Southwestern Chicken Soup

I am a huge fan of soup. During the winter especially all I’m hungry for is thick soup (and pancakes, but not together)! One of my favorite year-round comforts is this Southwestern Chicken Soup full of tomatoes, beans, corn, and chicken. It’s filling, delicious, and extremely easy to cook!

And one of my favorite things about this soup–it reheats to taste even better!  Do you see that white in the background? A yard full of snow!

Southwestern Chicken Soup
via Allrecipes.com

2 quarts water
8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 tablespoon onion powder
5 cubes chicken bouillon
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (16 ounce) jar chunky salsa
2 (14.5 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes
1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
2 (16 ounce) cans chili beans, undrained
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

In a large pot over medium heat, combine water, chicken, salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, onion powder and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1 hour, or until chicken juices run clear. Remove chicken, reserve broth. Shred chicken.

In a large pot over medium heat, cook onion and garlic in olive oil until slightly browned. Stir in salsa, diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes, tomato soup, chili powder, corn, chili beans, sour cream, shredded chicken and 5 cups broth. Simmer 30 minutes.

Serve with tortilla chips, shredded cheddar cheese, and/or green onions if desired.

The “southwestern” flavor is very subtle (which I prefer), but this recipe is open to your adjustments.  What more chili powder and more vegetables? Go for it!  It can handle it, I promise.

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

I love pineapple upside down cake, but I hate making entire cakes. I don’t like making a mess slicing pieces, and cakes don’t get eaten with only two people in the house. So I decided to make cupcakes!

Right after I made the batter I thought of the reason people don’t really make pineapple upside down cupcakes–the puff at the top of the cupcake will make it weird when you flip it over! Thankfully this particular recipe doesn’t rise much; as long as you don’t fill the cupcake tins up to the top they should be fine! They don’t look as much like cupcakes as they do mini-cakes.

My dad told me how to make pineapple upside down cake, and I used a Better Homes and Garden cookbook for the yellow cake itself.

This is the recipe my dad emailed to me. Joseph commented that he types exactly the way he speaks.

Topping:
Brown sugar
Butter
1 can pineapple slices (reserve juice)
Maraschino cherries
Pecans (optional)

Melt butter and brown sugar for a few minutes in the oven. I spooned a small amount of brown sugar into each cupcake tin and wish I had used more because they weren’t as caramelized as I would have liked. Mine definitely did not add up to a cup like my dad suggested, so don’t be shy on the sugar.  I would guess a tablespoon for each cupcake would be good.
Arrange pineapple slices, cherries, and pecans if using them. I opted out of the pecans because I don’t like them much.
Pour cake batter gently and evenly–remember the fruit might be moved around a bit.

Cake:
¾ cup butter
3 eggs
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ¾ cups sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla
All reserved pineapple juice, plus enough milk to add up to 1 ¼ cups

Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

Preheat over to 375F. In a mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, beating until well combined. Beat 2 minutes more. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanill. Alternately add flour mixture and the pineapple juice and milk mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Gently spread into prepared and greased pans.

Bake for 20-25 minutes for cupcakes or 9-inch pans, 30-35 minutes for 8-inch pans, or 25-30 minutes for 13×9x2 pan. Let cool for ten minutes and flip onto baking sheet.

Here’s a bad picture I took a few years ago of a pineapple upside down cake I made. You can see I used a full cup of brown sugar, so it caramalized more:

Key Lime Pie

The second half of my day’s adventures in pies–Key Lime Pie! Burnt out from making the banana cream pies in my too-small kitchen, I used a prepared pie crust. This recipe is very, very easy! Really, anyone could make this. I didn’t even have to write down the recipe! I halved it and ended up with six miniature pies, and they all disappeared within the day (Joseph had four, I had two). I think I’ll keep this around as a go-to when we’re craving easy sweets.

Key Lime Pie from Allrecipes.com

1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust (or 12 miniature ones)

3 cups sweetened condensed milk

½ cup sour cream

¾ cup key lime juice

1 Tbs grated lime zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime rind. Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of pie. Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream if desired.

Banana Cream Tarts

It’s been a big week for pies and tarts around here! I have been dying to make my grandmother’s chocolate pie again (I need to post the recipe here!), then decided to do some sort of berry pie; I asked Joseph what his favorite pie was and he said he liked banana cream pie and key lime pie. I’d never had either, so I had to make them both instead, on the same day!

Banana cream pie is now my absolute favorite dessert! I am going to have to make these again next week; hopefully the meringue will fluff next time.

