Great Use for Leftover Turkey – Mexican Cheese Soup

How many people were out and about bright and early this morning for all those bargains?  Yup, me too.  Hopefully you found some good ones and it wasn’t as much of a mad house as they were saying last year it was on tv.  Oy!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s so time to think about Christmas.  I’ve been fighting (not really) hubby since August that we shouldn’t put the tree up yet, especially since we were hosting Thanksgiving at our house.  I have always wanted to make a turkey and last year I got my chance.  So this year when mom mentioned that she’d do it so I didn’t have to I gave her weird eyes.  She’s like what, do you want to do it.  I said, “Well yeah.”  So she said she’d do Christmas.

The one thing that comes with Christmas time and really fall in general, colder weather.  What’s nice to eat during colder weather?  A warm bowl of soup!  And hey, this recipe, if you’re tired of eating that Turkey as turkey, would make a great way to use up some of that left over turkey.  Now I didn’t make this particular batch with turkey, I used chicken, but hey a lot of times chicken and turkey are interchanged so heck go for it, why not!

My momma came across this recipe some years back at a pot luck at work I believe.  Now I’m not a huge fan of Tortilla soup, and I really couldn’t tell you why, but I have a feeling I’m so stuck on this one that nothing else compares… maybe, maybe not, but either way I hope you enjoy this soup as much as I do!  {easy complete recipe at bottom without pictures}

In dutch oven, melt butter, add onions and cut-up chicken breasts.  Brown meat until cooked through. 

Add broth,

soup,

salsa,

and seasonings.  Stir and cook until bubbly. 

Hubby requested that I add corn as well.  I just guessed so I’m not sure how much I dumped in, about a cup or so.

Add cheese and stir until melted. 

Stir in cream.  (The amount can vary, depending on how thick you desire.)  I generally use Fat Free Half and Half.  Save on fat grams and calories, plus the cream makes it really thick, this gives more of a soup consistency and the tortillas at the end also help thicken it.

Add olives.  When you’re holding a camera and a can, you get creative on how you scrape the can out 🙂

Keep warm until almost ready to serve.  Slice several flour tortillas into strips and add to soup, stirring.  (This may cause to thicken.  Add milk to thin, if desired)  I didn’t actually have flour tortillas that day so we just didn’t add any in.

And the whole time I was cooking lunch, Tbug, Dad and Hubby were playing Rummy.

Oddly they kept asking me to play… um… hello, I’m working on lunch =P

Ladle into bowls,, add a dollop of sour cream and top with more olives. 

Serve with chips.  Ok so we didn’t have the tortillas or more olives.  I topped mine with chips but hubby went the Jalapeno route :).  Whatever suits your fancy!

Mexican Cheese Soup

2 Chicken Breasts
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 cup salsa
2 tbsp Chili Powder
8oz Cheddar Cheese
Pepper
1 can Chicken Broth
1/4 cup Butter
2 green onions (chopped)
1 cup Heavy Cream (I always use Fat Free Half and half, works just fine & doesn’t get quite as thick)
1 can Black Olives (Chopped)
1 pkg Flour Tortillas

In dutch oven, melt butter, add onions and cut-up chicken breasts.  Brown meat until cooked through.  Add broth, soup, salsa, and seasonings.  Stir and cook until bubbly.  Add cheese and stir until melted.  Stir in cream.  (The amount can vary, depending on how thick you desire.)  Add olives.  Keep warm until almost ready to serve.  Slice several flour tortillas into strips and add to soup, stirring.  (This may cause to thicken.  Add milk to thin, if desired)  Ladle into bowls,, add a dollop of sour cream and top with more olives.  Serve with chips.

Serves 6.

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Thanksgiving Quiz

Sorry I thought it was cute 🙂

  1. How many pilgrims came over on the Mayflower
    a. 89
    b. 185
    c. 102
    d. 217
  2. In what year did the first American Thanksgiving Celebration take place?
    a. 1900
    b. 1492
    c. 1621
    d. 1776
  3. How long did the first Thanksgiving Feast Last?
    a. One day
    b. One week
    c. Three days
    d. Four days
  4. What does the term “cornucopia” mean?
    a. Corn Husks
    b. Horn of Plenty
    c. A Greek
    d. A traditional corn dish
  5. Approximately how many feathers does a mature turkey have?
    a. 750
    b. 1500
    c. 3500
    d. 4000
  6. Which US state produces the most turkeys annually?
    a. Alabama
    b. North Carolina
    c. Missouri
    d. Arkansas
  7. How fast can wild Turkeys run?
    a. 15mph
    b. 55mph
    c. 5mph
    d. 25mph
  8. Which country consumes the most turkey per year – per capita?
    a. Isreal
    b. United States
    c. Mexico
    d. Germany
  9. How high must a cranberry bounce before it is harvested?
    a. 6 inches
    b. 3 inches
    c. 8 inches
    d. 4 inches
  10. Who was the first President to make Thanksgiving a National Holiday?
    a. Washington
    b. Lincoln
    c. Jefferson
    d. Roosevelt

Answers to come tomorrow 🙂  I know I’m mean.  Happy Day before Thanksgiving!  With all the bad in the world, we all still have so much to be thankful for!

Btw, who thinks it feels like Thanksgiving is WAY early this year!?!?

I Love Sonic – Especially the Convos

Um… does that title have you scratching your head?  Don’t worry, I might be also… but let me explain!

I like sonic, I really do.  Their ice is the bomb, a Lemon Berry Slush is something dreams are made of!  And I swear, this post is not slamming them at all.  Just throwing some fun out there.

BUT…

My husband and I always have very random conversations with them.

One day he went and the guy came on and said,

Welcome to the wonderful world of sonic on this beautiful summer day where the sky is blue and the sun is shining and it’s a lovely 74 degrees outside.  My name is {so and so} and I’d absolutely LOVE to take your order.

um… ok really?  Then after hubby placed his order the guy told him his total in the same kind of manner.

Now it is entertaining, I’ll give you that, but when you’re on your lunch hour trying to get things done, those long schpeel’s take forever and eat into your hour.

So another time we went I just had to share the conversation on facebook because it cracked me up…

Um… I’m not sure Cherry or vanilla added to tea would be all that appetizing.  But maybe they’re on to something….

Yesterday hubby asked me to meet him in town and swap vehicles.  He decided he’d like Sonic, I beat him there so I went ahead and ordered.

Me: I’d like a Large Sweet Tea, a Route 44 Sweet Tea… (rest of order)…

Now you know after you place your order they offer you something…  Here’s what I was offered…

Sonic worker: Would you like a drink with that.

I couldn’t help but giggle.  me: “No thank you, I’m good.”

And I really feel like I’m making fun of or mocking these people, I’m not!  I promise.  I do love these conversations though and I want to remember them.  I’ve been known to say screwball things!  It’s all good.  But I just wanted to help make your Tuesday!

If you’ve had fun conversations like these, please share!!

P.S. Linking up with the gals, SS & IA!!


& Stacy
Stacy

and Cool Mom Guide

My Weekend Recap & a Prayer Request

Haha so my Sunday late afternoon before Sunday Night dinner was spent watching Lifetime Movies.  Oh no, the Christmas movie watching has commenced.  I love Christmas movies!  Actually truth be told I watch them year round, however tv has started airing them and I’ve started watching new ones!

A couple things I’m looking forward to this week, you know besides the obvious, Thanksgiving! … A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (or whatever the official title is), Our Friendsgiving next Sunday night and The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. :).  However I wondered if Hurricane Sandy had any effect on that?  Anyone know?

Generally I don’t get to watch the parade because I’m usually always on the road, either headed to my aunts house in southern Oklahoma or running around here visiting people.  This year I’ve made it a point that I’d REALLY like to watch the parade, but it probably won’t happen either.  Maybe I’ll DVR it and watch it later but that’s so not the same.  We’ll see.

Anyway…

One of my friend’s husbands is having surgery today.  I’d really appreciate extra prayers and thoughts sent their way!  It isn’t really my place to go into details so I won’t, but I’d just like some extra love sent their way!!

Yesterday I made some food and took to them so that they didn’t have to worry about cooking after the surgery!  One less thing they have to stress about!  It is out patient surgery so that’s definitely a good thing!

I made them Mexican Cheese Soup (recipe to follow this week!)

Store bought Pillsbury Reece’s peanut butter cookies.  Earl will be so happy that I cheated with store bought and didn’t make from scratch… lol 🙂  btw, very good, I recommend!  and nope, they didn’t pay me to say that!

And the finale was Mexican Lasagna.  So thought I’ve shared this recipe with you, but hubby says he’s never had it which means I haven’t made it in the whole time this blog has been up and running so I’ll share that shortly too :).  You’re welcome. ha!

Now I must confess, in both of the dishes (not the cookies) I had issues with the onions.  I seriously thought the Mexican Cheese Soup was supposed to have onions and green onions… no such thing!  Then with the Mexican Lasagna, it was supposed to have half an onion and I decided to dice the whole thing.  Sure, why not!

So the take home message from today’s post is:

  • Keep my friend and her husband in your prayers!
  • I really want to watch the parade.
  • I know how to cook and will soon share recipes (some even as early as this week)
  • I love Christmas movies.
  • Onions and I don’t get along apparently.
    • Onions have layers… just ask Shrek 🙂

Ok anyway Happy Monday!  This is a short work week and will end with a wonderful family get together which is definitely a reason to be Thankful!

