Recipe: Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

Last week I mentioned that I made (or at that point was making) some Chicken Enchilada Soup in the slow cooker.  Joan and I were hoping it would be good, like that from the Grumpy Troll.  Well it was darn close.  If the Grumpy Troll’s is a 10, than this would’ve been a 9.  I found the recipe on a website called “365 Days of Slow Cooking.”  As always I tinkered with their recipe a bit and this is what I’ve posted below.  (Ok, I’m now realizing I didn’t tinker that much at all really.  I just changed one ingredient and added another.  So this is basically just a reposting from “365 Days of Slow Cooking,” but whatever…)

The one thing that Joan and I thought this recipe needed was some smoky spiciness.  That would’ve made it a 10 for our personal tastes.  Next time we’ll be adding some chipotle pepper to the soup, or using it in place of the regular chili powder.  

Recipe:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs --- (we used chicken breasts)

2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes

2 (4 oz) cans diced green chilies --- (easiest to find in the Hispanic section of the grocery store)

2 (8 oz) cans of tomato sauce

2 (14 oz) cans of black beans (drained)

1/3 cup diced white onion

1 cup chicken broth

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 cup enchilada sauce (mild, medium, or hot) --- (we used medium but will use hot next time)

1 cup frozen corn (cook according to package and drain)

8 oz reduced fat cream cheese

Grated / shredded cheddar cheese

Tortilla chips / tortilla chip strips

1) Add everything from the chicken through the enchilada sauce to the slow cooker.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours.  

2) After that time, remove the chicken and shred into pieces.  Place shredded chicken back into slow cooker. 

3) Prepare the frozen corn, drain, and add to the soup.

4) Next cut the cream cheese into pieces, add to soup, and stir.  The cream cheese will completely melt into soup after a few minutes and then is ready to serve. 

5) Serve in bowls, top with cheese and tortilla chips, and enjoy.  

Mostly Quiet on the Cooking Front

I’m really wanting to be post more often on this blog this year (and both of my blogs in general), but nothing that exciting has really been super blog worthy.  I guess I always have in mind that there will be this one great meal or food project for the week, deserving the award of being posted on Farm Boy to Foodie.  That isn’t always going to happen in reality, so I need to start enjoying the little things, the little triumphs in the kitchen. 

With that in mind, here are some quick hits of some things food related that have happened since my last post:

--- I briefly mentioned in my last post that I was going to try a different recipe for shepherd’s pie.  Well it was so-so.  Normally when we’ve done shepherd’s pie, it’s the lazy route versus the traditional way.  It’s just a quick version that I devised, kind of based off of tator tot casserole.  The “underneath” layer is the same – browned ground meat, mixed with cooked mixed frozen vegetables, and a can of cream of mushroom soup.  Then instead of topping with tator tots you top it with mashed potatoes (boiled and mashed up potatoes that you’ve added milk, butter, and seasoning). 

 

Well this new recipe was odd in that it was half traditional and half quick.  It used ground turkey instead of beef or lamb, which is completely fine and which we often do anyway.  Of course, the mashed potato topping was also the same.  The weird part was the vegetables.  It used frozen pearl onions and frozen peas, but then used raw carrots.  Especially after re-remembering how much of a pain it is to chop carrots into small chunks, this recipe will be changed to use frozen next time.  The raw carrots didn’t add that much more carrot flavor anyway.  The thing I did like though is that instead of using a can of cream soup to thicken the meat and veggie mixture, it basically had you make a gravy with chicken broth and flour in the pan with the ground meat as you finished browning it. 

 

I think my new go-to recipe for shepherd’s pie will be something between this recipe and what I’ve normally done.  The frozen mixed vegetables will remain, but I think I’ll lose the cream of mushroom soup.  Instead I’ll make the simple gravy because, well, who doesn’t like gravy?

--- When planning dinners for the week, I always like to have at least one salad.  This past week’s salad was just sort of made between Joan and I and it was a huge hit.  We had some leftover bacon from BLTs the night before, so we topped our romaine lettuce with that as well as walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, Granny Smith apple, and a simple vinaigrette dressing.  It was sooo good.  It had a good amount of “stuff” in it, so it was filling and hearty salad, good for a cold winter night. 

--- On one weekday night last week (don’t remember which), we finally made our way to the TeaSource in Saint Paul so I could pick up my January tea as part of my “Tea of the Month” club membership.  We also had some gift cards to use up from Christmas, so it was the normal tea buying extravaganza.  This month however I didn’t try any new teas or any different green teas, so the tea purchased was pretty ordinary.  Well ordinary for us anyway in that it was all black tea.  We go through black tea quite quickly since we make a big strong pot every morning.  The teas we purchased were Breakfast Assam (for making chai and drinking straight), Grand Keemun, Welsh Morning, China Black Special, and Moon over Madagascar.

--- Lastly, I just wanted to share a picture of the copious amount of canned goods that I purchased on the last grocery run. 

The Progresso canned soups are meals in themselves of course and the two cans of Rotel were on sale (we’ll use them for chili eventually).  Everything else though will be going in the slow cooker is currently in the slow cooker with other ingredients for this evening’s dinner – Chicken Enchilada Soup.  It’s been great soup weather today, with this morning’s 8 am temperature of -15 and the balmy daytime high of 5F.  Besides warming us, Joan and I are hoping the soup will be similar to the great chicken enchilada soup at the Grumpy Troll (the Madison area restaurant we probably miss most).  If it’s anything remotely close, this recipe will be a keeper, and I’ll be sure to share the recipe on here.

--- Ok, one last pic.  Do you think we might be making cheesecake soon?