I made these in my six-inch tart pans with removable bottoms.

Nilla Wafer Crust
40 Nabisco Nilla Wafers, finely crushed. I placed mine in a bag and beat them with a rolling pin
¼ butter or margarine, melted
1 Tbs sugar

Throughly mix wafer crumbs, sugar, and butter. Press into even layer against bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate or three 6-inch tart pans. Bake at 375F (190C) for 6-8 minutes.

I ended up having to make a completely different pastry crust from scratch half-way through cooking the cream because this recipe only filled three tart pans.  Maybe I just make my crust extra-thick, but you might want to prepare to have extra cookies in case you run out of crust.

Banana Cream Pie from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook
Pastry shell of your choice
4 eggs
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
2 ½ cups half-and-half, light cream, or milk
1 Tbs butter or margarine
1 ½ tsp vanilla
3 medium bananas

Prepare crust of your choice. Set aside yolks for filling and whites for meringue.

Preheat over to 325F (165C). For filling, in a medium saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in half-and-half. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly; reduce heat. Cook and stir for two minutes more. Remove from heat. Slightly beat egg yolks with a fork. Gradually stir about one cup of the hot filling into yolks. Add egg yolk mixture to saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil; reduce heat. Cook and stir for two minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla. Keep filling warm and prepare meringue.

Arranged sliced bananas along bottom of crust. Pour cream on top and spread with meringue. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack one hour. Chill for 3 to 6 hours before serving. Who am I kidding? I ate these immediately!

Meringue
4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp cream of tartar
½ cup sugar

Beat egg whites, vanilla, and cream of tartar in a large mixing bowl until soft peaks form, about one minute. Gradually add sugar, beating on high speed about four minutes more or until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks and sugar dissolves. Spread over hot pie filling.

Tips: Learn from my mistake–do not use a plastic bowl! I’ve made meringue successfully once, with a glass bowl. Always use a thoroughly dried glass or metal bowl. My meringue did not form stiff peaks, partially because I don’t have a proper beater (I use a little bitty electric egg beater! I’m waiting for when I move to the US and can buy a KitchenAid Artisan mixer!), but mainly because I only had plastic bowls. It tasted just the same but didn’t look quite as nice.

Next up: the Key Lime Pies I made on the same day!

Soft Foods and Short Hair

Joseph had two of his wisdom teeth removed last week, so he spent a few days on Jell-o, pudding, and macaroni and cheese. I had a bit of fun making him pudding cups!

This one has crumbled Nilla Wafers on the bottom, a layer of chopped bananas, pudding, and cool whip. I stirred the cookies into the pudding and let it sit for a few minutes to soften before he ate it.

In other news, I cut my hair! I donated 10.5 inches to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, which gives wigs to women suffering from cancer.

Before:

After:

Naturally curly:

I am very glad to have hair off my neck for the summer! I had been wanting to cut my hair for months, and donating it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths gave me the incentive to actually do it. I like it this length and think it will stay this way for a while!

Tonight I’m looking forward to throwing a small Twilight Zone marathon. Joseph has never seen seen episode! I loved when weekend marathons would come on television–I spent hours on end watching episodes with my dad. My all-time favorite Twilight Zone episode is It’s a Good Life, about a young boy named Anthony who makes people disappear if they don’t pretend to be happy all the time.

So creepy!

Brownie Cupcakes

I became famous among my friends for my cupcake brownies. Throughout high school there wasn’t a birthday party where I didn’t walk in carrying two dozen of these! For as long as I can remember my dad topped off brownies with vanilla icing (though in my household we didn’t wait for them to cool completely, so the icing was always runny). Everything is better when made into a cupcake, right?

I’m breaking one of my rules and recommending you stay away from anything made from scratch for these. I’ve made them many times and the only way to really get the “Brownie Cupcakes” taste I grew up enjoying is from box mix brownies and canned frosting–really! It is the only way to do it. Some how box mix brownies taste amazing in cupcake form, and adding canned vanilla frosting takes them to a new level.

Follow directions on brownie mix; I like to add a handful of chocolate chips to the batter. Be sure to coat the cupcake tin with grease and don’t fill them as much as you would with cake batter. Bake according to directions on the box or bag, shortening the baking period. Don’t overcook! My general rule of thumb is that I take them out of the oven when I start smelling them from the next room. Let cool on wire rack before topping with canned vanilla icing.

I like using Betty Crocker’s Rainbow Chip icing, but since that wasn’t available here, I just topped them with M&M’s. The results were great!

