Good Recipes

A couple of weeks ago I bought a few too many tortillas. Don't ask me what I was thinking. I have white, wheat, and corn. So, what to make to use them up?  I found what sounded like a good recipe for chicken tortilla soup but it didn't have any tortillas in it. Mmmm. So, I decided I needed to make some adaptations.  It also served 8-10 and I only needed it to serve 4, so I cut it down, then I modified it as I went, tasting with each addition, until I have my own version of:

30 minute Chicken Tortilla Soup


1 can Costco chicken (Rotisserie would be wonderful, but I didn't have any)
1/2 red onion, diced
2 T. olive oil
3 T. butter
3 T. flour
2 cans (14oz.) chicken stock
2 c. half and half (fat-free, light, or whole)
1 T. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 cans cannelini beans
2 cans (4oz.) green chilies
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
3 corn tortillas, chopped in small 1/2 inch pieces 


In stock pot, cook onion in butter and olive oil. Add flour and whisk until mixed well. Then add liquids. Bring to a boil and simmer until thickened. Turn to low. Stir in seasoning. Add beans, chilies, chicken, and cheese. Cook for 15 minutes. Add tortillas and cilantro and cook for another 5 minutes. Serve to rave reviews! My Mike loved this!!! We all did. Serves 5.




A couple of weeks ago my mom and I went to Liz's house to learn how to make bread. Both she and her husband have been making it for years. Now I have made bread many times, but at 7000 ft. its just not been behaving the way I wanted it to. It was always too flat and just didn't taste as delicious as I wanted it to, so when Liz told me she makes it all the time and offered to come show me how, I said, just whenever you're going to make it, give me a call and I'll run on up and watch the expert in motion. It was a wonderful demonstration but I didn't have any dough enhancer. That came on Monday, so I was excited to try it out.


Liz's Whole Wheat Bread - from Bosch
3 1/2 cup warm water 
1 T. salt
1/3 c. canola oil
1/3 c. honey
1 1/2 T. dough enhancer
1 1/2 T. instant yeast
2 T. vital wheat gluten
7 cups whole wheat flour (not an exact amount. I used up all 6 cups I had in my pantry then added a couple more cups of white bread flour.)


Add water and several (4) cups of ground whole wheat flour to mixer with dough hooks attached. (This works well with a Bosch or K-Tec mixer that have the plastic bowls.) Mix water and flour with a few brief kneading rounds in the mixer. Then add salt, honey, enhancer, yeast, and gluten,  and mix briefly on high. Now knead on low speed, while slowly adding flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. You don't want to add too much, so you have to watch it at the end until  it just starts to pull away. Knead for 8 -12 minutes in mixer until it gets smooth. Form into 2-3 greased loaf pans. Let rise in warm place til double in size (this only took about 40 minutes) and bake at 350 for 30-40- minutes. Brush butter over the tops when it first comes out. Let cool slightly then remove from pans.

Note that when you first put them in the pans that you've sprayed with cooking spray, I was told by Liz to take the side of your hand and put a dent in them down the middle. This way when they rise, they are more level.

They turned out wonderful after only 30 minutes of baking. Love the flavor. Love the texture. Love that we now have bread again though it may not last that long. Homemade bread is more like a treat at our house than anything. Maybe if I start making it regularly the novelty will wear off. . . . we'll see.