3.50. If you do the same, you'll use about 2.5-3 Tbps of seasoning.

Cover and simmer until chicken is cooked (or warmed in my case). Stir in

• 1 can black beans
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice

Heat through. If you have to cook the chicken, this whole thing can take maybe 20 minutes start-to-finish. But if your chicken and your rice are already cooked, you're looking at 5-10 minutes total.


You can top this with sour cream and cheese and eat with corn and tortilla chips, or you can throw these in a wrap like we did last night. Might I recommend getting super fancy and buying a pack of jalapeno cheddar burrito shells and garnishing with lettuce, cheese and sour cream. Amazing.

Chili

Here is a recipe that I got from my aunt. It is really good.

1 lb. Ground beef
1 Tbs. Chili powder
1/8 tsp. Garlic powder
1 1/2 C. chopped onion
1 can Kidney beans
1 can Tomato soup
1 Tbs. Vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Lrg Garlic clove
1 Tbs. Brown sugar

Brown hamburger and onions, drain. Add remaining ingredients and simmer uncovered for about 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally. This is enough for about 4-6 people. When I make this for my family I usually have to double or even triple the recipe because of how much everyone likes it.

I don't put the garlic clove in and if I am cooking for people that don't like onions I reduce how much I use and chopped the onion really small. Then they can't even tell it's in there. Also, if you want this to be more spicy add more chili powder.

Basic chili

Jade, this one's for you -- I don't like to have "stuff" in my chili, so when I make it, it's very basic and very simple.

You'll need:
Kidney (red) beans
Water
Ground beef
Tomato sauce
Chili seasoning
Cumin

That's it. Since Cory likes "stuff" in his, I sometimes cook some peppers and add those to his chili, along with some stewed tomatoes. Ick.

Cook the beans -- this can be done in a crockpot or on the stove. The last time I made chili, I cooked them in my crockpot for a few hours, turned it off, and let them sit in the water overnight while I was sleeping. The next day, I turned the crockpot back on high, browned the hamburger meat (and I always use garlic salt), dumped it into the crock pot, added a couple of cans of tomato sauce, and some chili powder. I had a little packet of chili seasoning left (you get it in the isle with all the other packets, like taco seasoning). I didn't think it was enough, so I added some chili powder (found in the spice isle), and some cumin seasoning. I let it cook a couple hours, until everything was heated through. It tasted pretty good, if I say so myself.

Easy, easy, easy. I know you can do it :)

Fiesta Chicken Soup

10 oz chicken breast shredded (I poached* it first and then cut it up)
15 oz can black beans
15 oz can ranch style beans with jalapeno peppers (make sure you get the can with the picture of the beans, the black one without a picture isn't as healthy)
15 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies
4 oz can green chilies
1/2 a medium red onion chopped
2-3 cups chicken broth
15 oz can yellow corn
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp cumin

Combine all ingredients in a pot and simmer 30 minutes. It makes about 12 cups and a 1 cup serving is 2 points for anyone concerned about that. Enjoy!! :)

*To poach the chicken, bring a pot of water to boiling (about 1 quart per chicken breast - in this case, about 3-4 quarts. Go for more water instead of less if you have room in the pot.) Add the chicken breasts, cover, and remove the pot from heat. Let stand 20 minutes. The chicken will be cooked just right and will stay tender and juicy. I use this method to cook my chicken whenever I am not using a marinade.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Edited: Ok, I have made this soup and I was right - it is divine! Very good on a cold winter night :) It also is yummy when heated up for leftovers.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

CRISCO® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray

8 6-inch corn tortillas

Salt

2 tablespoons CRISCO® Pure Canola Oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups cooked chicken, diced

1 can (15 1/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained

1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained

1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes, with juice

1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies, drained

1 package (1 1/4 ounces) taco seasoning mix

2 cans (14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth

1 tablespoons lime juice

Shredded cheddar cheese

Chopped cilantro

Sour cream

Lime slices (optional)

Spray a baking sheet and both sides of the corn tortillas with Crisco No Stick Cooking Spray. Slice the tortillas into strips; sprinkle lightly with salt. Place on baking sheet; bake for 12-15 minutes or until crisp and lightly browned. Set aside.

Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven or soup pot, heat Crisco Canola Oil over medium high heat. Add onions and saute until soft. Add chicken, corn, beans, tomatoes, chilis and taco seasoning; stir to combine. Add chicken broth; stir. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, 10-15 minutes. Stir in lime juice.

To serve, place a few tortilla strips into soup bowl; ladle soup over. Sprinkle with cheese and cilantro. Top with remaining tortilla strips. Garnish with sour cream and a lime slice.

*When I made the soup, I left out the diced green chilis, and it still tasted good ... also, mine was a little thin, so I made mine a tiny bit thicker using a flour/water thickener. All in all, very yummy!

White Chili

I apologize if anyone has posted something like this - I made it for dinner last night and it was a huge success! While I was typing up my version of the recipe to print for keeping, I thought I would share it here, too.

White Chili

1 medium onion, chopped 1 jalapeno pepper (optional) 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 4 cups chicken broth 2 (15.5 ounce) cans great northern beans

2 tablespoons dried parsley 1 tablespoon lime juice 1 teaspoon ground cumin 2 tablespoons cornstarch 1/4 cup cold water 2 cups cubed, cooked chicken

In a medium to large saucepan, boil the chicken in the broth until cooked through. In a large saucepan, cook onion, jalapeno if desired and garlic in oil until tender. Stir in beans (with liquid), parsley, lime juice and cumin, and broth from chicken; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Chop chicken into small pieces. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into chili. Add chicken. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Mexican Chicken Bake

I kind of just made this up so none of the spices were measured. Just do to taste.
This is one of my husbands Favorites.

1 C. Rice
1 chicken breast per person
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/4 C. Sour Cream
1/2 C. Milk
1 Can black beans
1/2 jar Salsa
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Onion powder
Cheese

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9 pan.
Cook Rice, spread into bottom of pan.
Cube and cook chicken with spices
place over rice
Mix together soup, sour cream, milk and beans. Spread over top chicken
Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake in oven for 20 min.

-Like I said, I kind of made this up. You can use whatever beans you like. The chicken can be seasoned with taco seasoning, or fajita seasoning if you'd prefer. I added some lemon juice because my husband loves it.
If you wanted to you could leave the chicken breasts whole and then just add about 1/2-1 C. of water and cook it all in the oven for about 1 hr.

Tostada

These are basically flat tacos.

Tostata shells- you can buy a back of 24 for around $2.00
1 can Refried beans
1/4 C. Water
1 lb. Ground beef
1 envelope Taco seasoning
Shredded lettuce
Sour Cream
Salsa
Cheese
Other taco topping favorites.

Cook ground been with 1/2- all of taco seasoning. Drain fat.
Cook refired beans & Water, mix well.
Place in order on Tostata shell: Beans, Hamburger, additional toppings.

These are so simple, and very tasty! Enjoy!!!

Black Bean Soup

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained, reserving half (or, use 1 lb. of dry beans cooked in the crock pot - see below)
1 bunch of cilantro, coarsely chopped
1 can of stewed tomatoes (with onions, chiles, etc. is good)
(if your tomatoes don't have additions, add 1/2 medium onion, chopped fine)
2 teaspoons lime juice (or more if you like that flavor)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped (or 1 teaspoon of bottled garlic)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth

Mix all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor, reserving half of the beans (because all of it will probably not fit in the blender, and I think it is better to leave some of the beans whole in the soup). Blend until well mixed and you can see that the cilantro has been blended well. If the cilantro was at least chopped up a little bit, it should all be fine. Transfer to a medium pot and add the rest of the beans. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until heated through.

Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, or guacamole.


This is a great way to use black beans, and it is a little like a vegetarian taco soup.

*It is about 4 times cheaper to buy dried beans than the already pretty cheap canned beans. If you plan a day ahead, you can cook one bag (1 lb.) of black beans in a crock pot for 8-10 hours. Just add enough water so that there is about 2 inches of water above the top of the beans (maybe a little less if the beans don't come close to filling up the crock pot). You don't want the beans to ever be uncovered by the water. Check them every couple of hours if this is your first time, to be sure they don't become exposed. You'll know the beans are done if you blow hard on a few and the skin breaks. Extra beans can be frozen in ziploc bags and defrosted quickly to use instead of canned beans.