Food Fun Family

The BEST Fall Soups – Delicious Dishes Recipe Party #136

Lolli — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 11:01:26 +0000

This may be an unpopular opinion in some parts, but I’ll take soup over pumpkin spice ANY day of the week. I LOVE soup.

I made a new soup last night (I plan on featuring on the blog soon) because I had been craving my creamy chicken poblano soup and had gathered all of the ingredients to make it, but the store was out of poblano peppers (a key ingredient! lol). So I decided to tweak another recipe and make a creamy chicken soup with rice. It was delicious!

What are your favorite soup recipes? We were impressed with the soup recipes that our readers have been sharing lately, and hand-picked a few of our favorites.

Welcome to Delicious Dishes Recipe Party! In case you’re new to the party, here’s what you need to know:

Delicious Dishes is a weekly link party where bloggers can share their most delicious recipes while checking out the amazing recipes that other bloggers are sharing.

Each link you share here will be seen on each of the hostess’ blogs listed below >>

Food Fun Family – Blog / Facebook / Pinterest

She Saved – Blog / Facebook / Pinterest

Walking on Sunshine Recipes – Blog / Facebook / Pinterest

This Mama Loves – Blog / Facebook / Pinterest

Clever Housewife – Blog / Facebook / Pinterest

Bunny’s Warm Oven –Blog / Facebook / Pinterest

Each week we will be featuring our favorite recipes from the week before and pinning them to our Delicious Dishes Pinterest board.

We hope you’ll have fun with our party…we know we will!

The Recipes with the Most Clicks Last Week Were…

#1: Homemade Crusty Bread from Platter Talk

#2: Cute Turkey Brownie Cups from The Simple Parent

#3: Apple Cinnamon Muffins from My Boys and Their Toys

Delicious Dishes Party Favorites from Last Week:

These are the recipes that the hosts loved the most…

I loved Crock Pot Chicken Wild Rice Soup from Flour on My Face

Lois loved Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup from The Simple Parent

Brett loved Instant Pot Minestrone Soup from Cooking with Curls

Keri Lyn loved Easy Lasagna Soup from Food Fun Family

Emily loved Sweet Potato Soup from Organized Island

Mary loved Chicken Florentine Soup Recipe from Must Have Mom

Follow us along on our Pinterest board. We pin a ton of recipes that are shared to our linky party each week. So get your recipes ready. We can’t wait to see what’s cooking in your kitchen this week.

Now let’s get this party started!

An InLinkz Link-up

Instant Pot Bacon, Corn, And Potato Chowder

Lolli — Sat, 09 Dec 2017 02:36:20 +0000

I’m excited to introduce you to my favorite way to cook dinner, and my new go-to cookbook, How To Instant Pot by Daniel Shumski. Workman sent me a copy to check out, and is partnering with me for a giveaway! Amazon affiliate links are used within this post.

I just got back from a family cruise this past week, and while I was enjoying all the food I could eat, prepared by someone else (I mean, is there anything better in life??) I had multiple conversations with my aunt about my love for my Instant Pot. I was a fast convert about a year and a half ago, when I got my Instant Pot pressure cooker, and I have convinced many friends and family members to get their own (I’m serious. If you don’t have one already, you should get one for yourself for Christmas).

The problem I’ve found with these new Instant Pot owners is that they have no idea how to use it or what to make in it. The documentation that comes with the appliance is sorely lacking in helpful information, and if you don’t have a next door neighbor to walk you through the functions and all of the buttons, well, it could be easy to get lost or overwhelmed.

I am so excited about my new cookbook – How to Instant Pot by Daniel Shumski!! Not only is it full of delicious recipes with beautiful photos, but it answers ALL of your Instant Pot questions. Chapter 1 is full of helpful hints, tricks, and how-tos, written in easy-to-understand terms. And then each recipe spells out exactly what buttons you push and when, taking the guess work out of cooking with the Instant Pot.

I was drawn to this recipe for Bacon, Corn, and Potato Chowder (I mean, doesn’t it look delicious??), so I whipped it up for dinner the other night. It did not disappoint! The whole family loved it!

