Zesty Tomato Soup

Benjamin was in charge of dinner for Family Home Evening this week and we found this recipe online for dressing up canned tomato soup.  It was amazing...Courtney even asked for seconds and she never eats tomato soup!  Well, I don't know if it was the recipe or the fact that we served it in bread bowls that had her asking for more, but she ate more soup than she did bread bowl, so I'm guessing it's the bread.

2 cans condensed tomato soup

2 cans water

1/2 c. salsa (we used Pace Picante sauce)

Mix in pot and heat on stove.  Great with a sprinkle of shredded cheese and some tortilla chips!

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

Kyle and I love Thai food.  And I love to order this soup...it is soooo tasty.  My Scrapshare friend Elaine posted this recipe that she took from a Weight Watchers cookbook and she says it is very close to the version she loves at her favorite restaurant.  I can't wait to try it! (The notes in italics are hers, not mine.)

Thai Coconut-Chicken Soup, from the “In No Time” cookbook, page 99.
Serves 4, 6 WW Points per serving.


2 stalks fresh lemongrass, minced (I used 3/4 tsp of the lemongrass spice blend I found in a tube in the produce department at Publix)
2 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced (I used 1 heaping tsp of jarred minced garlic)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (I crushed it in my hand with my thumb first to release the oils)
1/2 pound ground skinless chicken breast (I used cooked shredded chicken that I poached today… Next time I’ll probably go with firm tofu instead since that’s what’s in the soup at Surin)
2 14.5-oz cans of reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 14-oz can light (reduced-fat) coconut milk (Surin probably uses the full-fat kind, because their soup is a bit heavier/richer)
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tsp Asian fish sauce (nam pla)
4 oz rice sticks (mai fun) (I’ll probably leave these out next time, just because they’re not in the Surin version, and truly, they made it kind of hard to eat. May require further experimentation)
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro (I probably used a bit more, since I don’t really bother to measure herbs much, and Jerry loves cilantro so I knew it wasn’t a risk.)
Next time I will probably add half of an 8-oz. carton of white mushrooms, thinly sliced. But that’s not in the original recipe.


1. Trim away the tops of the lemongrass, about 4 inches from the root end; trim away the root. Crush the 4-inch pieces with the side of a knife and mince the tender white inner stalk. Discard the outer stalk. (I just squeezed 3/4 tsp out of the tube and called it done. Ha!)


2. Heat the oil in a nonstick Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the minced lemongrass, garlic, and crushed red pepper; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 45 seconds. Add the chicken and cook, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon, until browned, about 3 minutes. (With my cooked shredded chicken, I only cooked it until heated through before the next step. Next time I’ll brown the tofu at this step. I’m not sure I’d like it as much with ground chicken.)


3. Add the chicken broth, coconut milk, lime juice, and fish sauce; bring to a boil. Add the rice sticks and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro.


Servings are 1 1/2 cups each.

Variation on Buffalo Wing Dip

I also got this recipe from my ScrapShare friends, as with the first version.  This one I could pretend is healthy because it has celery in the dip!  :D

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts; cooked

2 packages (8-oz each) cream cheese, softened

1 cup wing sauce** (I use Texas Pete's wing sauce)

1 cup blue cheese salad dressing (you can also use ranch dressing)

1 cup celery; chopped

4 stalks of celery for dipping

crackers and tortilla chips

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces. Mix with softened cream cheese. Add wing sauce and dressing. Mix well. Stir in chopped celery. Put mixture into 9x13 pan (8x8 if making a smaller batch) and bake at 350* for 20 minutes. Serve with crackers, celery and chips.

** Please note that there is a difference between hot sauce and wing sauce. If you want a milder version of this dip then use 3/4 cup wing sauce and 1 1/4 cup blue cheese.

Cottage Cakes

This was super good.  The kids gobbled it up!  I was looking for a pancake recipe...we usually use bisquick, but I wanted something different.  I found this recipe online.  Very rich!

1 cup cottage cheese

4 eggs, beaten

4 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine

1/2 cup flour

Whisk the first three ingredients. Fold in flour. Bake on a pancake griddle using medium high heat. Serve with Vermont maple syrup, apricot sauce or jam.

Serves: 3

Cream of Chicken and Rice Soup

So tonight I was looking for an easy dinner and noticed the can of Chicken and Rice soup.  It has been sitting there for awhile not looking very appetizing.  I decided to make up a recipe to use it...and the soup turned out quite yummy!

1 can Chicken and Rice soup

1 can corn

1 can Cream of Chicken soup

I mixed them all together and rinsed out the cans that needed it...I think I used about one can's worth of water.  Then just let it cook as directed on the soup can until warm.  

Cheese Fondue

I love my family's tradition of cheese fondue every New Year's Eve...but there was always the stress of finding a decent recipe that was easy, melty, and non alcoholic.  I finally found it!  Bettie found the recipe online in preparation for her birthday.

1 lb. medium aged gouda, coarsely shredded

3 c. heavy cream

White pepper

1. in a medium saucepan, simmer the heavy cream over moderate heat until reduced to 2 cups, about 15 minutes.
2. Whisk in the Gouda until melted.
3. Strain the cheese sauce through a fine sieve set over a heatproof bowl or fondue pot and season lightly with white pepper.

Hints and variations:

*We used a mix of gouda and smoked gouda.  Did you know the brown edge of the smoked doesn't melt?  It looks like worms.  Cut them off or strain.  We didn't strain it when we did it.

*Serve with crusty bread like french and veggies like celery, broccoli, cauliflower.

*I used a crockpot that sits on a hotplate for my fondue pot.  You could put it in a bowl and microwave it every so often to re melt.

*The leftovers separated in the fridge...lots of oil floating on top.  We just added a bit more cream when we warmed it up.

Buffalo Wing Dip

My online friend Beth shared this recipe with me.  She calls it "The Best Dip" and says she likes it so much she would lick it off old stinky shoes!  I'm not sure I'd go that far, but it is really good!

2 cans of chicken, drained

2 blocks of cream cheese

1/4 c hot sauce

1 c. shredded cheese

1 c. blue cheese dressing

Stir all the ingredients together and heat until warm.  I usually do it on the microwave or stove.  The original recipe calls for putting it in a casserole dish and mixing in half of the cheese and putting the other half on top and baking in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Dipping ideas:  celery, carrots, pretzel chips, tortilla chips, crackers, fingers....  :D

Variations:

*Works well with ranch dressing too.

*Vegetarian (no chicken) works, it just gives it a different texture.

*It is a slight bit spicy.  It needs the flavor of the hot sauce, but you may want to experiment with how much you use.  I wouldn't use more than it calls for, personally.

*Make a green chili dip!  Use green enchilada sauce instead of the hot sauce, and pepper jack cheese instead of the blue cheese dressing.  Wow!