Chicken Tortilla Lime Soup

This is one of my favorite soups. I think the cilantro and fresh lime juice make it taste just like some I had in Mexico. Mmm The recipe has you make your tortilla strips, but I usually just use tortilla chips.

Chicken Tortilla Lime Soup (Raylene Hadley)
1-2 lbs chicken breasts or tenders seasoned with garlic powder, salt, pepper and 1/4 tsp cumin

(I usually just use 2 breasts)
olive oil cooking spray (I just use olive oil)
1 onion, chopped
1 red jalapeno, chopped (I can only find green, so that's what I use)
1 Anaheim chili, chopped
1/4 tsp chili powder
7 cups chicken stock or broth
1 c white sweet corn, fresh or frozen
1 can black beans, rinsed
1/3 c cilantro, chopped
2-3 medium avacadoes, chopped (into small chuncks)
juice of 1 large lime (1/4 cup)
½ c grated low fat jack or chedder cheese
tortilla strips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place seasoned chicken in one layer on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes for tenders or 25 minutes for chicken breasts, or until jucies run clear. Remove from oven and cool. Then shred or cut into 1-inch pieces and set aside.

Spray a large Dutch oven or stock pot lightly with cooking spray and heat over medium high. Add onion and red jalapeno peppers to pan and sauté until onion is translucent. Add Anaheim pepers and 1/8 tsp. chili powder to onions and continue to sauté for another minute.

Add chicken broth to onion and pepper mixture along with chcken and corn, beans, cilantro, and lime juice. Simmer for 5-10 minutes over medium until all ingredients are heated through. Adjust seasonings if necessary with salt, cumin, extra lime juice and fresh pepper. Add chopped avacadoes.

Pour soup into bowls top with tortilla strips and cheese.

Yeild six 2-cup servings each at approximately 295 calories; 4.5 grams of total fat; 1.4 grams sturated fat; 31 grams total carboydtrate; 4.4 grams dietary fiber; and 33 grams of protien.

Chocolate Puddin' ... Surprise!

I heard about chocolate pudding made with avocados. I thought it would be a good way to get the kids to eat some extra veggies and a low sugar, chocolatey treat. So I googled it and found a lot of variations. I decided to try two different kinds and see which I like better. I changed them a bit to my own liking.

I liked the 1st one better. I thought the banana flavor was to strong in the second. My husband even ate it. I didn't think he would since he saw me making it. I know, it sounds weird. But seriously, go buy an avocado and try it. You'll be surprised.

Avocado Chocolate Pudding

2 avocados

1/4 cup coco powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoon vanilla

5 Tablespoons agave nectar

Put it all in the blender and blend until smooth. Chill for 2 hours.

The original recipe calls for 1/4 c water, but I decided to omit it cause I thought it would end up runny. I was having a hard time getting it to blend so I added a couple spoons of plain yogurt and then a couple splashes of milk when that didn't work. Later while eating it I mixed in even more milk cause it was too thick. Next time I'll add the coco powder last. Also all the comments said to make sure and let it chill long enough so the flavors can blend.

Avocado Banana Chocolate Pudding

1 avocado

1 Banana

1/4 c coco powder

1/2 c milk

2 Tablespoons agave nectar

Blend in blender. Refrigerate 1 hour. (I didn't bother cleaning out the blender between recipes.)

guacamole

I love avocados. Whenever they go on sale I buy a bunch and make some guacamole. This time I used the recipe in the Barefoot Contessa cookbook as a guide. Very basic ingredients- avocados, red onions, tomatoes, garlic, lemon, salt, pepper and tabasco sauce. I didn't have any tabasco or lemon, but it was still so yummy. Don't let the small portion on a plate fool you, that's just for the picture. I always eat it straight out the bowl, and I usually eat the whole thing myself (sometimes Kurt gets some). Do I feel guilt for eating a whole bowl by myself? Of course not! All there is in this recipe is fresh veggies! What could be healthier.