ARIZONA CHICKEN CHILI

This recipe came from a grocery store.  They were promoting a line of spices and had the recipe cards on a rack and this one sounded easy so I took it.  It has been a favorite for many years. 
This soup is so easy to make and it is perfect for a cold winter night!  And it goes together in less than 30 minutes. 



Start out with two chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes.

Heat 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a kettle.  Add the chicken breast cubes and 1/2 cup chopped onion. 

For the seasoning, I used 2 Tablespoons of Southwest seasoning.  Stir this up and cook on medium to high heat until
chicken is cooked.
   
You will need one can of each of these.  I like to use the white shoepeg corn, it just seems more fitting for this soup.

Dump all three cans into the soup pot.

Stir all this together.

You can leave it thick like it was or if you like your soup with a little more liquid, you can add 2 cups of chicken broth.  I rarely buy the cans of chicken broth, they are way too expensive.  I like to cook up a bunch of chicken backs & necks and strain it and freeze the broth to use in recipes.  But today I just mixed two cups of water with 2 teaspoons of chicken soup base. 
Now let this simmer on the stove for about 15-20 minutes.  I whipped up a skillet of cornbread to go with the soup.  Yummy!

Top with some shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream. 

ARIZONA CHICKEN CHILI
2 TBL oil
2 chicken breasts, cut into cubes
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 TBL Southwest seasoning
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (11 oz) whole kernel corn
1 can (14.5 oz) chili beans
2 cups chicken broth
shredded cheese
sour cream
Heat oil in soup kettle.  Add chicken, onion and seasoning.  Stir and let cook over medium-high heat until chicken is done.  Add the tomatoes, corn and beans.  Stir in the chicken broth.  Let simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Serve with cheese and sour cream.

"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world."
Isaiah 12:4-5

Roast Beef Vegetable Soup

Fall is just around the corner and we had a slightly cooler day last week so soup was on the menu.  This soup is so quick and easy and it uses up that leftover roast beef.  You could also use roast pork.  

Start out with some leftover roast beef.  There is probably about a pound and a half of meat here.

Gather together some vegetable juice, diced tomatoes and a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. 

Pour the vegetable juice into a kettle.  I used the Motts brand this time and it was very good.  Other times I have used the V-8, they are very similar in taste.

Cut the roast beef into small pieces and put into the kettle with the juice.

I like some tomato chunks in soup so add one 15 oz can of diced tomatoes.  Bring to a boil.

Now pour in your frozen vegetables, about 2 pounds of them.

Now you can stop here with ingredients but I like to add about half a cup of barley.

Or you can add these fun little ring pastas or even the little alphabet ones.

A few drops of hot sauce really gives it a great flavor.  And salt & pepper to taste.

Bring to a boil and cook until the barley is done. 

I like to serve it with cheese slices and these wonderful buttermilk biscuits. 

Roast Beef Vegetable Soup
Leftover Roast Beef
1-64 oz bottle vegetable juice
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
2 lbs frozen mixed vegetables
1/2 cup barley or pasta
hot sauce
Combine all ingredients in soup kettle and bring to a boil.  Cook until done.

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  2 Corinthians 5:1

Tomato Soup

This recipe came from Jane, a good friend. It makes about 24 pints of soup. Once you’ve made this soup you will have a hard time ever going back to the stuff in a can.

You will need about 25-30 pounds of tomatoes. Blanch them in boiling water to remove the skins. Measure out 12 quarts of cut up tomatoes.

Put the tomatoes in a very large kettle. Add seven large cut up onions, a dozen parsley sprigs and a dozen bay leaves. Cook this up for about two hours.

Get out your strainer. If you can’t find it, check the sandbox because they seem to make a great sand toy. Put the soup through the strainer. The stuff on the right goes on the compost pile. It takes out all the seeds and bay leaves. For this batch I just cut the onions up but look how much onion goes to waste. So for the next batch I put the onions through the food processor before adding them to the pot and that way they all went into the soup.

The pot goes back on the burner and using a low heat, bring it to a boil.

