What’s Cookin’?! Chicken Taco Soup!

This has been a really nice break with two weeks at home to enjoy family, home and FOOD!

It’s also been a really busy week with getting the pdf pages of my new book edited and “JUST SO.”  Talk about Stress!

I’ve been through this enough times to know how I deal with stressful situations ---so before a 2 hour long phone call to my editor Jenifer, ((who’s blog you can find at http://www.42quilts.com/ and who I will be doing a blog tour and give-away featuring HER new book, The Modern Applique Workbook in just a few days…whooot!)) I spent some mindless thinking time in the kitchen chopping and dicing and adding and mixing.

It all started with a left-over rotisserie chicken from a couple nights before.

The poor chicken lasted two meals ---and when I was left with nothing but the wings and the carcass…into the stock pot it went.  There is nothing like boiling down a left-over chicken for your own yummy broth.

At this point I wasn’t even sure what I was going to turn it into ----but basics are basics.

While at the grocery store for something else, the idea hit….pick up some cans of beans, some green chilies, some diced tomatoes – and we would soon be having chicken taco soup for dinner.

Here is that yumminess while it was just starting to simmer in my crock pot:

Looking good, already!

You could use canned chicken and canned chicken broth, but why bother? Too much salt in that.  just break that chicken carcass into pieces, cover it with about 4 cups of water or so and simmer it until all the meat falls off the bones.  Strain the broth into a container, separating it from the meat and bones and put it in the fridge to chill overnight.  The fat, what little there is, will rise to the top and solidify so you can easily discard the fat from off the broth.

While simmering, you can season your broth, but I didn't -- because at this time I didn't know what it was going to become.

When cool enough to handle, comb through the meat and bones, pulling the chicken meat into shreds and discarding any bones or cartilage or undesirable bits.  At this point I usually put the good chicken meat into a ziplock bag in the fridge next to my container of broth that is chilling and save it for the next day.

To make the chicken taco soup, place the broth and the chicken meat into a crock pot and add:

I  15 oz can dark red kidney beans, drained

1 15 oz can black beans, drained

1 sm can peeled and diced green chilies

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes with juice (the whole can, do not drain)

2 ribs of celery, diced

1/2 yellow onion, diced

2 carrots, thinly sliced into rounds

1 small package of frozen white sweet corn

1 package taco seasoning mix

Let simmer on high for 2 hours.  Check salt content and add more if desired.

I don't often use canned beans, and this can be made with dried beans if you start the process the day before by soaking the dry  beans overnight while chilling the broth.  This recipe is really versatile!

If using dry beans, you'll want to cook the beans until they are tender BEFORE adding the tomatoes to the broth as the acid in tomatoes can prevent beans from softening up during the cooking process.  No one likes hard beans in their soup!

Serve with crushed tortilla chips, garnish with shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

My son Jeff just gobbled this up, two bowls full!  It is really very, very good and a great way to use up that leftover roast chicken!

I am adding this recipe to my Recipes tab found at the top of the blog!  Have you checked it out lately? There are recipes there for many of my favorites!

  

I’m sitting at the airport waiting to board my flight from Greensboro to Washington/Dulles.  It’s just amazing to me that I can have breakfast and lunch at home and be in Phoenix before bed time!m

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday, everyone!

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