Southwest Chicken Tortilla Soup

We didn't watch the super bowl yesterday but I celebrated anyway by making a Soup-er bowl of soup. Ha.  No but seriously, this soup is amazing.  I made it in the crock pot and it only took about 10 minutes of prep to get started.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 cans (or one 28oz box) of diced tomatoes
• 2 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 14oz of frozen corn
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 2 cups of water
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• *1 Tbsp dried or fresh cilantro (optional)
• *1/2 Tbsp jalapeno spices (optional)
• tortilla chips
• sour cream
• shredded cheddar or blend cheese

Directions

1. Put chopped onion, beans, tomatoes, corn, chicken broth, water and spices in the crock pot and stir to mix.
2. Put chicken breasts on top of mixture and make sure they're partly submerged in the liquid.
3. Cook on high for 6-7 hours or on low for 8-9.
4. Before serving break up and shred the chicken breasts if needed.
5. Serve with a few tortilla chips broken up on the top of the bowl, top with cheese and a spoon full (or more) of sour cream.

I used Veggie and Flax Seed Tortilla chips  from Trader Joe's.  They are not only a healthy choice but they taste great and look pretty too.  Let me know what you think if you try this one.

Nutella Sea-Salt Sugar Cookies

I haven't made many recipes this week.  I did make Panera inspired Broccoli Cheddar soup and you can see how it turned out here.  Besides the soup I made regular meals like mahi, roast chicken and quinoa.  Good food but nothing that required a recipe.  I did try to make roasted cauliflower but it didn't turn out quite right.  They were more soggy than crispy which I'm attributing to using too much olive oil.  We'll have to try that one again, but with a different recipe.

I did finally get around to making the Nutella Sea Salt Sugar Cookies that I've been talking about for weeks and weeks.  They were worth the wait.  I found the recipe to be more involved and time consuming than I'd anticipated.  It's possible my baking may have been complicated by a fussy 6 month old and a rather excited 4 year old who desperately wanted to help.  Or to at least lick all of the baking utensils.

I decided to let her make her own play dough cookies while I made my complicated ones.  Then everyone was happy.  Well except for the 6 month old.  I put her in my Beco (baby carrier) and that kept her satisfied while we finished.

Nutella and Sea Salt stuffed Sugar Cookies
Here is the recipe I found on cookin' canuck.  I recommend a few changes which I included below.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Nutella
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 14 tbsp (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp sea salt

Directions

1. Scoop out 1 teaspoon of Nutella and place in small mounds on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Be careful not to have the teaspoon too full.  Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
2. Place an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
4. In a large bowl beat butter and 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar with an electric mixer (I used my kitchen aid) set on medium speed until the mixture is creamy and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time and the vanilla extract.
5. Turn the mixer to a low speed and gradually beat in the flour mixture until it is just combined.  Using a rubber spatula, stir the mixture a few times to make sure all of the flour mixture is incorporated.
6. Place 1/3 cup granulated sugar in a small bowl.  Use 2 tablespoons cookie dough for each cookie.  Split the piece of dough in half and slightly flatten the bottom half.
7. Sprinkle 5 or 6 grains of sea salt on the flattened dough (I used a small pinch).
8. Lift the mounds of Nutella from the baking sheet and lay on the bottom half of cookie dough, on top of the salt.  I suggest doing 1 tray at a time and putting the rest of the Nutella back in the freezer in-between to keep from melting.
9. Cover Nutella with the other piece of cookie dough.  Seal the edges with your fingers.  Roll the ball in the sugar to coat it and place it on a prepared baking sheet.
10. Repeat with the remaining dough and Nutella mounds, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart from each other on the baking sheets.
11. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time.  They are done when the edges are set and beginning to brown, 10 to 13 minutes (my cooking time was closer to 14-15 min).  The centers of the cookies should still be soft and puffy.
12. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes.  Using a spatula remove the cookies from the baking sheet and let cool on a rack.  They can also be served warm.

I recommend these lovely cookies with a glass of cold milk.  Enjoy and happy Super Bowl Day if that's your thing.  No football around here but I am making a soup-er bowl of Chicken Tortilla Crock Pot Soup.  More on that tomorrow!

