Chicken Tortilla Soup with Garden Tomatoes

You know those weeks where you are trying to pinch pennies so you put off a grocery store trip and get creative as you empty the pantry?  Last week, was one of those.  I ended the week with a Tex Mex inspired salad and felt like I just just forded the river with all my horses intact.  You know what I'm talking about.

Anyways, that got me in the mood for Tortilla soup, like the awesome soup I had at Red Rock Canyon Grill a while back. I know it is a sauna outside, but I just like soup all the time.  Besides, we have tomatoes galore from the garden and I knew I could add those in somehow.  Grocery time came and I got a chicken and made broth and shredded chicken.  I also found a recipe for fire-roasted tomatoes and did a lame copycat on the Foreman.  So prep done, I set about actually making the soup today. My ingredients, recipe, and process were pieced by this, this, and this.   That Two Sisters cookbook is a great place for healthy recipes . . . I own one compliments of my friend Heather.

yesterday's broth and tomatoes

The Recipe

Ingredients
4 TB of butter
1 very large white onion
8 cloves of garlic chopped
1 bell pepper (I used one half red and one half green-it's what I had)
1 jar of Shawn's jalapenos rinsed without the juice (about 1 cup)
16 small corn tortillas
8 cups of chicken broth (about, I used mine with the fat on top too)
4 cups worth of roasted tomatoes and juice (they shrink on the grill, I used about 10 medium garden tomatoes)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red cayenne pepper
1 tsp coarse Mediterranean sea salt
1 bag frozen corn (1 lb)
Shredded chicken, about 1 cup or more
Cilantro- just a few sprigs
A lime
Optional toppings:  cheese, black olives, sour cream, jalepenos, avocados, and salsa

1.  With the pot on high heat, toss in butter, coarsely chopped onion, bell pepper, garlic, tortillas, jalepenos, cumin, cayenne, and salt.  Toss for a few minutes.

My helper- Dom

Sol:  Mom, that's a good smell!
(It is a really good smell.)

2.  Add in chicken broth, roasted tomatoes and juice.  Bring to boil.

3.  Remove soup from heat, process the soup(HOT!) in a blender or food processor. Put soup back into pan.

4.  Put soup over medium heat, add corn and chicken, chopped cilantro, and a few squeezes of lime juice.

Dom: What's that?
Sol:  Just a bunch of killed chickens.
Mom:  . . . . 

Once it is heated through, serve with desired toppings.

Dom and I made this for a late lunch and the boys liked it, but they called it spicy.  It had a little more heat than I intended, but I liked it that way.  Tone it down with less or no jalepenos and less cumin and pepper.  If you like it thicker, add more tortillas.  We are serving it with cornbread for dinner.

(I will insert pretty picture of it all garnished to serve here after dinner.)

Happy Sunday!  

Recently

We went to "Ratatouille" at my Grandma's retirement home.  They have a pretty great movie theatre.
I want to retire there.  Tomorrow.

This little guy has found his voice.
We had to exit the theater and get our puzzle on while we waited.

born to read - per her request

I made onesie graphics/drawings for my supervisor's grand baby.
She's a hippie type with the last name 'Awe' hence the slogan/peace sign.  

My dad took the boys to the train museum.
They saw the train my dad drew 30 years ago and hung in my home growing up.

I went out dancing for a night with these girls.
My hair is FINALLY long enough for a side braid, which lasted until I got sweaty from dancing.

Themed footwear here.

Dom gave birth to a baby monkey after about
3 hours of maternity.

Sol started First Grade and I picked the world's worst place for a back to school photo.  

Dom met his super awesome PreK teacher.  He starts tomorrow.

Not to be out-shined by his brothers with their big changes, Wilson had his first food this week.
Mashed bananas.  He has now had it 3 times and we are actually getting a bit to his tummy now.  

He also has started waving and sitting up. 

What I Wore Sunday

Linking up with Plane Pretty and Fine Linen and Purple

Frizzy hair edition.
Dress:  Francesca's, Shoes: Target, Bracelet:  Gift  Jean Jacket: Old Navy
Cheesy pose:  You can't buy that kind of special

My extended family came to church today spontaneously coordinating, Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister and her family and mine.  I tried to get some photos but lame camera means mostly fuzzy ones.

They took some too, so maybe I will get them up later.  Here's what I did get

My niece and my little man.

Dom and Sol

Wilson and my mom

They brought Rock Band for pre-lunch entertainment.

Happy Sunday!  

My Backyard Farm

When it comes to things I love about my house, ranking in at numero uno is my backyard.  I'm not typically an outdoorsy person, but my kids are, and having a large fenced in space with treehouse, grass, and garden for them to roam is ideal.

The best is the garden in the summer.  It is really Shawn's garden, I just do the occasional weed and I love to pick the tomatoes when they ripen.

Shawn with his delicious hobby.

So today, after Shawn brought in the squash and zucchini, the kids and I grabbed a basket (I thought that was more whimsical than the usual bowl) and went hunting.

Solly loved time in 'the maze'.  Dommy did the majority of the spotting and picking.  A great lesson in self sufficiency and the gift in nature.  It seems like they might understand the Gospels better with just a little understanding of growing food.

Shawn already got a ton of cucumbers and made pickles. 

Using our garden potatoes, squash, basil, and some goat cheese I got on sale, I have plans to make this amazing looking dish.  I'll let you know if it is as great as I think it will be.

