Friday, April 22, 2011

April 22, 2011

This week brought the close of Lent – my older kids gave up video games (including computer games and so forth). They did great – no complaining, but they were ready to play some this morning! I gave up diet Coke. I poured a glass today and it no longer tasted good to me. So, I guess it worked – I lost my taste for it!

Easter is this Sunday – I have planned a traditional menu for dinner. Ham, asparagus, salad, twice baked potatoes. For dessert I am making strawberry napoleons with homemade vanilla bean ice cream. If dessert turns out well, I’ll add that next week since it is a new recipe for me!

This week only one recipe we tried earned unanimous KEEPER status: Chicken Enchilada Soup. This was very quick to put together, and I cooked it for about 25 minutes. I poached 2 chicken breasts with cumin and diced that for the recipe. This would be a fabulous outlet to use any kind of leftover chicken. I found a few recipes similar to this, but none called for both milk and chicken stock. I wanted the milk for some creaminess, and the stock to add some more chicken flavor. The recipes I found typically called for while milk, but we used skim and it was delicious, so use whatever milk you have on hand. I also grabbed the Healthy Request cream of chicken soup. You could top your soup with sour cream, but no one at our kitchen table is a fan, so we did not. We had plenty for dinner, and a quart of it leftover in the fridge. The big kids loved it, especially since they got to dip tortilla chips in it, and Liam loved the chicken. Served with a salad or crisp carrots and celery, it is a quick weeknight meal.

New Recipe
Chicken Enchilada Soup

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Ingredients
* 1 can (11 ounces) condensed fiesta nacho cheese soup or cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
* 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
* 2 2/3 cups milk
* 1 ½ cups chicken broth
* 10 ounces diced chicken
* 1 can (10 ounces) enchilada sauce
* 1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies

Directions
Combine everything in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Whisk until smooth. Cook until heated through, about 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips.