Chicken Black Bean Soup

I live in Arizona and normally it doesn't become soup weather until close to Christmas; however, the last couple days have been quite chilly and a hearty soup was just what we needed to keep the chill away.

Ingredients:

3 T. butter

3 T. flour

2 cloves garlic (or 1/2 t. minced garlic)

1/4 c. chopped onion

1/2 t. ground cumin

1 can green chilies

1 small can sliced olives (optional)

4 c. (or 2 cans) chicken broth

1 can black beans

1 c. sour cream

2 chicken breasts shredded or cubed

*If you would like this spicy add in El Pato sauce

Directions: Saute butter, garlic and onion until onion is soft. Add flour and to make a roux. Add broth slowly to avoid clumps. Add cumin and green chilies and bring to a rolling boil. Boil until soup starts to thicken. Once thickened add chicken, olives and beans and heat through. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream.

The first picture is without the El Pato sauce. My girls will not eat anything spicy, so I simply leave the can of El Pato out and my husband and I add it into ours afterwards which works out quite nicely since he likes his spicier than I do.

This is the soup with the El Pato. You can add cheese on top or eat with tortilla's or tortilla chips or just by itself. This soup is a favorite for all of us and I love that I can make it spicy for my husband and I and plain for my girls.

For those who don't know, El Pato is mexican tomato sauce. So, basically it is tomato sauce with chilies. It is excellent for mexican dishes.

Pumpkin Seeds

With Halloween just around the corner, this is a tasty snack to make using the seeds from your jack-o-lantern.

You will need:

1 cup Unwashed seeds (clean off all the stringy gunk from them)
1/4 t. Worcestershire

1 T. melted butter

1/2 t. salt

Mix all together in shallow baking dish. Place in oven at 250 degrees for 2 hours, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Green Pepper Soup

I found this recipe off of 5dollardinners.com while looking for a new soup recipe. My husband and I thought it was good. Our kids, not so much. I served it with homemade rolls.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. ground beef

1 green pepper, diced

1/2 onion, diced

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

1/2 cup rice, uncooked

1T. brown sugar

4-5 c. water

1 beef boullion

salt and pepper

Directions: Brown ground beef and drain. In large saucepan, add all ingredients. Bring to boil and simmer until rice is done, 15-20 minutes.

MIA

Sorry, I've been neglecting this blog. I've had a busy few months. We bought a house, packed and moved in two days before school started (did a lot of eating out). I started watching a couple kids at the same time who are quite energetic to say the least, leaving me no time for anything, because if they're unsupervised for two minutes they destroy my house. But the number one reason is: we're expecting our fourth baby and I've been battling morning sickness. Food is just not appealing, so my family has been fending for themselves for dinner. Hopefully, it will ease up soon. Until then, I'm afraid my posts will be sporadic. Sorry.