Sunday, December 04, 2011

Chicken Tortilla Soup for a Below-Freeeezing Day

It was a blustery day in this thin-aired part of Colorado...a dusting of snow turned into a few inches, and we kept ourselves bundled up at home, enjoying the fireplace, some wassail, a couple of board games, and this wonderful soup. 

Ingredients
1 hen
1 32oz can whole, peeled tomatoes
1 10oz can enchilada sauce (green)
1 onion, chopped
1 4oz can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 c chicken broth
1 14.5oz can chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 10oz pkg frozen corn
1 T chopped cilantro
Corn tortillas
Veg. oil

Directions:
Place hen, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles and garlic into a slow cooker.  Pour in chicken broth, and season w/cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.  Stir in corn and cilantro.  Cover, cook on Low for 12hours.  At this point, I usually let the entire slow cooker pot cool, then I place the removable pot into the refrigerator overnight.  The next morning I take out the hen and shred the chicken.  I pour the entire contents into a regular pot for the stovetop, along with the shredded chicken, and I reheat on the stove.  The extra day makes the soup flavors blend even more, and allows the hen to cool down enough to handle.

For tortillas:  Preheat oven to 400F, lightly brush both sides of tortillas w/oil.  Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.  Bake in oven until crisp, about 10-15min.

(*Note - original recipe found on www.allrecipes.com.)

Saturday, December 03, 2011

Omuraisu for Breakfast? Hai!!

Omu Rice - my son's favorite thing to eat for breakfast.  It's just a fried egg over fried rice.  What you don't see pictured here is the ketchup he smears over the top of the egg before digging in.  (Wasn't sure I could capture that attractively.) 

Mind you, the fried rice I use for omu rice is not the same that I make for a normal dish.  A lot less complicated, and because the omelette-style egg is placed on top, I don't add egg into the fried rice itself.  First, I fry up a few slices of bacon, let the slices cool and then I crumble them, and place to the side.  Depending on the amount of cold rice I take out of the fridge (placed in there from dinner the night before), I cook 1/4 c to 1/2 c of chopped onion in a different pan with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil over med-high heat.  Today I added some chopped up carrots for a little more flavor.  Next, the cold rice goes in and is stir fried until it looks about right.  I add the crumbled bacon and some flavoring - soy sauce of course, salt & pepper.  After it looks and tastes perfect, it goes on a plate.  In the same pan, I add the beaten egg (or eggs if you like the omelette to be thicker), and fry it up nice and golden, and FLAT.  It goes on top of the egg, and as earlier mentioned, top with ketchup!  Note: if I don't have bacon, I sometimes stir fry chicken in lieu.  Or, I'll just add some bacon grease to the onion while stir frying (making sure to lessen the amount of veg oil).  Oishii desu ne!