So I forgot to take pictures along the way. Forgive me. I have never been super great at journaling.
I have been following several blogs during the past year or so, and this is the recipe I made for our dinner today, being Soup Day, January 26, 2011.
I did tweak the recipe for the things that I had in my pantry. For example, I used a quart of home-canned tomatoes, some liquid drained and I put them in the blender - I almost left them whole. And I did not have any cilantro in the house. Oh, and I used my crock pot!
I sautéed the vegetables in the fry pan first, as directed. I put my liquids in my crock pot instead of a stock pot. I added my vegetables, turned to the crock pot to low and went to work. Well, my work station is in the next room. I transcribe digital audio files of recorded insurance claim interviews. The two little ones played with Legos and dolls while I worked for 45 minutes.
When I was done, I put the chicken in the same fry pan with the OJ and spices it had been marinating in and decided it was time for a nap for my 2yo. Near disaster! I forgot about the chicken on the stove and decided to take care of some laundry. The OJ burned, but the chicken was salvageable. In fact, it was downright tasty!
Okay, I think I'm getting a little ahead of myself...
Let me start at the beginning.
1) I have a mandolin slicer. I can do Julienne slices, french fry cuts, thin slice, thick slice, chopped, it was cool! I used all 3 cutting inserts that I own! I diced the onion (cut the onion one way and then sent it through the mandolin slicer the other direction); I sliced the celery; I Julienned the carrots after I peeled them.
2) I chopped my own garlic (don't have a garlic press - I had one once upon a time when we were first married, but I never used it so I gave it away).
3) I use Better Than Bouillon chicken base (yes, it has some hydrolyzed soy protein - not a fan of soy) to make my chicken broth - did 3 cups water, so 1 TBS chicken base.
4) I used 1 qt home-canned tomatoes after draining some of the liquid and putting it in the blender and basically getting rid of any chunks, instead of tomato sauce and water.
5) Used store-brand OJ and made it up for normal drinking, and used 2 cups.
6) Added the chicken broth, OJ and tomatoes to the crock pot and turned it on low, then added the vegetables after sautéing them first.
7) I marinated frozen chicken breasts in OJ and Pampered Chef Jamaican Jerk Rub and then cooked the chicken in the same. Then I diced the chicken and put it in the soup.
8) Turned the crock pot to keep warm and added some cumin for a little more flavor as I did not use any taco seasoning mix with my chicken.
The result, well, I love the taste! I plan to serve tortilla chips and sour cream and a little cheese, maybe olives... I hope the kids like it! They are the final judges!
So next time I will have pictures to go along with my post... MAYBE!
