Tag Archives: soup

Hard Cider White Chicken Chili

17 Feb

Do you ever start cooking, but you don’t really have a plan? I knew I wanted to make chili, but not much beyond that. I started with onions and chicken simmering in olive oil, added some Angry Orchard hard cider and a jar of salsa verde, threw in pinto beans and let it simmer. I’m really happy with how it turned out. The sweetness of the cider pairs nicely with the tangy salsa. This recipe is a winner. We served it with loaded baked potatoes, and more hard cider, of course.

chiliIngredients

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (chopped roughly in 2-3 inch pieces)

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup hard cider

2 cans of pinto beans (total of 16 ounces)

1 jar of salsa verde (8-10 ounces)

2 cups of water

Toppings: shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream for a garnish

Directions:

In a large saucepan heat olive oil. Add onion and chicken. Simmer about 3 minutes and add hard cider. Simmer another 5 minutes until chicken cooked thoroughly. Add remaining ingredients and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes.

Top chili with shredded cheese and sour cream. We served it with baked potatoes loaded with more cheese, sour cream, and bacon.

I will make this again, and next time I’m tempted to put bacon in the soup. Yes, that will take this great chili over the top.

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Slow Cooker Wild Rice Chicken Soup

2 Nov

Wild rice soup is one of my favorite fall meals. It’s the quintessential Minnesota soup—wild rice is very abundant in Minnesota—and I would even go so far as to name it the Minnesota State Soup.

Don’t you love it?

It’s so creamy, hearty, and fragrant. I make a decent wild rice soup from scratch when I have the time, but I haven’t had a lot of free time lately. I’m back to working full-time out of the home and I live by my slow cooker for easy meals. I finally devised a pretty good wild rice chicken soup for the slow cooker. It was easy and very flavorful. We devoured it. I hope you like it too!

Slow Cooker Wild Rice Chicken Soup

Slow Cooker Wild Rice Chicken Soup

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup dry wild rice

- 1 cup chopped onion

- 1 cup sliced or chopped carrots

- 1/2 tsp black pepper

- 4 cups chicken broth

- 1 cup whole milk

- 1 12.5 oz can of chopped chicken (Kirkland brand from Costco is pretty good)

- 1/4 cup flour

- 1 cup frozen peas

Directions:

- In a large slow cooker, add the wild rice, onion, carrots, pepper, and chicken broth. Stir and cook on LOW for 9 hours.

- After 9 hours, stir in the milk, chicken, flour, and frozen peas. Turn the heat to HIGH and cook for another 10-20 minutes. It’s ready to serve and enjoy!

A couple notes:

- I used baby carrots and canned chopped chicken to save time, but you could easily use fresh carrots and leftover roasted chicken.

- I’m not sure the peas were necessary. I think I will omit them next time.

- Next time I plan to garnish with slivered almonds, or maybe popcorn, just to live on the edge.

If you make it, let me know how it turns out  for you and if you add any of your twists to improve it.

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Slow Cooker Potato Soup – Where’s The Beef?

27 Mar

My friend, Amber, a rock star working mom of three boys, helps me find recipes to feature on my blog. She found a great blog,  Vegetarian Slow Cooker, with a helpful rating system to share what worked and what needs some tweaking.

Thinking about vegetarian food reminds me that way back in the day I was vegetarian. From age eleven to 21 I did not eat red meat and I only ate chicken or turkey every once in a while to be adaptable while living and traveling abroad. I happily enjoyed meatless meals until I lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1996. I was teaching English abroad and did my very best to avoid eating beef. It really wasn’t an option. At a friend’s barbecue I was presented with a sausage and told with a wink that it was a plant. From that point on I ate meat every once in a while and enjoyed empanadas and steak. Still, I refused to eat morcilla, blood sausage. Um … no. Just, no.

Slow Cooker Potato Soup

Ingredients:

- 5 pounds potatoes, peeled, cut into large chunks

- 1 large yellow onion, diced

- 4 cloves garlic, minced

- 1-2 teaspoons seasoned salt

- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

- 8 C vegetable stock

- 16 oz cream cheese

- For the garnish: shredded sharp cheddar cheese, chives or green onions, faux bacon bits (optional)

Add all ingredients into the slow cooker, minus the cream cheese and garnish. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4 hours. At the end of the cooking time, the potatoes should be fork-tender. Cut up the cream cheese into blocks and blend. You can use an immersion blender or blend the soup in a cuisinart or blender.  Top the soup with the garnish and enjoy!

I plan on making this soup this week and I’m going to see if the recipe is forgiving enough to cook on low for 9-10 hours, long enough for a working out of the home day. I’m looking forward to trying this. Thanks, Amber!

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Hot Soup Makes Me Sleepy – Navy Bean Soup!

4 Jan

My husband worked with a guy that nearly fell asleep at a staff meeting. Boss said, “Hey, Guy, are we keeping you awake?”  Guy said, “Oh, I had soup for lunch. Hot soup makes me sleepy.”  I love that story. 

Anyhoo, we love soup at our house, especially on bitterly cold, snowy Minnesota nights.  I am so happy we came home to hot soup ready to eat.

Here’s our recipe for navy bean soup.  This is an economical way to feed our family of four plus leftovers.

 2 pounds Smoked Turkey Keilbasa sausage sliced (or I also use cubed turkey ham)

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup  onion chopped

1 cup celery chopped

1 clove minced garlic

Dried navy beans 1 pound bag

1 T dried thyme

1/4  tsp black pepper

3 cups water

3 cups chicken broth

Put every thing in the crock pot.  Cook on low for 10 hours. 

A couple notes. I made this before work and I was in a hurry (per usual), so I used baby carrots instead of chopped, frozen diced onions instead of chopping a fresh onion, and I omited the celery because the celery did not make it into my grocery cart. Oops! It was still delicious, the girls loved it, and we served it with bread and sharp cheddar cheese. A perfect winter meal.

Enjoy!

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