Chicken Taco Soup

This recipe can also be called Food Storage Soup, but that might scare some people away. 

                         

I know sometimes it is scary to try a new recipe. Not to worry, I've got you covered. I've kind of been going through Six Sisters' Stuff's Teal-colored book and this is another gem. 

Slow Cooker Eight-Can Taco Soup from Six Sisters' Stuff

1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (15 oz.) pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (15 oz.) sweet corn, drained

1 can (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes

1 can (10.75 oz.) condensed cream of chicken soup (I used mushroom because I was out of chicken)

1 can (10 oz.) can green enchilada sauce

1 can (12.5 oz.) chicken breast, drained (I had leftover cooked chicken in the refrigerator, so I went with that). 

1 pkg. (1 oz.) taco seasoning 

grated cheese

avocado, sliced

Pour all ingredients into slow cooker and stir together. Cook on low heat 2-3 hours. Top with shredded cheese and serve with tortilla chips and sliced avocado, if desired. 

Note: I was in a hurry and chose not to use the slow cooker. I poured everything into a pot and brought it to a simmer, then cooked it for about ten minutes on low heat. Worked just fine! 

Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork Loin

Break out the slow cooker. You're going to want to try this soon! It's so easy and completely yum to the tum. 

                 

Six Sisters Stuff is to blame for this one. Here's the thing- I'm stuck in St. George and I only brought four cookbooks with me. Two of them are Six Sisters, and since I'm loving their "stuff" lately, that's what I'm cooking and blogging. Costco sells a two-pack of pork tenderloin, and within that two-pack are two tenderloins, so you're really dealing with four tenderloins per total package. Use two of the tenderloins (or one half of the total package you've purchased) for this recipe. 

I like to make my cranberry sauce (thank you OBB girls- I haven't forgotten you!). 

Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork Loin (Click to go to the original post at SSS)

3 lbs. boneless pork loin or tenderloin  

1 can (16 oz.) whole cranberry sauce (or click on the cranberry sauce link above to make your own)

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 T light brown sugar

1 tsp prepared yellow mustard

Place roast in a slow cooker coated with cooking spray. Combine the rest of the ingredients and pour over the roast. Cook on high 4-5 hours or on low 6-8 hours, making sure the internal temperature of the pork is 145°F. Remove roast and cover with foil while you make the sauce. 

To make the sauce, just add a little water and cornstarch to the mixture left in the crock pot. Whisk until combined. Serve with sliced pork.

I didn't thicken my sauce as I felt it was fine without the cornstarch mixture.  

There's Always Room For Jell-O

When you think of pretzel Jell-O you probably think strawberry or raspberry, right? Would you believe I had never tasted the pretzel Jell-O concoction before trying this one? True statement. Or if I've tried it, I have forgotten that I've tried it, which could be a completely true statement as well.

This recipe makes a lot (13x9-inch pan), so take it to a party, or be prepared to eat a lot of it over the next few days (which is a good alternative as well)!

                                  
Mandarin Orange Pretzel Salad (from Six Sisters' Stuff)
2 cups crushed pretzels
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup plus 3 T granulated sugar, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese
1 container (8 oz.) Cool Whip (yes, I could type out nondairy whipped topping, but hey)
1 box (6 oz.) orange Jell-O
2 cups boiling water
1 can (11 oz.) mandarin oranges, undrained

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine pretzels, melted butter and 3 T. sugar. Stir together until well blended. Press into a 13x9-inch baking pan and bake 7 minutes. Cool completely.
Beat remaining (1 cup) sugar and cream cheese together until smooth (it takes a few minutes to get the sugar to stop being gritty). Fold in the thawed Cool Whip. Spread this mixture over the pretzel crust, spreading it against the sides to seal out the Jell-O mixture from seeping down to the pretzel layer, because soggy pretzels are such a disappointment.
Mix the Jell-O and boiling water and stir until the Jell-O is completely dissolved (at this point, I added about 6 ice cubes to speed the cooling process along). Add the oranges and let cool until slightly set. Pour Jell-O carefully over the cream cheese layer (I used a measuring cup as a ladle so it wouldn't splash too much). Refrigerate until firm. Cut into squares and serve.
SSS says this makes about 12 servings, but I would say those would be 12 very generous servings.

Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I tried using the mobile version of Blogger but the learning curve was steeper than I was willing to climb, so while I'm in St. George (which may or may not be forever) I will have to blog when I have an internet connection. I made these cookies a couple days ago and gave most of them away before they did too much damage to my resolution to not let my snack calories outnumber other meals. 

                  

These are from Six Sisters' Stuff and were delicious. I made a couple of changes (big surprise there, huh?). Here's a link to the original recipe.   

White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup white chocolate chips 

1/2 cup cinnamon chips 

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, beat together softened butter and both sugars. Add in eggs and vanilla extract, mixing well. Stir in the flour, baking powder and soda, the salt and cinnamon, then stir in the oats. Finally, stir in the chips. 

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a parchment-lined (or baking mat) cookie sheet. 

Bake 9-12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and cool completely on wire rack. 

Makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies.  

Crispy Onion Chicken

 Have you heard of Six Sisters' Stuff? I have two of their cookbooks and really love everything they do. Being in Santa Clara, I've lost my built-in cook (my daughter), so I've had to get back into the kitchen again. My sister told me she fixed this for dinner the other night, and since I had everything I needed to make it too, I gave it a try. Hello, yum!

It's super simple too! "Paint" a chicken breast with honey mustard and then press the chicken into some crushed french fried onions. I placed them onto a small cooling rack that fit inside my 9x13 inch pan to lift them up off the pan so the underside would be crispy too. I baked it for 30 minutes at 375°F. It was tasty! Here's the link to see how the Six Sisters made theirs. They use a lot more mustard than I did. 

Going on a Walkabout

Some of the things I got to see while walking around in St. George and Santa Clara last October. We've been spending large chunks of time down there because we've been trying to restore our home there to some level of order and cleanliness after having rented the home out for the last three years. That was a mistake!