Linking up with Meg and Molly today!

stillbeingmolly

Minerva Candy Co. – Webb City, MO

So back on October 26th, one of my co-workers/friend sent some other friends and me an email about his brother’s latest investment and his brother’s photo in the news article.  The article was talking about Minerva Candy Company in Webb City along with the Bearded Lady Roasters, a two-man coffee company that is located inside of Minerva Candy Company.

Well J recently got a new job (still in our company but different department/group) so a bunch of us decided to take him to lunch.  The other J suggested Minerva Candy Co. so Friday for lunch we all loaded up and that’s where we headed.

Their menu was unique because it opened top to bottom as opposed to side to side.

(more…)

On The Border – Oklahoma City, OK

One of these days I’ll quit talking about Oklahoma City and the AQHA World Show but today isn’t one of those days.  Getting close though, I promise!

After the Amateur Go-rounds we decided we were hungry.  It was about 1:30 or so, so we figured we’d have by passed the lunch crowd, but when we got there, we were on a small waiting list.  About 20 minutes later it was finally time to sit and eat.

Like most Mexican restaurants, they started us off with chips and salsa while we looked at our menu.

When asked if we’d like to start with an appetizer, we chose the Queso.  Hello yummy Cheese dip.

(more…)

Cattleman’s Steakhouse Cafe – Oklahoma City, OK

I really think I almost need a label that is like television or something :).  You’ll see why in a bit…

Anyway Sunday before we headed out of town we finally made it to Stockyard City.  Pretty cool place from what I can tell, now I just really need to get back there and check it all out.  Seriously, of all the times I’ve been to Oklahoma City, it pretty much is passing through or going to the fairgrounds.  I’d like to see what more the city has to offer.

Anyway I was kind of feeling steak and so was everyone else so we headed off to Cattleman’s Steakhouse Cafe.  For the 2 o’clock hour on a Sunday afternoon there was a wait and the place was packed.  I guess that shows what kind of a reputation they have.

Please enter, won’t you?  I so want door handles like these!

(more…)

Shorty Smalls – Oklahoma City

One thing I absolutely love about traveling is trying out places we don’t have around home.  Saturday night after we watched the Reining finals at the AQHA World Show, we were all hungry and tired.  Luckily only a couple miles from the fairgrounds are a ton of restaurants to eat at; the one we settled on was Shorty Smalls.

Now truthfully I kept asking about this restaurant because the name sounded vaguely familiar.  I’m still not sure but I think there used to be one in Springfield I ate at back in my teenage years for my cousins birthday.  Anyway that’s not the point of this post, the point of this post is… We ate at Shorty Smalls in OKC.  That’s what matters anyway right?  Feeding our bellies when we’re hungry… LOL :).

One thing I love about going in to restaurants like these are the cute shirts with the cute sayings/logos on them.  And look at their menu.  It looks like a newspaper.  Love it! (more…)

The Girl Has Priorities

So obviously if you’ve read pretty much any blog post from this week, you’ll know that we went to the AQHA World Show over the weekend.

Plans had been in the works for a little over a month.  Well the previous Sunday Tbug was with us some of the last words out of her mouth were, “Don’t forget my boots.”  about 50 times.  Kinda of not exaggerating either.  In fact, she wanted to put a note/sign on my husbands forehead so that every time I saw him I would be reminded about her boots.

I thought it was hilarious but really with all the pressure was afraid I might forget so I set a reminder up in my phone, hubby had one on his, and my friend Earl even set one up on hers.  One way or another those boots were going to make it to OKC.

So Friday morning I was woke up at 6:15am to a phone call from Tbug telling me not to forget her boots.  Good news, I didn’t forget the boots.  What cracks me up the most though is she wasn’t worried about her clothes or hat or jacket.  Come on, the girl has priorities :).

And every girl needs to experience having their boots shined!

Some other cute things that happened on the way down and while there…..

I Quote: You’re not fully dressed unless your hats on your head.

On our way to JL’s BBQ:

Tbug to Grandma: Know how I could live?
Grandma: How
Tbug: On this toast (grandma’s garlic toast) and JL’s Ribs

As we approached the Big Cabin exit on I-44

Tbug to Grandpa: Grandpa you need to turn here, it’s an emergency.  A rib emergency.

At the actual show:

Tbug: I love the smell of horse in the afternoon
Hubby: Does she realize it’s still morning?

And one last photo.  Thursday night when I went to get her hat out of her closet, look what I found in her closet.  Do you really think a Sonic cup should be in there?  Sad thing is, who knows how long it has really been there, probably at least 2 weeks give or take….