VJ RECIPES

[Marilyn. 340]

I made this soup last week... it was soooo yummy

Chicken Tortilla Soup

INGREDIENTS:

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro ( I used about 1 tbsp dried cilantro)

1 onion, chopped

1 (29 ounce) can diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon chili powder

3 bay leaves

6 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup uncooked rice

1 can corn, drained

1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

3 or 4 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked

4 (6 inch) corn tortillas, baked and cut into strips

Grated cheese, optional

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large stock pot heat oil. Add garlic, cilantro and onion. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Stir in tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add cumin, chili powder, bay leaves and chicken stock. Return to a boil, reduce heat to medium and add salt, cayenne pepper, rice and corn. Simmer for 30 minutes remove bay leaves and stir in chicken. Heat through and serve with strips of the corn tortillas and grated cheese if you like.

* I halved this recipe and it made plenty for hubby and I with some leftovers... the orignal recipe said too chop up the tortillas and saute them with the onions... I did chop up one with the onions but that with the rice made it a little thick....

Edited March 14, 2006 by MarilynP

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Mmmmmm tortilla soup is my favorite This was one of the first things I ever cooked for my husband, and he licked the pot clean.

Your recipe looks very authentic, Marilyn ! Here in San Antonio, we make it in a similar way. We'll also chop up one bell pepper and a serrano pepper or two (depending on how much heat we want) to saute along with the onions. I usually use fresh tomatoes, but canned diced ones work very well... especially the ones with the green chiles already mixed in. If you have access to decent ready-made tortilla chips (NOT the guero Tostitos type) they work fine when you're in a hurry and don't feel like frying them up. You can break some up to cook in the broth, then garnish with a few extra pieces when serving.

Chunks of calabaza squash are verrrry good in this soup.... also a squeeze of lime if you have one in the fridge.... and pleeeeeease don't forget the fresh avocado slices on top ! Yum yum

-MK

[Marilyn. 340]

not a big fan of avocados.... the bell pepper thing sounds good and the lime....

I don't like things to spicy but that recipe had just enough kick for me

We had bought hubby some Campbells mexican toritilla chicken soup in the bowl thingies and hubby liked it and asked me to find a recipe.... I found that one on allrecipes.com but I tweaked the recipe a bit

[Marilyn. 340]

I made this last night... It was really yummy... hubby gave it a A+

Tamale Pie

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 small onion chopped (optional)

1/2 green or red bell pepper, chopped

1 can (11 1/4 oz.) Campbell's® Condensed Fiesta Chili Beef Soup *

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup Pace® Chunky Salsa

1/2 cup frozen whole kernel corn **

1 pkg. (8 1/2 oz.) corn muffin mix

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 400°F.

COOK beef in skillet until browned. Pour off fat. Add onion and bell pepper and saute till vegies or soft.

ADD soup, water, salsa and corn. Spoon beef mixture into 2-qt. shallow baking dish.

PREPARE corn muffin mix according to package directions. Pour over beef mixture.

Bake 20 min. or until golden.

* I couldn't find Fiesta Chili soup at my grocery store... so I just bought a can of condensed vegetable beef, soup and then I added some chili powder and paprika to give it some kick...

** I used frozen mixed vegies

[Marilyn. 340]

I have some carrot cake baking as we speak and I am going to ice it with cream cheese icing and in a little bit I am going to go and make homemade perogies... anybody want to come for dinner?

Aloha Carrot Cake

3 medium carrots, shredded

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/4 tsp mace (I used allspice)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups white flour

8 oz. (1 cup) crushed pineapple, undrained

Mix first 9 ingredients together. Add flour and the pineapple; mix well. Turn into a gresed 9x9 inch cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (3oz) package cream cheese, softened

2 to 3 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cups icing sugar

1/4 tsp mace

Mix ingredients together; spread over cake when cool.

[Marilyn. 340]

**************************************************************

Perogies

Dough: Mix 1 cup flour, 1/2 small egg and about 3 1/2 tablespoons margarine together with a pastry blender. Then add 1 1/2 teaspoons sour cream and 3 1/2 tablespoons water. Knead until well blended. Let dough rest about 30 minutes.

Filling: Boil and mash 5 medium - large potatoes and mix with 3 1/2 tbsp cheddar cheese, shredded, 1 onion, chopped fine and salt and pepper to taste. Leave to cool.

Roll out dough on a floured surface very thin. Cut out round shapes and fill with @5ml of filling, fold in half and pinched closed. Crop perogies 4 or 5 at a time into a pot of boiling salted and oiled water. Stir carefully. when water boils again and they rise to the top (3 to 5 minutes) they are done. Remove and drain. Drop them into melted margarine, flip to thoroughly coat. Keep perogies warm in oven. Serve with sour cream.

* some people like filling these with cottage cheese

[Marilyn. 340]

I have some carrot cake baking as we speak and I am going to ice it with cream cheese icing and in a little bit I am going to go and make homemade perogies... anybody want to come for dinner?

