Chicken Enchilada Soup

I am not certain how working women pulled off having dinner ready at any sort of a reasonable time (read before 9:00 pm) before the invention of the crock pot. Seriously, I cook in a crock pot at least three times a week. Why, because I never know what time I will get home and when I do get home the last thing I want to do is cook over the stove, I just want yummy food ready to go when I walk in the door, hence my obsession love of the crock pot.

Now that fall is definitely upon us I have gotten back into soups (LOVE soup during the colder months, which in northern Minnesota is October through April May). My most recent soup is from THIS PIN on pinterest. I also LOVE pinterest and actually cook and make things off of there weekly.

Here is the soup I made this week:

Add everything except the cheese and cilantro and cook on high for 3 to 4 hours.  Add the cheese and sprinkle with cilantro just before serving

Chicken Enchilada Soup

3 cups chicken stock
2 skinless, taw chicken breasts diced into small pieces
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp  chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 jalapeno peppers, minced
2 green bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups frozen corn
1/2 cup tomato paste
8 oz colbyjack cheese, shredded (because this is what I had in the house)
8 oz pepperjack cheese, divided
1 cup cilantro, chopped
Tortillas

Dump everything, except the cheese and tortillas, into the crock pot, reserve some of the cilantro to be spread over the top. Add most of the cheese with about fifteen minutes left in cooking. I also added strips of tortillas at this point. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the bowls of soup as they are served. I also had some tortilla chips sitting around that I crushed and put a few on the top of the bowls of soup as well.

I am sure there are 12,000 things you could do to this soup to change it up a bit. We loved it and enjoyed eating it for a few days.


Do you have any great crock pot recipes you want to share?
Do you like soup season?
What are your go-to meals?

Crockpot Connoisseur - Chicken

I found this recipe here.
Seriously the EASIEST way to cook a whole chicken.
I bought a whole chicken without the insides in it so all I had to do was rinse it under water and put in the crockpot for 6-8 hours.
I made a rub to go on the outside:

• 3 tsp salt

• 2 tsp paprika

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1 tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp thyme

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp black pepper

It was ridiculously easy.I added some minced onion to it because I didn't have any onion in my house.


I was floored that there was no liquid required to this recipe. I seriously just put the whole chicken in there and when it was done cooking it was falling off the bone delicious!

TRY THIS RECIPE


[fail. I forgot to take a picture of the deliciousness]

Crockpot connoisseur - Caramel Apple Cider

4 cups apple cider

3 tablespoons caramel syrup (the ice cream topping)

1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

I times this recipe by four and made a gallon's worth of hot cider. 

I made this recipe for the pintrest party I hosted last Friday night. The group absolutely loved the cider, I was sort of hoping that I would have some left over so I could drink it throughout the week, but alas they drank it all minus a glass that I drank while cleaning up my house.

This was delicious and seriously way too easy to be this good, this will totally be my holiday party go to drink to bring somewhere. I only had it heating for a couple hours on high before the party, the drink was plenty warm and delightful. The only helpful hint I will give is each time before you serve it give the mixture a good whisking because the caramel does tend to sink to the bottom, but this is seriously trivial for how good this stuff is!

I highly recommend everyone make this!

Crockpot Connoisseur - Beef Stroganoff Review

Beef Stroganoff (originally found here)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pounds top round steak, cut into strips
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 (8 ounce) can of canned mushrooms
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon dried chives
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cube beef bouillon
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
• 1/2 cup parsley

Directions:

1. Place the beef in the crock pot, add salt and pepper, onion, mushroom soup, canned mushrooms, water, chives, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and beef bouillon.
2. In a small bow, mix together the wine and flour. Pour over mixture.
3. Stir everything together
4. Cover, and sit and wait and smell the gloriousness for 6-7 hours as it cooks on low. Stir in the sour cream and parsley and cook for 1 more hour.
5. Serve over egg noodles and ENJOY!

Review:

• Delicious & SUPER EASY to make - [although we enjoyed it a day later than anticipated because I forgot to turn on the crock pot - note it is helpful to plug in the crock pot when you are cooking with it - I spaced out]
• Lots of leftovers - 2 adults were eating and we are still eating off of it - we both have eaten two meals of it so far - I need to pick up another bag of egg noodles to pour the sauce over
• I cut the onion just a little because Marc & I don't love onion - we love the flavor but not actually eating them - I used a 1/4 an onion chopped and added some onion powder

Confession:

• I LOVE LOVE LOVE cooking with a crock pot - there is something glorious about coming home or not having to worry about what is for dinner when the time comes but rather just know that something glorious has been cooking all day.
• I love love love leftovers as well. Seriously Marc and I love just being able to heat up something for meals rather than having to do all the cooking all of the time.