Beef and Portobello Soup

Wowsa, was this a yummy soup. You don't even need to finish reading this. Just go make it. Now. It's good. Here's what you need.

2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 leeks, very thinly sliced
2 portobello mushroom caps, gills removed, halved and thickly sliced
1/2 lb. ground beef, browned
salt and pepper
1 t. garlic powder
4 c. chicken stock
2 c. water
1 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 c. small pasta
1/2 c. green lentils
1/2 c. bulgar

sour cream for garnish

There are two ways to do this:
Number 1:
Heat a skillet with a little oil. Toss in chopped carrots and leeks. Soften those babies up a bit, about 8 minutes. Add mushrooms, and cook an additional 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Throw your ground beef in your hot skillet and brown it. Take your veggies and beef and put it together in a pot with your tomatoes, chicken broth, lentils and bulgar. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Add your pasta to the pot and cook and simmer another 8 minutes r so, until the pasta is tender. Serve!

Number 2:
This is the way I did it: Brown my hamburger. Throw absolutely everything (but the pasta and sour cream) in my big 'ol crock pot, turn that sucker on high and let it meld that stuff together for about 5 hours or on low for 8 or 9 hours. Right before you are ready to eat it, I cooked my pasta separately, then just added it in. I hate mushy pasta and am too afraid to do that part in the crock pot. yes, I am a chicken.

Put a dollop of sour cream in your bowl with your soup, and stir it in. Get yourself a loaf of crusty bread, hot from the oven, grab a slice and smear it with butter. Begin dipping and devouring. So good.

I need to give credit where credit is due. I got the basic idea for this from a Rachael Ray magazine. I did change quite a few things, based on my own tastes and what I had on hand. If you have onions, and no leeks, it will work. The leeks, bulgar, lentils and garlic were my own addition just because I like them so much. And just a reminder, these are all estimates, since I rarely measure anything. (I think I'm lazy.) Soup is wonderfully forgiving, and you can fool around with it and it's still so...comforting. Enjoy!

Chicken Quesadilla Pizza

Alrighty folks. This is just a recipe that I dreamed up one day, looking for something I could do with pizza crust. Here is what I came up with...

*This recipe makes a pizza that fills a large cookie sheet.*

1 lb. chicken, cooked, shredded or diced
1 can black beans
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 c red peppers
1 can corn, drained
1/4-1/2 c bacon bits
1 c pepper jack cheese
1 c Monterrey, mozzarella, or cheddar cheese (whatever you have)
pizza crust, store bought or homemade

Combine all ingredients above, except for the crust and cheeses. Toss all in a ziplock with:

1 T. olive oil
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. cumin
1/2 t. oregano
1/2 t. black pepper
1-1 1/2 t. chipotle seasoning

Let that marinade for a few hours.

When you are ready to make the pizza, get your crust made and baked. After it cools a bit, pour the chicken mixture on top, top with cheeses. If you like spicy, then this will be up your alley. If not, I would suggest not using pepperjack cheese, and maybe forgo some of the chipotle seasoning. We like it hot around here!

Bake at 375 til cheese is golden brown.

Eat with sour cream or ranch dressing for dipping. You can also add your own stuff to it after it's baked. I like avocados. Yummy...*drooling...*

Harvest Stew

Hey, 'tis the season for all things soupy and stewy. So here's another one!

In your crockpot (I LOVE my crockpot!)toss in:
2c water
4c chicken stock
1c carrots, sliced
1c celery, chopped semi-fine
3 cloves garlic
1/2 onion, diced
1/2lb. (2 cups) chicken, cooked & chopped
1/2 (small) can tomato paste
3 potatoes, diced (skin on or off, you decide)
1-2 cups chickpeas
1 1/2c Harvest Stew mix
*I get the harvest stew mix at one of our local farm markets. It is a mixture of red and green lentils, wild and brown rice, split green and yellow peas. You can pretty much just make up a combination of any or all of these things and throw it in. It's a very forgiving stew.
salt and pepper to taste

Keep in crockpot on high 4-6 hours or low for 8-10 hours.
This would be easily made into a vegetarian stew by leaving out the animal products.
Great with crusty bread and butter for dipping!

White Chicken Chili

1 1/2 c chicken, cooked and chopped
1 yellow or white onion finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3-4c(or 2 cans) white beans(great northern, cannellini, even chickpeas)
1 can hominy
1-7oz can green chilies
2-3c chicken stock
1 jalapeno, seeded, finely diced
2t cumin
1/2t chipotle chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

Throw it all in your crock pot, let simmer at least 4 hours on high, or even all day on low. The longer, the better.
This is a very healthy recipe, which is what I am going for. If you want to un-healthify it, add the usual toppings: shredded cheese, sour cream, chips, crusty bread, what have you. Either way, it is yummy. I know there are very creamy recipes out there, but I was going for something a bit lighter!

What is this?

So it begins. I decided to start a bloggity-blog just so that I could archive my recipes mostly for friends and family who are interested in some of the things that I cook. I love cooking and I love to experiment. The hard part will be posting recipes, as I tend to not use exact measurements and really like to just throw things together, but I'll do my best to be accurate. Hopefully, I will post somethings soon, so here's to finding a quiet 1/2 hour so I can share something with you.