Days like today, I feel like the farm girl I unrealistically think I would want to be, if I didn't have an affinity for laziness and high heels.

What We're Reading

Linking up with Housewifespice

I am reading:

Both are for book clubs.

The Privilege of Being a Woman is starting out a little slow for a girl who doesn't really feel that oppressed as a woman.  The first few chapters set the groundwork for what may be an interesting read, but I hope it is also a moving and informative read.  I'm not just gaining tons of useful information through the beginning, but I feel it will get there.  The beginning lays out all the times women have been degraded and put second to men, I think to create a little empathy for a misguided feminist movement, but I feel it lingers on it too much.  But in different hands, this would be informative and moving, I would think.

I Capture the Castle is one I have read before - 2 times - so I am really just re-skimming it to freshen up for book club.  The fact that I have read it 2 times puts it in a category with 3 other books:  The Giver, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Harry, the Dirty Dog.  (Okay, there were only 2 legit books, I've read a handful of children's books over and over again.)  What I'm saying is, this is a good book.  It is NOT a Hunger Games can't stop turning pages due to suspense type book.  It is more of a quirky, interesting, romantically located, well written, and believable book.  So go out and enjoy it!

Shawn is reading:

He loves the Ender's Game books and wants me to read them too.  Should I?  Anyone?

Sol is reading:
A bunch of Dear Dragon books he checked out at the library.

I think they are stupid, and well below his reading level, but he likes them.  They are also great books for sight word recognition, as they repeat lots of words like "come" and "hear".  As a reading teacher, I can say they are not great phonics books.

Dom just read:

Grandma read it to him.  Then, he saw a web in his firetruck toy in the backyard and said, "Look, mom, a web, a beautiful web."  Eric Carle is my hero, he and Mr. Rogers know where it's at.
I am also reading him a bunch of boring easy-readers and paraphrasing non-fiction books about flight, transportation, and planes to him.  I'm yawning, he's all over it.

Wilson just enjoyed looking at a board book version of this:

His newborn tastes are impeccable.  This book is hilarious.  And bright, and fun to read.  And rhyming, and super.  Which is why Sol just had to pick it up and read it to him.  It is riddled with gems like, "Hello Jack, Hello Jake, Shake hands, Shake hands, Shake, Shake Shake."

Go check out the others - get inspired to read for you and read to your kids, so so important.

Alaska, Emergency Room, and other fun

Shawn went to Alaska for an impromptu work trip last week from Sunday to Wednesday.  I am proud of my big girl self for only spending one night at my sister's and trying to 'tough it out' here at home at nights.

jealous?  I was. 

 

Wednesday night, we went swimming at a pool at Nana's neighbor's house.  It was too cold for me to get in, but some little ones had a great time.

Beautiful pool!

Dominic, before the impending doom soon to befall him

After our swim, Dom convinced Nana that he needed to spend the night there.  I proceeded to undress him and help him into PJs when Nana noticed a bug bite on his upper thigh.  It was red in the middle, swollen, and red around it for a good 3 inches.  Dominic said a spider bit him, but we got in the phone to page the doctor.  I've done that a thousand times for all sorts of stuff, but this return time was the fastest I've ever had.  After further examination and describing it to him, the Dr. said, "I'm worried it's mrsa, take him in now, you don't want to wait."

Shawn and I packed up the kids.  Dom was devastated that his newly negotiated sleepover was to be replaced with the ER and possible shots.  Nana was able to offer the consolation of a new toy she had bought for him - a plane from the movie Planes that is coming out.  (Get excited mothers of boys everywhere.)

Shawn took the baby, Sol, and I home.  I proceeded to google 'mrsa' for the next long 2 hours while a curious 6 year old kept asking, "What's mrsa?" to which I replied, "Go to bed."

Shawn called and it was mrsa.  He itched a mosquito bite and it got infected.  They sedated him to drain it.  Even sedated with localized pain meds, Dom apparently teared up and whimpered as they dug out the wound.  They also packed it, which is filling the hole with something gauzy.

He came slowly out of sedation singing, and thought his ER bed was a boat.  The doctors were cracking up at him, and said that Shawn should be recording.  If Shawn was the owner of a smart phone, you can bet he'd have been a great "David after Dentist" type video.

They sent him home with pain meds, antibiotics, and the aftermath of the sedation.  The poor kid was just a mess when he got home.  I asked if he sang at the doctor's, and he said, "Only when I was on the boat."  Then he got up to potty and toppled over.  He looked down at his legs and cried, "Why are there 2 band aids?"  (One they gave him while he was sedated.)

He woke up crying in the night, we gave him some pain meds, and he fell back asleep.  He woke up limping in the morning but otherwise normal.  Our follow-up appointment today was okay, but we aren't done with it yet, we go in again Monday.


I made some sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies to take to my Aunt Anne's party for the 4th.

Solly and Dad at the party.  Poor infected Dom went to Nana's instead.

Linking up with Clan Donaldson:

Freedom:  having children-as many as we like-and bringing them up in the faith

After Anne's, we went to Nana's for a fireworks show.

at Nana's - Sol's new t-shirts fit me too, so I'm sporting his more Americana print

When Sol saw the cookies I made for the 4th he read them and said, "America!  I love America!"  

So do I.