Aloha Carrot Cake

3 medium carrots, shredded

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/4 tsp mace (I used allspice)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups white flour

8 oz. (1 cup) crushed pineapple, undrained

Mix first 9 ingredients together. Add flour and the pineapple; mix well. Turn into a gresed 9x9 inch cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (3oz) package cream cheese, softened

2 to 3 tsp lemon juice

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

1/4 tsp mace

Mix ingredients together; spread over cake when cool.

that is supposed to be 1 1/2 cups icing sugar not 1/2 cup

[Jasman0717 9]

[Marilyn. 340]

Adel's No-Bake Cheesecake

1/2 cup margarine, melted

2 1/4 cups graham crumbs

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 envelope Dream Whip (follow directions)

1 - 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup icing/powdered sugar

1 can pie filling (ED Smith) - you can use any flavour but Strawberry/Rhubarb is good

Mix margarine, brown sugar and and graham crumbs together. Press into a 8" by 8" pan and refrigerate.

Prepare Dream Whip as the directions say on the envelope. Add the softened cream cheese, vanilla and icing sugar and beat until fluffy. Spread over refrigerated crust and put back in the fridge until set, @ 4 hours. Then add pie filling on top and let set in the fridge until time to serve.

this is really yummy!!!

[pax 0]

Marilyn, how do you think that chicken tortilla soup would do in a slow cooker for, say, the better part of a day?

[Marilyn. 340]

Marilyn, how do you think that chicken tortilla soup would do in a slow cooker for, say, the better part of a day?

that should be fine but I would saute the onion, garlic and cilantro (if you are using fresh cilantro) before adding it to the slow cooker ... the soup always tastes better the next day anyways...

the first time I made this soup I made my own chicken broth... I just cooked the chicken breast in some water with some spices, garlic powder, salt and pepper etc... after the chicken was cooked I just chopped up the chicken and saved the broth for the soup... it was yummy...

I just made it again last week and I used the canned broth... it didn't taste quite the same but it was still good.... I prefer the homemade broth though....

for the tortillas, what I found worked best was to cup the tortillas into strips first and then lightly spray or grease a baking sheet and place the strips on the sheet and then bake them until crisp....

Edited April 4, 2006 by MarilynP

[pax 0]

Sounds delish, Marilyn; I think I'll try it.

I made my own pico de gallo for the first time the other day. Here's what I used:

--1 1/4 cups of diced vine-ripened tomatoes (I did not peel them, though I did remove the seeds)

--2 tbsp of diced jalapenos (about double the original recipe, and next time I'm going to use habaneros or serranos to up the heat)

--3 cloves minced garlic, fresh

--About 4 white pearl onions, chopped

--1 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro

--1 tbsp lemon juice

--1 tbsp lime juice

--A dusting of salt, black pepper, and chili powder

Combine all ingredients and mix thorougly. Boom--pico with no jar taste.

[Marilyn. 340]

for the tortilla soup, if you like it spicy you can use the canned tomatoes with the chilies in it....

[Ladylethal 12]

Ok, I´ve spent the last 30 min or so adding a few of the recipes to my cookbook (manually, as I like it this way, I loose recipes I print ). Now I am ready to add my own.

Piamontese Rice

- 3 cups of rice (washed to get a bit of starch out, and drained).

- 1 liter beef broth (when without I use knorr cubes and microwave them with one liter of water till the cubes melt away).

- 1 can of sliced mushrooms (the ones that comes with the water).

- 1 cup dry white wine (remember, you cook with the whine you drink ).

- 1 large fine chopped onion (I usually pass my onions in the grater, so they´re really really chopped, and it goes faster than chopping).

- 2 cloves of garlic fine chopped, or squeezed through the garlic squeezer.

- 200 g of margerine (around 2 tablespoons).

- grated parmesan cheese (to taste, I use about a cup).

- 1 can sour cream.

- salt and pepper to taste.

In big pot, brown the garlic and onion with half of the margerine, add the rice and stir until rice starts stickying to the pan. Add the wine, the water of the mushroom can, and cook in low heat till it dries. Add the beef broth until it covers the rice, season with salt and pepper and cook in low heat until rice is cooked. Add the mushrooms, the rest of the butter, the sour cream and the cheese. Turn the stove off and stir.

This dish is served hot (or it could get sticky and gooey) and goes marvelous with sirloin steaks fried in butter.

Serve a good white wine and voilá. Yummy, and makes for a fancy dinner.

[Ladylethal 12]

I tried editing this post but couldn´t. Just wanted to add some tips.

TIPS: - Do NOT overcook the rice, or it will be gooey, rice is supposed to al dente (if you use italian arboreo rice you´ll get better results, although it will be a bit more costy).

- Do NOT exagerate on the parmesan, or the taste will be too strong in the rice.