Easy Taco Soup

1 lb hamburger
4 cups beef broth
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can tomatoes
1/2 pkg of taco seasoning (or 1 if you like spicy)
2 cups of frozen corn

Brown beef. Stir in remaining in remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Kidney Bean and Rice Curry

My friend posted this on Making Home Work and after ordering the Garam Masala from SpiceSage.com (free shipping!) we tried it and it will now be on the menu more often! Of course, I tweaked the recipe, I tweak everything anymore.

Kidney Bean Curry
A Delicious & Nourishing Indian Dish

Ingredients
3-4 tbls. oil
1 onion chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
2 minced garlic
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp curry (or tumeric)
1 heaping tsp garam masala (found in Indian grocery stores or perhaps International section of your local grocery)
2 cans kidney beans (don't drain)

Prepared Rice


Directions
Fry onions in large pot until translucent (about five minutes). Add ginger, garlic and tumeric, fry for one minute. Add tomatoes and remaining spices. Let simmer for ten minutes until oil separates from spices. Add kidney beans and salt to taste. If there isn't enough curry, add a little water. Simmer for 1/2 hour and serve with Basmati or Jasmine rice.

Optional: add a variety of vegetables. I added grated carrots, and roasted red peppers. To learn how to roast a red pepper click here Sometimes I add spinach.

Sour Cream and Bacon Crockpot Chicken

4 chicken breasts
bacon slices
1 can (10oz) roasted garlic cream of mushroom soup
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. flour
(optional, chopped onion, more garlic, parmesan cheese (at the end as a topping)
egg noodles

Wrap raw bacon around each raw breast and place in crockpot.

In bowl, combine soup, sour cream, and flour (onion and garlic if desired). Whisk. Pour this concoction over chicken.

Cook on low 6-8 hours or until meat is 160 degrees. Cook noodles according to package, rewhisk the sauce, and serve over noodles.

Caveat: This doesn't look very appealing but it is extremely yummy.

Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets

I am a cereal eater and cereal costs way too much! So I ventured into making instant oatmeal packets for myself, they are super easy to make too! I bought some little tupperware containers to place them in,so they are ready for me to add milk to and pop in the microwave in the morning.

Instant Oatmeal Base

3 cups instant oats
salt
add-ins

Blend or food process 1 cup of oats until powdery. Take snack sized ziplocs or small containers (makes about 8 packets) and put in each 1/4 cup instant oats, 2 T powdered instant oats and one shake of salt from the salt shaker.

Put in add-ins for each packet for the flavor you desire.

Spice - 1 T brown sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, dash of nutmeg
(For a Maple and brown sugar, add a glug of Maple syrup to this one after it's been microwaved.)
Banana Nut - 1 T brown sugar, 1 T chopped nuts, 1 T chopped dehydrated bananas
Fruit and Cream - 1 T sugar, 1 T chopped dehydrated fruit, 1 T powdered cream
Apple Cinnamon - 1 T brown sugar, 2 T chopped dehydrated apples, 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Pumpkin Spice - 1 T brown sugar, 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Cinnamon Bun - 1T powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon and either 2T creamer or microwave with some half and half in exchange for some of the milk.

To make to eat, put mix and 3/4 cup milk in bowl and stir. Heat for about 2 min. in microwave. (My hubby doesn't think these taste well with plain water, so at work he puts in 2 spoons of creamer.)

Vegetable and Fish Soup

I like this soup because it is fast and can easily be adapted to use leftovers.

4 fillets of fish (I generally use tilapia)
black pepper
1 T olive oil
2 cups of fresh vegetables thinly sliced (if I don't have some kind of garden leftovers, I use frozen peas and carrots)
14 oz can (OR 2 cups) vegetable or chicken broth
2 1/4 cup water (OR 2 cups if you use 2 cups broth)
leftover mashed potatoes  (I'm sure potato flakes, salt and butter would work too)
salt, saltines or parmesan

Put oil and fish in deep sided skillet or dutch oven.
Pepper to taste.
(If you have fresh veggies, chop and add to fish in skillet.)
Over medium heat, cook for 3 minutes, break fish apart into bit size pieces with spatula.
Add broth and water. (If you have frozen veggies, add now)
Bring to a boil,
Reduce heat, simmer, covered, for 3 minutes or until fish flakes when tested with fork.
Throw in mashed potatoes (the more potatoes, the creamier the broth) or throw in the amount of flakes, and butter to make about 2 servings of potatoes and stir until dissolved.
Now, I either salt to taste, or
I like to throw in parmesan to taste but hubby hates parmesan, so he crumbles in saltines if he wants more than just the salt.

About 20 minutes 4 servings.

Creamy Tortilla Soup

I had extra turkey leftovers from the holidays. (Who doesn't have leftovers?) After a few sandwiches, I was down to the dregs, maybe a cup of shredded turkey. So, Leftover Tortilla Soup was in order.

Quick Easy Creamy Tortilla Soup (Less than 15 minutes)

1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can tomatoes and chilies (Or a substitute for tomatoes and chilies is 1 cup salsa if you do not have this on hand)
1 can refried beans
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 to 1 cup corn (frozen, fresh, canned, whatever)
1 lb cooked chicken or turkey (or whatever you got left!)
shredded cheese
tortilla chips

Stir tomatoes, salsa, beans, broth and corn in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add meat until heated through. Ladle into bowls and top with cheese and crushed tortilla chips to liking.

I ladle serving sizes into freezer bags and freeze for later since this makes too much for my family to eat in one sitting.

Pull out of the freezer, place it in a sink of hot water to soften enough to get it out of the bag and zap it in the microwave.