Tortilla Soup

     I know it is not exactly soup season but I have wanted to share this recipe for a while.  It is a huge hit at our house!  For a long time I was on the hunt for a good tortilla soup, something similar to the tortilla soup at Qdoba.  I absolutely love their soup!!!!  But it is pretty pricey for a tiny little bowl.  So I wanted to find out how I can make it myself.  I found this recipe in my Southern Living Cookbook.  They called it Green Chile Soup (doesn't taste anything like green chilies).  I made a few adjustments to their recipe and I call it Tortilla Soup.  It is a huge hit in our house.  My husband told me he wants me to make it every week! It is the closest I have come to the Qdoba soup.  It is so easy to make, really low fat, and delicious!

 Tortilla Soup recipe:

1 1/2 lbs cooked boneless skinless chicken breasts cut up/cubed  to your liking (you can use rotisserie   chicken as a short cut)

2-3 cans of green chilies, undrained
2 cans of pinto beans, undrained
1 can stewed tomatoes, undrained (I cut up larger chunks of tomatoes)
1/4- 1/2 onion diced
1 can chicken broth
1-2 cups of water ( I usually use only 1)
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1 clove garlic crushed/minced

Put all in a pot on the stove and cook until hot. 

Optional Toppings:  avocado, cheese, crushed tortilla chips, and sour cream
I only add avocado!  But for my kids, I add sour cream and a little cheese to tone down the spicy flavor. 

Hope you like it!

Amy

Ty's 7th Birthday

We recently celebrated my son Ty's 7th birthday.  Last year, we had a big party at Recreation Unlimited.  He invited all the boys in his class, his neighbor friends, and his cousins.  There were about 20 kids.  This was the first time we didn't do a small party at our home.  It was a lot of fun, but those places can be pricey and I decided to do something a little smaller this year.  The dilemma ..... it is hard to do one celebration and keep it small since we have 9 cousins, 3 neighbor friends (that's not even counting the girls), and then numerous school friends.  Another problem is his birthday is November 26th, so scheduling around Thanksgiving is always a headache.  SO we decided we would have a separate family b-day party, a neighbor "party", and an after school "play date" with several friends.  Sounds like more work, right? But actually it was so easy.  My mom hosted the family b-day party and we celebrated all the November birthdays in our family.  Easy enough!  We had 3 school friends over after school on a Friday for several hours.  Done.  For the neighbor party, we did a movie night. 

I gave Ty several choices to choose for the movie.  I knew it needed to be a movie that would appeal to both boys and girls. And he chose........

 

 The kids hand delivered movie night invitations/tickets to the neighbor kids. 

I found a recipe for these awesome popcorn cupcakes at Duhlicious and there was a free printable for the the popcorn wrapper.  I think they turned out great and they were so easy to make.  Most important the kids loved them.  I still can't believe how much these looked like real popcorn!

I popped about 10 bags of microwave popcorn,  I can't believe how much they ate.

I bought the large popcorn container at Target awhile back.  It was in the dollar bin section.  And I found the individual popcorn bags at Hobby Lobby, that way the kids could just refill their own bag as needed.

For their goody bags, I sent each kid home with some white chocolate popcorn. (recipe below).  I got this recipe from a friend and it is so good and addictive!

                                    White Chocolate Popcorn Recipe:

                                     1 bag of microwave popcorn
                                     1lb. white chocolate/almond bark
                                     1 cup of crushed fritos
                                     1 cup of M&M's

    Pop popcorn, mix in fritos, melt chocolate as directed and pour over popcorn and stir until evenly coated.   Add M&M's and stir.  Spread onto wax paper and let white chocolate harden.  Store in airtight container.

 Ty and his friends had a lot of fun and it was such an easy party! 

One party done....now it is time to start planning my daughters party in March. 

Amy