Yummy Chicken Tortilla Soup (courtesy of Kris Erickson)

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
3 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 (14 ounce) cans chicken broth
4 cups half-and-half
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup fresh salsa
1 (15 ounce) can creamed corn
6 boneless, chicken breast halves - cooked, skinned
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 (1.27 ounce) packet dry fajita seasoning
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
16 ounces tortilla chips
8 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese


DIRECTIONS
In a large pot over medium heat, saute the garlic and onion in the butter or margarine for 5 minutes. Add flour and stir well, cooking for 1 minute more. Add the broth and half-and-half. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.
Add the soup, salsa, corn, chicken, cumin, fajita seasoning and 2 tablespoons cilantro. Stir and continue to heat for 15 minutes. Crumble tortilla chips into individual bowls, add 1/2 ounce shredded cheese to each bowl and ladle in soup. Top each bowl with more crumbled chips, remaining 1/2 ounce cheese and remaining 1 tablespoon cilantro, and serve.

June 1-13 Menu

Mon - Spaghetti alla ceci
Tue - Biscuits and gravy
Wed - California tamale pie with corn and black olives
Thur - Four grain flapjacks
Fri - Homemade pizza
Sat - Tater-tot casserole
Sun - Spaghetti and garlic bread
Mon - Tacos
Tue - BBQ chicken and rice
Wed - Waffles and bacon
Thur - Homemade Mac n cheese
Fri - Homemade pizza
Sat - Enchiladas

California Tamale Pie with Corn and Black Olives

Super yummy dinner tonight. I only used half the chile powder out of fear, but could have used all of it. It wasn't too spicy.

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
2 small white onions, chopped (I didn't have one, so omitted this)
3 tablespoons pure mild to medium-hot ground chile powder
3/4 cup medium-grind yellow cornmeal
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 large eggs, beaten
1 to 2 teaspoons salt, to your taste (I used 2)
Pinch of ground cumin
1 16-ounce can stewed tomatoes, drained and chopped
3 to 4 ears fresh corn, kernels cut off the cob; or 2 cups frozen, or drained canned whole-kernel corn.
1 14-ounce can pitted ripe California black olives, drained, and coarsely chopped or halved. (I used a small can of sliced olives and it was fine.)
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese or a combination of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese
1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Directions:
Coat the slow cooker with nonstick spray. Heat a medium-sized nonstick skillet over a medium heat. Add the beef and onions and cook until the meat is no longer pink and the onion is limp, using a wooden spoon or spatula to break up the meat. Drain the fat from the pan and sprinkle the meat with the chile powder. Cook for 1 minute and transfer the meat and onion to the slow cooker.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, milk, eggs, salt and cumin until smooth. Stir in the tomatoes, corn and olives then pour the mixture into the cooker and stir to combine all the ingredients. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.

Sprinkle the cheese over the top, drizzle with the olive oil, cover, and continue to cook on HIGH for 10 minutes more to melt the cheese. Serve spooned directly from the crock.

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

For Marcy :)

Ingredients:
2-3 Chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 pint sour cream
1 (40z) can chopped green chiles
1 1/2 cups grated Moterey Jack cheese
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 can black olives (sliced)
1 dozen flour tortillas

Directions:
Boil chicken breasts 25-30 minutes, then chop into bite-sized pieces. Mix soup, sour cream and chiles together. Spread a thin layer of creamed mixture on the bottom of a 9x13-inch pan. Then taking each tortilla, spread a thin layer of creamed mixture (save half of mixture to coat the top of the enchiladas), then add some chicken pieces, cheese and olives; roll the tortillas up and place in pan seam side down. Spread remaining creamed mixture over top and garnish with cheese and olives. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Sweet and Sour Sauce-Tweeked

Here is the "new" recipie for the sweet and sour sauce. It still needs to be tweeked, but I haven't figured it out yet, let me know what you do to get the taste you like...

Sweet and Sour Sauce-
½ cup vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup pineapple juice
¼ cup ketchup
2 tablespoons cornstarch

(I have figured out that I don't like the whole amount of vinegar in it, yet without it, the sauce is too sweet.)

(Another note: Costco has bags of popcorn chicken in the freezer section that works great for making this a super quick dinner. Stick them in the oven, make the sauce and in a total of 20 minutes you have dinner. And that includes prep and cooking!)