Rainbow Cupcakes

I’ve seen recipes for rainbow cakes and cupcakes going around the internet for a while. I’ve never had much interest in them even though I like the way they look, but this morning I woke up really wanting to make some! They are cute and were fun to make–I imagine these would be a bit hit at a birthday party or bake sale!

To make these, prepare white cake batter. You can use a boxed mix, but I would suggest a heavier cake to keep the colors from mixing, like this Martha Stewart recipe listed below.
Prepare whichever recipe you are using as usual. Before pouring batter in a pan, divide into separate bowls. Use food coloring (I prefer gel) to achieve the colors you would like. Then spoon each color one by one into cupcake liners. Many people like to spoon one directly on top of the other to create layers, but I like mine a bit messier. Have fun with it!

Before they baked they looked like this:

After they cool I iced them with a heavy and rich cream cheese frosting.

My recipe suggestions:

Vanilla Cucpakes, from Martha Stewart

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ½ cup sugar
4 large eggs
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard two muffin tins with paper liners. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined. Beat in vanilla.
3. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture and sour cream in alternating batches, beginning and ending with the flour. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean and the top is springy to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely before spreading with frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

16. oz cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
2-4 cups confectioner’s sugar

Cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Add sugar and beat until you’ve reached the desired consistency. For a sweeter taste, add more sugar.

The above recipes should make and generously frost 24 cupcakes, 48 mini-cupcakes, or one cake.

Truffles in time for Valentine’s Day

I’m not the biggest fan of Valentine’s Day but I can’t resist a chance to make desserts!

Many thanks to Bakerella for the idea–she posted her red velvet cake balls a couple months ago and I’ve been dying to try them. The were super easy and look and taste great!

I used a strawberry boxed cake for one half and red velvet cake (made from scratch) for the other half. I mixed them up so now I have a real assortment and never know what flavor I’m biting into!  I put mine into heart-clad min-cupcake liners.  Now I just wish I had a heart-shaped box to put them in!

Red Velvet Cake Balls from Bakerella
1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake) I made half a red velvet cake from scratch and also half of a boxed strawberry cake
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
assortment of chocolate bars, to melt
wax paper

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. Should make 45-50.
4. Chill for several hours. You can speed this up by putting in the freezer for a few minutes.
5. Melt chocolate in microwave.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

I used white, dark, and milk chocolate and colored half the white chocolate pink. To decorate, put contrasting color chocolate in ziplock back; cut a tiny hole in one bottom corner and quickly drizzle over chocolates.

Broiled Tilapia Parmegiana

I loved this recipe so much that I actually made it two days in a row! It’s very easy and has a great flavor.

It might seem a bit complicated, but I had it memorized after making it only once.  You might want to just gather up your spices in a row–once you get to the dried basil measuring will be easy.

The recipe is slightly modified from this one at Allrecipes.com

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. celery salt
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 pounds tilapia fillets

Preheat your oven’s broiler. Grease a broiling pan or line pan with aluminum foil.

In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Season with dried basil, pepper, onion powder, celery salt, paprika, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes. Mix well and set aside.

Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to overcook the fish.

I ate mine with French-cut green beans seasoned with garlic and parmesan.

Make Your Box-Mix Better!

Okay, I know I am really early for Valentine’s Day, but I loved these liners and sprinkles and was really craving cupcakes last night. Plus, I have so many liners that I can make different cupcakes (I’m thinking red velvet) closer to the holiday.

My parents gave me the great book Hello, Cupcake for Christmas (buy it on Amazon here), and since I had a box of yellow cake mix sitting around I decided to their recipe for “Perfect Cake-Mix Cupcakes.” I always speak badly of boxed mixes, but this recipe really made them better!

Box-Mix Cupcakes
1 box (18.25 oz) cake mix (vanilla, devil’s food, or yellow)
1 cup buttermilk (in place of water called for on the box)
Vegetable oil (the amount on the box)
4 eggs (in place of the number called for on the box)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin cups with paper liners.

Follow the box instructions, putting all the ingredients in a large bowl and using the buttermilk in place of the water specified on the box, using the amount of vegetable oil that is called for, and adding the eggs. Beet with an electric mixer until moistened, about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to high and beat until thick, 2 minutes longer

Fill paper liners two-thirds full. Bake 12 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool completely before icing.

I used a canned Pillsbury icing. I couldn’t resist the pink colors and the sprinkles that came with it!

I made mini-cucpakes as well!