Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken Tortilla Soup
Originally found at the Skinny Gourmet

Makes 14 servings. Freezes well.

1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced small
1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 1/2 pounds chicken*
2 large carrots, peeled
1 cup diced green bell peppers
oil as needed to prevent sticking
3-4 cloves fresh garlic, chopped finely
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 can regular diced tomatoes
2 cups of Chicken Broth
1/4 cup dried quinoa (or brown rice)
1 small can mild green chilies
2 tsp ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2-3 tablespoons chili powder
1 can sweet corn

Cut the chicken into rough dice no larger than 1/2 inch. Add oil to a large capacity pot and heat over medium high flame. Add diced onion, carrots, red pepper flakes, and chicken. Allow chicken to sear. When chicken is partially opaque, add peppers. Rest to allow sear on peppers before stirring.

Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Add garlic. Cook until fragrant, stirring. Do not allow garlic to burn: reduce heat if necessary.

When garlic is fragrant and golden but not burned, add: both cans of diced tomatoes, chicken broth, quinoa, can of green chilies, corn, cumin, oregano, cloves, chili powder and salt.

Heat over medium for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through, the quinoa is translucent, and the vegetables are cooked to al dente.

Garnish with tortilla strips.

My Notes:

*Can be omitted (substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth if you want a pareve recipe). I used pre-cooked, shredded chicken that was leftover in my freezer.

Original recipes calls for addition of zucchini, lemon juice, cilantro, and jalapenos (both chipotles and fresh jalapenos). If you're interested in any of that, see the original recipe. I didn't have any of that on hand (well, I had chipotles, but it only called for a small portion and I didn't want to open a full can just for 1 tsp of it).

My soup is also much thicker than that of the original recipe, as it called for more chicken broth than would fit in my pan. However, I recuperated the loss of some of it because I used a can of whole tomatoes (28 oz), rather than a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes (which I normally have on hand, but ran out of).

I made tortilla strips by cutting up some corn tortillas, spraying them with a bit of cooking spray, and putting them under the broiler for a few minutes.

Overall, I love how this soup smells, and the texture of it. It's not quite what I was expecting, but it's still very good.

Parmesan Risotto

Parmesan Risotto
Adapted from 1001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes

Oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup arborio rice
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper, to taste.

Heat a small amount of oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. add onion and saute 1-2 minutes. Add rice and broth and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until liquid is absorbed, 20-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and slowly stir in cheese. Season to taste.

My Notes:

I was skeptical at this recipe, because I know risotto is traditionally made by sauteing the rice and then slowly adding the liquid to get a nice creamy texture. But this came out very creamy. I took off the cover about 20 minutes in and let some of the liquid burn off, since my pots don't allow much liquid to escape.

The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of dry white wine with 2 1/2 cups of broth, but I didn't have any white wine in the house (I don't drink it, only blushes and fruit wines), so I omitted it. It turned out just fine. Original recipe also calls for blue cheese, but again, don't like it, so I omitted it.

Overall, though, I think my first risotto dish was a marvelous success. I feel like experimenting now.

Veggies and Dumplings

*Note: Image above is an attempt at veggie pot pies, using the biscuit dough as a pie crust rather than as dumplings. I recommend not doing this, or adding in more liquid, as they were very dry.

Veggies and Dumplings
Semi-original recipe

1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
2 cups chopped potatoes
1 can corn
4 cups vegetable broth
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup water
2 cups bisquick
2/3 cup milk

Combine first 5 ingredients in a wide-brimmed saucepan and heat to boiling. Allow to cook until vegetables are mostly tender, adding more water if necessary. In a small glass, combine water and flour until there are no lumps and add to the soup mixture. In a small bowl, combine bisquick and milk, then drop dumplings of desired size on the soup mixture. Cook on low heat, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes, until dumplings are cooked through.

My Notes:

This is my kosher solution to Chicken and Dumplings. My sister threw a fit that there wasn't any meat in it, so I might try making pareve dumplings--I've always made it with bisquick, and I'm fairly certain that's OU-Dairy, so it would still be dairy even if I used a pareve soy milk (as an aside, I just realized that my soy milk is OU-Dairy as well, which I think is weird considering it's supposed to be an alternative for people who can't have dairy for one reason or another).

You can add whatever vegetables you want. My mom used to get a bag of mixed vegetables in the freezer aisle and throw those in, but I don't like peas, or green beans, so I came up with this mixture. It's not quite as healthy (not as green), but it suits my tastes just fine.

Stuffed French Toast

Stuffed French Toast
Semi-original recipe

2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
8 slices bread
4 oz (half-block) cream cheese
4 Tbsp strawberry preserves*

Whisk together the eggs, milk, and cinnamon. Spread 1 oz of cream cheese on each 4 slices of bread, and spread 1 Tbsp of preserves on the other 4 slices of bread. Make a sandwich using one cream cheese slice and one preserves slice, then coat in the egg-milk mixture. Put on a griddle on med-high heat (or 350 degrees, if you have an electric skillet) and cook until browned on each side (3-4 minutes per side). Serve with syrup, if desired.

My Notes:

*There are a variety of variations on this. You can used flavored cream cheese, or jam or jelly, of any flavor you desire.

My mom's friend made this for me ages ago, though she used strawberry cream cheese instead of regular. The older sister loved this, but the baby hated it. Go figure. I wasn't feeling great, so I didn't try it, but I do like it with the strawberry cream cheese.

Pizza!

Pizza!
Modified from 1001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes

Up to 3 cups all purpose flour, divided
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 package fast-rising yeast (2 1/2 tsp if you are not using packets)
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water (not boiling--it will kill the yeast)
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 Tbsp italian seasoning
freshly grated mozzarella
Additional toppings, as desired

Combine water, sugar, and yeast in a small bowl. Stir to break up the yeast and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Combine cornmeal and 1/2 flour to a medium bowl. Add yeast mixture and stir until incorporated. Continue adding flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough is sticky, but no longer sticks to the side of the bowl. Turn out and knead on a floured or oiled surface until smooth and elastic. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.

In a separate bowl, combine tomatoes and italian seasoning. Roll out dough on pan to desired thickness, then spoon enough sauce to cover. Finish with mozzarella cheese (and other desired toppings). Bake at 400 degrees until crust is browned and cheese is bubbly, 15-20 minutes.

Variations:
- Instead of sauce, use olive oil and top with cheese, tomatoes, and spinach. Add garlic if desired. Or go for the Margarita style and use basil in place of spinach.
- Use alfredo sauce in place of tomatoes and add green vegetables for contrast.
- Use goat cheese spread out in place of tomatoes, mixed with some italian herbs, then top with thick slices of tomatoes. Allow tomatoes to dehydrate slightly.
- Use pesto in place of sauce, and top with cheese and other desired toppings. Spinach and tomatoes are a good start.

My Notes:

I admit it, my favorite pizzas are totally non-kosher. I like white pizzas with chicken, and I like sausage pizzas. So finding a kosher pizza that I like is a huge challenge. I like this one because it's nice and basic. The fire-roasted tomatoes give some nice flavor to the sauce, and the addition of cornmeal to the dough gives it a nice crust. Using freshly grated mozzarella also makes such a huge difference. I kind of want to try this with some different cheeses, just to see how it would taste. This recipe is definitely a keeper, though.

Edit (6/13/13): I've changed up the recipe a bit to better reflect my pizza doughs. It's much more soft, and I can actually get it to rise now, so overall, I think it's a winner. I've also added some additional variations on toppings which I've found to enjoy over the past few years.