Now you need to make a roux for thickening the soup. Combine 1 1/2 cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of flour. Stir it really good until it is very smooth.

Add 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 12 teaspoons of salt and 1 Tablespoon of pepper to the soup.

Now this is where I screwed up the first time I made this. Add a couple of ladles of hot soup to your roux and whisk it really good. Then slowly stir this into the pot of soup. Keep whisking as you add the roux. If you don’t your soup will be full of little white lumps of flour.

Cook and stir until it thickens. This can take awhile but don’t quit stirring! And keep the heat as low as you can but still allow it to boil.

Cut two sticks of butter into cubes.

Add the butter to the pot and let this simmer for half an hour. Occasionally give it a stir. Remember to keep the heat very low.

Ladle the hot soup into jars. I like to use pints but you can do quarts if you want.

Process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

As I said, this soup is awesome. We like to heat it up and heat some milk or half & half separately. Serve the soup with the hot milk on the side to add in as you like.

TOMATO SOUP

12 quarts cut up tomatoes

7 large onions, cut up or processed

1 dozen parsley sprigs

1 dozen bay leaves

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 cups flour

12 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon pepper

1 1/ 2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, cubed

Put tomatoes, onions, parsley and bay leaves into a large kettle. Cook for 2 hours and then strain. Combine flour and water to make roux. Add sugar, salt and pepper to soup. Combine a couple ladles of hot soup to roux and slowly whisk into soup. Continue cooking and stirring until thickened. Add butter to simmering soup and simmer for 1/2 hour, stirring occasionally.

Pour into sterilized jars and seal in hot water bath for 15 minutes. This makes about 24 pints of soup.

To serve: Heat soup and milk or half & half in separate pans. Serve by combining in a bowl.

Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. Hebrews 13:2

CHILI

I think Melissa has called and asked me for the chili recipe about 800 times so its time I posted it.
Making chili soup can be very controversial. There is always the question of is it really chili if there are noodles in it. It looks like Brians chili is non-noodle. I like it either way but we grew up eating it with noodles. I think that with eight kids in the family, the noodles made it go farther. So if you are a non-noodle chili person, just add some more beans and leave out the pasta.

Start out by crumbling a pound and a half of ground beef into a frying pan. I’ll feel better if you use the same pan you fried eggs in for breakfast and didn’t wash it.

Take a large onion.

And dice into pieces.

The hamburger should be nicely browned.

Dice up three stalks of celery

And add these to the hamburger. I love these food scrapers!

Add about 1Tablespoon of salt.

Here’s the part where you have to make a decision. You can either use two large cans of diced tomatoes or I like to use my own canned tomatoes.Also add a quart of water to the pan.

Then add two cans of chili beans and one can of Bush’s beans. I usually use the plain Bush beans but didn’t have any. These grillin ones were really good!

Now add one can of tomato soup. Here again, I use my home canned tomato soup. Have you ever made this stuff? I got the recipe from my daughters mother-in-law or my son-in-law’s mother. I’ll share it with you all this fall when I make 50 jars of the stuff.

Pour in 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1 Tablespoon of chili powder. Add more if you like it spicier. You can pour in some tabasco sauce if you want to heat it up a bit.

By now your hamburger mixture should be cooked up. Go ahead and dump it into your large kettle of tomato base.

Now I like to let this simmer on really low heat for a couple hours. It really helps the flavor and thickens it up.

Ok here comes the controversy. I cooked up one cup of pasta and added them to the soup. If you have different opinions about this you can always cook up the noodles and serve them on the side for people to add as they like.

Add a dollop of sour cream and some shredded cheese and eat!
CHILI SOUP
1 1/2 lbs hamburger
1 onion
3 stalks celery
2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes
2 cans chili beans
1 quart water
1 can Bush’s beans
1 can tomato soup
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon chili powder
2 Teaspoons sugar
1 cup macaroni noodles, cooked and drained
Brown hamburger. Add onions and celery and let simmer. Pour tomatoes, beans, and tomato soup into a large kettle. Add salt, chili powder and sugar. Simmer on low heat for a couple hours. Add noodles if desired.
He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord. Proverbs 18:22