Recipe- Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

I haven't posted a recipe in a long time, but I thought I would share an amazingly easy recipe that is souper good! I love Chicken Tortilla Soup, and I loved how all of them taste a little different. I have made this soup for many people and each of them have liked it. I hope you do too!

What you will need:

2 to 3 frozen chicken breasts
1 can of black beans
1 can of rotel or diced tomatoes with green chilis
1/2 onion chopped
1 cup corn
2 cups of water
1 cube of chicken bullion
1 tsp chili powder( or I used Mexican seasoning)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic salt

Topping choices:

Shredded cheese
Sour cream
Chopped green onions
Cilantro
Fried tortilla strips

Directions:

Add all items to the crock pot, make sure to use a crockpot bag for easy cleanup. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. You might have to take the chicken out and shred it then add it back to the soup. Then if you want take corn tortillas and cut them into small strips and fry them in a little bit of hot oil until lightly brown. Drain the grease off and cool them down then put them on top of the hot soup, chow down.

P.S. I am accomplishing an adventure this week so stay tuned. Click here to see my list of adventures and see if you can guess which one I will be accomplishing this week! 

meatloaf, mac-n-cheese, and the Music Man

Okay so my weekend was great! I finally made 2 recipes that I have been storing and saving for. I also got to check out the local Family video in town and rented The Music Man.

The Meatloaf - I have never liked meatloaf. My husband loves it. One night at Bible study a friend had made barbecue meatloaf and I didn't want to appear rude so I tried it and it wasn't bad. You see I don't like the taste of  ground meat. I don't like meaty burgers that aren't seasoned well, and I have never liked meatloaf, because it taste like meat with ketchup on it. I definitely don't like ketchup on my meat. Anytime John wants meatloaf we would go to a buffet where he could eat meatloaf and I could eat something else. When we lived on Blackwelder Ave. we had cable tv and my favorite channel was the Food Network.  One day I saw the Neelys making a BBQ Turkey Meatloaf and it sounded like something I could try. After all if the meatloaf tasted like barbecue sauce then I might be able to stomach it. The same show they made their mac-n-cheese. I definitely could get into that. The problem with many chef recipes are that they A require many ingredients that are area specific, meaning that they are hard to find in good fresh quantities everywhere else. Or B are very time consuming and require many steps that average cooks don't have time or effort for. This was definitely the case with this meatloaf recipe. First it required their seasoning and their BBQ sauce. I could have used other barbecue sauce and seasoning but it's best to do it their way first and then adapt later. We had to buy spices we haven't had in the spice rack for awhile. Like dry mustard and paprika, Crab Boil seasoning? We don't eat crabs here so I have never had that in the house. After cooking the barbecue sauce for an hour and 15 minutes I realized that I didn't have any paprika. So I sent my hubby on an errand to get paprika and ice cream. We would definitely need the ice cram to tide us over till the meatloaf was ready. After all the work to make the barbecue sauce and the barbecue seasoning, then assemble the meatloaf. I was exhausted, but it was a very tasty meatloaf  with strong barbecue flavor and although it wouldn't be my first choice to eat, I would be able to make it again and have it once a year or so. The only thing I would add is that it is very hard to tell if the meatloaf was done and since I had never made meatloaf before I would like to know what the internal temperature is supposed to be. But it was done in the amount of time they gave us.

The Mac-N-Cheese - Now this macaroni-n-cheese recipe was much easier to make. I knew that cooked bacon was going to be on top so I made bacon for breakfast the morning before and saved 5 pieces to crumble later. The hardest part about making this recipe was making the Roux. I have never been really good at making roux. I am so afraid of burning the flour that I never seem to cook it long enough. It also isn't really clear on how thick the cheese sauce should get before you pour it onto the noodles. So I think my cheese sauce was a little too thick. But ultimately I think it turned out really well. It was very tasty. John has never liked mac-n-cheese and I was sort of hoping that I could make a mac-n-cheese that he would like, but no dice. I will not give up my quest to find that perfect mac-n-cheese that my whole family will eat. All in all these recipes were good, but I don't know if they were worth the effort. But I do not regret making them. I want to continue to make new recipes to increase my cooking skill and keep my repertoire open to new things. Do you have a favorite recipe? 

The Music Man - This was a wonderful musical classic made with the best of them.
Robert Preston and Meredith Wilson did a fantastic job of portraying the characters. I did find most of the music to be odd though. Shaboopy I think is the name of one song and I was cracking up because it was talking about finding a girl that wasn't a prude or a hussy. But the reason I was laughing was every time they said Shaboopy I heard She's Poopy. She's Poopy. I  don't know what it really means. But I thought it was funny, as my daughter runs around the room, I am asking myself, Is she poopy? I would definitely watch it again. 

100 new recipies!

Okay so part of my Adventure list is to try to make 100 different recipies from around the world. I love to cook, but besides the normal hamburger helper, lasagna, chicken enchiladas, and tacos. I don't try many new things. This is a new way to get out of my comfort zone and become a better person. If you have a recipe from a country that I may not have on my list, or if you know a better recipe, please comment. I can't wait to see how this goes.

1.France
2.Slovenia
3.Czech (Jennie & Dan)
4.Germany (Roladen)
5.Columbia (Jennie & Dan)
6.Cuba
7.Jamaica
8.China
9.Japan
10.Tunisia

11.Italy
12.Spain
13.Australia
14.Argentina
15.Belize
16.Albania
17.Belgium
18.Chile
19.Denmark
20.Fiji
21.Greece
22.Guatemala
23.Dominican Republic
24.Hungary
25.Iceland
26.Ireland
27.Matagascar
28.Libia
29.Mexico
30.Morocco
31.New Zealand
32.Netherlands
33.Norway
34.Philippians
35.Panama
36.Peru
37.Romania
38.Russia
39.Sweden
40.Slovakia
41.Saudi Arabia
42.Scotland
43.South Africa
44.Serbia
45.Samoa
46.Turkey
47.Palau

48.Sri Lanka
49.Tanzania
50.Taiwan
51.Uganda
52.Uruguay
53.Vietnam
54.Ukraine
55.Syria
56.Switzerland
57.Venezuela
58.Wales
59.Croatia
60.Antigua
61.Bangladesh
62.Canada
63.Congo
64.North Korea
65.South Korea
66.Kenya
67.Honduras
68.Haiti
69.Finland
70.England
71.Egypt
72.El Salvador
73.Ecuador
74.Ethiopia
75.Israel (Shakshuka)
76.Iraq
77.Iran (Mirza Ghassemi)
78.India
79.Indonesia
80.Luxembourg
81.Grenada
82.Monoco
83.Malta
84.Malaysia
85.Poland
86.Portugal
87.Pakistan
88.Senegal
89.Soloman Islands
90.Cape Verde
91.Chad
92.Comoros
93.Cyprus (Kat)
94.Yemen
95.Zaire
96.Zimbabwe
97.Thailand
98.Tibet
99.Seychelles
100.Vatican City

I will need so much help with these!