My 1st Chicken Tortilla Soup

Have you seen the cooking show on Food Network, Mexican Made Easy?  I love Marcela Valladolid….I discovered her when her new show started earlier this year.  It is the only cooking show I actually tape each week. I watch many, but I tape hers! I love the uniqueness of what she cooks…check her out, especially if you like mexican food.

I have yet to find a restaurant that peaks my love for mexican food since leaving California which may be why I gravitate to her show.  She makes the recipes look quick, easy, and tasty..ok done with my commercial .

This past weekend she did a show around Mexican comfort foods.  As I watched it, I could taste what I was watching her cook.  I have always wanted to cook Chicken Tortilla Soup and she made it look so easy.

I ventured to the grocery store on Sunday to get snacks for my greedy lil 8 year old granddaughter who is hungry every hour.  She is tall for her age, skinny, and eats ALL the time.  I try to keep fresh fruit around as she will eat that up willingly as well as yogurt.  She is a testament to small snacks keeping you slim…that’s another story…

I decided while I was there to fix the soup.  Found the recipe on my iPhone and continued to shop..

For those that know me, I added a few extra’s, cilantro and cooked chicken.  If you are a vegetarian…this is a great recipe for you.  I bought one of those chipotle chicken packages and cut it up in chunks, and added it to the pot at the end of the recipe.  I added the cilantro where you blend the ingredients.

This was GREAT…..I have to say it was better during my midnight snack…so I think if you make it early and let it sit so the seasoning really develops…it is very flavorful.  It was da BOMB!  Here is a link to the actual recipe….I actually want to fix everything she made during the show…I WILL get to that!  I believe it actually took about 45 mins to an hour at the most to prepare.

Quick Leftover Chicken Dish

WOW…It has been a loonnng time since I posted on this blog.  I honestly have not been cooking like I use to since I don’t really have “my own” kitchen right now.  Staying at mom’s, I try to stay out of the way most of the time

My granddaughter is visiting with me for part of the summer so I am cooking a little bit more and decided to utilize some leftovers I had today.  I bought a rotisserie chicken a few days ago at a grocery store and typically I always take the leftovers and make chicken salad.

I wanted to do something different today…I created a white sauce with Asiago cheese and served it over pasta (spaghetti).  I also had leftover shrimp scampi from yesterday so I threw that in after the sauce was done, yummy.

Process – This took about 15 minutes tops:

Pulled all of the chicken off of the bones and chopped it up into bite size pieces.  Start the pasta.  You can use just about any pasta that is not too thin.

White Sauce:

2 T of Butter

2 fork fulls of flour (about 1 1/2 T)

1 C of milk

Melt the butter and whisk in the flour, then whisk in the milk.  Warm until it comes just starts to boil, add about 3/4 cup of the cheese.  Stirring periodically as it thickens..add more cheese if you would like it a little thicker. You can also add milk if it becomes too thick.

Once the sauce is the consistency you want, add the chicken and cook for a few minutes until the chicken is warmed up.