tom foolery

yesterday was rainy, cold and gloomy. d put in over 10 hours of overtime, so i figured he could use something warm and yummy to soothe his spirits - and what is more soothing than chicken soup?
my aunt's kickin' chicken soup* it was!


fire up your favorite soup pot - one with a nice heavy bottom so it doesn't scorch. then, drizzle a TINY TINY bit of olive oil, or cooking spray, which is what i did.

1. chop up an onion, i used red but whatever you like, then add to the pot - let that go for a few minutes


2. add a can of green chilies - the recipe calls for a minced jalepeno, but whichever you like

3. after the onions and chilies have had some time to get to know each other, throw in 3 cloves minced garlic - or a big heaping spoon of the jarred, packed in water stuff like I did

4. wait a minute or two, then add in a 32 oz carton of chicken stock. i only use kitchen basics brand, it is far superior to anything you will find in a can, and frankly, anything else just isn't worthy. it is in a big yellow box in the same aisle as the canned junk.

5. drain a can of black beans, i spend more and buy the organic because they have much less sodium and there is like a 12 cents difference between premium selection kroger brand organic and kroger brand non organic. after absorbing my organic/non organic lecture, throw the beans into the pot

6. add in a bag of frozen corn - i had a steam fresh bag in my kitchen freezer and didn't feel like going downstairs for a non steam fresh bag so that's what i used - i have no idea how much corn it was - just depends on how corny you are feeling :-P

7. give it a good healthy grinding of black pepper

8. the experts (my aunt and mom) add lime juice - but i forgot; calls for juice of 1 lime; experts also call for cilantro but noone in my house likes it, so i sprinkled in some parsley for color, but go crazy with the cilantro if you are a fan - a tablespoon or so of dried, or 1/2 cup fresh, and if any of you have fresh cilantro on hand, let me know so i can smack you in the back of the head for being more marthaesque than me

9. add a healthy dose of your hot sauce of choice, i used jalepeno tabasco (the green kind) but d still wanted the sriracha

10. you can add salt if you want, but it already has a lot of sodium, and as a future dietician, i can tell you that too much sodium leads to hypertension, plus it makes your ankles swell, and noone wants cankles

12. add 2-3 cups of pre-cooked chicken breast. kroger had rotisseree chicken marked down to 2.99 so i bought one and removed the skin, then i just pulled the breast meat and threw it in there, minus a few bites for the maxers

13. dish up, and if you are feeling decadent, grate some pepper jack, monterey jack, cheddar, or your cheese of choice on top, along with some crumbled baked tortilla or multigrain tortilla chips...unless you added a bunch of salt already in step 10, and then no cheese or chips for you...remember those cankles!


*i'm not sure if my aunt came up with this recipe, but she is who told me about it so i'm calling it her soup. if you created this recipe, please don't get all huffy with me, i didn't do a google search, i didn't know, okay?




i'd say i was on a roll with the recipes, but i'm not cooking tonight - d is singing at the joyful night tree lighting ceremony at the capitol, and i'm tagging along :-) enjoy your soup!!