Welcome to (Vintage) Fisher Price Fridays

I posted a little peek at our Fisher Price Little People (FPLP) collection a couple weeks ago.  You can see it here.  I had intended on doing one more post about my daughter's collection but quickly realized that I have too much for just one post.  So for the next few weeks or months I'm going to do Fisher Price Fridays and feature different sets.  We have other Fisher Price toys as well such as the old music boxes, baby toys (happy apple) and play sets like the school desk and cash register.

In case you're interested in finding your own FPLP I'll be sharing some secrets about the different places I've bought them from.

Although I may gather or collect these sets and pieces I do not save them as collectibles.  In other words, I believe they are toys to be played with!  We don't keep them in pristine condition and I'm okay with that.

How many pieces do we have?
We currently have around 12 play sets and many many little people and pieces.  I am trying to keep from buying any more, but it is hard.  And you'll understand when you see how cute they are!

How did this collection/obsession start?  
With this little 1990 FP Farm #2555.  My sister in law passed it down to us when my daughter was born.  It is from the period between the older little people and the new modern little people.

You can see a big size difference between the big farmer on his tractor and the older LP farmer in front.  The base is made of plastic but the the barn portion is the same as the vintage sets.  The farm came to us with just the tractor and farmer so I started looking around for animal pieces to add.  That was all it took to get me interested in collecting more and more of the sets.  Especially when seeing them brought back happy childhood memories.  As a child of the 1970's these toys were everywhere and even though we didn't own many pieces I did get to see them at friend's houses, doctor's offices or sunday school rooms.

These are the animals I've found so far.  They are from many different years, which makes it fun to see how the animals have changed.  See the different pigs, cows and sheep?
ETA: I've been informed that some of the animals aren't actually FPLP.  Does anyone know what other sets they may be from?  They say "made in hong kong" on the bottom.  Fortunately they fit great in our barn and play nicely with the other animals. ;)

The horse on the right even holds a rider.

It's a lovely little set and a perfect way to start the collection.  The barn door still makes the mooing sound.  I'm missing a few things from the original #2555 set as well as from older barns (like the silo).  But it works just fine for us and I'm always on the lookout to fill the set in. 

Come back next week for more little people!

The view from here

This morning as we were leaving the neighborhood this is what greeted us.

Pretty typical as we see balloons in the mornings and afternoons most days (weather permitting), but still lovely nonetheless.  Sometimes we can hear the flames going up into the balloons because they are so close to the house. I've seen as many as a dozen up at one time.

One of my favorite parts of living up here in the desert is enjoying the balloons flying overhead.  Well, except when they land in the road and block traffic.  That isn't quite as fun.

This was taken last february.  Another balloon was blocking the next road as well and had fallen on a light post. 

But there were no problems this morning.  Just a big colorful balloon gently floating over the neighborhood.  However, as lovely as I find them up in the sky you'll never catch me in one!  

I'll save that for these brave people.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup (recipe from Panera Bread)

I discovered Panera Bread when we lived in the Midwest.  My favorite menu item to order was always their Broccoli Cheddar Soup.  In fact broccoli cheddar is one of my favorite soups period so I'm always trying it out at different restaurants.

When I saw this recipe from top secret recipes I couldn't resist giving it a try.  I found it to be easy and pretty good tasting, very much like the restaurant version.  I made a couple changes, here's what I did.

Ingredients
3 cups broccoli florets (I put a 16oz and a 12oz package of florets in, which was about 3 1/2 cups)
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups milk
1/2 cup all purpose flour
5.3 oz shredded cheddar cheese (or 8 Kraft cheese slices)
1/2 cup fine shredded carrots
1/3 cup diced white onions
Pinch of ground black pepper
Sea salt to taste (I added quite a bit to mine)

Directions
Steam broccoli on a steamer basket in a covered saucepan over boiling water for 6 minutes.  Remove broccoli to a chopping board until cool, then use a large knife to dice broccoli into small pieces (about the size of peas).

Pour chicken broth into a large saucepan with the milk (or you can use 4 cups chicken broth and 1 cup of 1/2 and 1/2).  Whisk in flour and then add remaining ingredients, including broccoli.  Turn heat to medium, stirring often until mixture begins to bubble.  Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until carrots are tender and soup is thick.

I served the soup with crusty french bread (bought in the freezer section of Costco).  The four year old loved it and asked for it again tonight.  However, the husband wouldn't touch it.  Perhaps it had a bit too much broccoli for him to want it.  I still think it's a perfect soup for a cold winter day.  Too bad it was sunny and 74 here in Phoenix.  Ha!