Sunday, January 30, 2011

Southwestern Cream of Chicken Soup

I just made the best soup - Southwestern Cream of Chicken Soup!
Yes we have already eaten- I feel like an old lady eating at 5 o'clock but once you smell this you wont want to wait till dinner time to eat it either.

I have been on a soup kick lately and have been trying several different recipes.
This one I am keeping forever and will definitely make again. I found it on the blog "For the Love of Cooking" and she got it from the magazine Cuisine at Home. She made a few changes from the original recipe and I had to add my own twist and changed two things from her version.
Are you familiar with this blog? I have made one other recipe from her site but everything she talks about looks really good!


  • 1 tbsp of olive oil
  • 1 tbsp of butter
  • 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
  • 1 poblano pepper, seeded and diced
  • 1/2 cup of sweet yellow onion, diced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp coriander
  • Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
  • 6 tbsp flour (divided)
  • 3 cups of low fat milk
  • 2 cups of chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup dry converted white rice
  • 2 cups of jack cheese, shredded
  • 2 cups of roasted chicken, chopped
  • 2 tbsp of fresh cilantro, chopped


Melt the butter and olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the bell pepper, poblano pepper, onion, chili powder, cumin, coriander, sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Sweat the mixture for 5-6 minutes or until the veggies begin to soften. Add the minced garlic, and stir constantly for 1 minute. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add the broth and milk then whisk until smooth. Add the rice and let simmer (DO NOT LET IT BOIL) for 25 minutes, or until the rice is tender.

Combine the cheese with the remaining 3 tablespoons of flour in a zip lock bag; toss to coat. Coating the cheese with flour before adding to the soup helps prevent the cheese from separating in the soup. Add the cheese to the soup a handful at a time, stirring to melt completely before adding the next handful. Add chicken and cilantro to heat, 3-5 minutes. Taste the soup and re-season if needed. Serve immediately. Enjoy.


My modifications: I added a can of Rotel tomatoes and I boiled chicken in the chicken broth and used that instead of rotisserie chicken.

Monday, January 10, 2011

2010 Recap

2o1o was a great year and before I look forward to 2011 I want to recap on what all 2010 had to offer.

Jeff and I got engaged in 2009 so 2010 was off to a great start with an engagement party in January




Several late night dance parties





Met up with friend in Charleston, SC for my bachlorette party





Our Wedding



Our get away car was a cop car- He handcuffed us and stuck us in the back


Our Honeymoon
- Saint Lucia








Our new addition to the family: Ellie




There is soo much more but those were some of the highlights. I look forward to 2011!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

New Camera!!!


Happy New Year! I know it's a little late but better late than never!

I am soo excited because Anne and I got new cameras for Christmas! I have been wanting one for a while now but thought I wouldn't get one for some time. But.... I got one!!! It's a canon EOS Rebel T2i

I have been trying to read up on it and learn everything I can as fast as I can, but there's so much it can do. I did find out that in order to have the good quality photo's show up on my blog I needed to create a flickr account. Done! Now I just need to figure out how to post more than one pic at a time ;) Seems simple but I haven't figured it out yet. I need to talk to one of my several talented friends about how they upload multiple pictures.

Hopefully, I will learn how to use my camera fast and post some great pictures.