Yum

Instant Pot Bacon, Corn, And Potato Chowder

Ingredients

4 slices bacon, halved crosswise to yield 8 short strips
1 small white or yellow onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, leaves discarded, coarsely chopped
1 pound unpeeled red potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 bay leaves
2 cups reduced-salt chicken broth
3 cups (from one 16-ounce bag) frozen corn kernels
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 tsp hot sauce

Instructions

Line the bottom of the inner pot with the bacon. Press Saute and use the Saute or Adjust button to select the middle temperature ("Normal"). Cook with the lid off and use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to move the bacon around occassionally so that it cooks evenly. Cook until the bacon is crisp, about 6 minutes.
Remove the bacon, leaving behind the fat. Allow the bacon to drain on a paper towel-lined plate until step 7.
With the Saute function and middle temperature ("Normal") still selected, add the onion and celery to the bacon fat. Cook with the lid off, stirring occasionally, until the onion and celery soften, about 5 minutes.
Add the potatoes and bay leaves. Wait a moment and then pour in the broth. (Adding the potatoes first lets the temperature in the inner pot cool down a bit so that steam doesn't woosh up when the broth is added). Close and lock the lid. Set the valve to Sealing. Press Cancel, then press Manual or Pressure Cook and use the Pressure or Pressure Level button to select High Pressure. Use the - or + button to set the time to 1 minute.
When the cooking cycle ends, carefully use a wooden spoon to release the pressure by turning the pressure-release valve to Venting. (The pressure is released when the small metal float valve next to the pressure-release valve sinks back into the lid and the lid is no longer locked).
Remove the liid. Discard the bay leaves. Add the corn, thyme, salt, pepper, milk, and hot sauce. Press Cancel, then press Saute and use the Saute or Adjust button to select the lowest temperature ("Less"). Cook with the lid off, stirring occasionally, until the chowder is hot, about 5 minutes.
Chop the bacon. Add half of the bacon to the chowder and stir to distribute it; reserve the rest to use as a garnish.
Serve the chowder hot, garnished with the reserved bacon.

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Note: Bacon, Corn, and Potato Chowder will keep, in an airtight container in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days. To reheat, place the chowder in a pot and warm on the stovetop over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.

I loved adding some Ritz crackers, crushed, to my chowder. I highly recommend it!

About the Cookbook

Master the revolutionary appliance that’s changing the way we cook!

The only Instant Pot cookbook that is organized by function, How to Instant Pot is both a guide to understanding the Instant Pot basics and a foodie’s creative collection of over 100 recipes specially crafted to take advantage of the Instant Pot’s many virtues, from cooking perfect risotto in six minutes, no stirring required, to five kinds of yogurt, to creating one-hour killer chili and soups from scratch, using dried beans.

About the Author

Daniel Shumski is a writer and editor who has hunted ramen in Tokyo for the Washington Post and tracked down ice cream in Buenos Aires for the Los Angeles Times. Between stints at the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, he worked for a Midwestern heirloom apple orchard. His bestselling first book, Will It Waffle?: 53 Irresistible and Unexpected Recipes to Make in a Waffle Iron, won praise from the New York Times, People magazine, and Food52. He lives in Montreal.

Connect with the Book

Visit the Official Site
Interact with the book: Twitter | Instagram
Follow the publisher: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
#HowtoInstantPot

Win a “Hands Off!!” Prize Pack

Just in time for New Year menu planning, one (1) winner will receive:

a copy of How to Instant Pot
a trivet set and potholders to safely serve your hands-off meals

Giveaway open to US addresses only.
Prizing and samples provided by Workman Publishing.
This giveaway will end on 12/21 at 11:59pm ET, after which a winner will be chosen at random and notified via email. Good luck!

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Creamy Verde Chicken Chili

Lolli — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 16:59:44 +0000

This post is sponsored by Harmony Books. All thoughts and ideas are my own.

Dinner time is complicated enough in a busy family like mine. I want to feed my family healthy, wholesome foods, and instill good eating habits in my growing children. But dinner time is also the time when I’m running to pick up kids from after-school sports, finishing up projects for work, and running low on energy myself. Some days I admit I’m tempted to grab something quick and not-so-good-for-us.

This month, I was sent a copy of the brand new cookbook, Trim Healthy Mama’s Trim Healthy Table By Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison. Trim Healthy Mama’s Trim Healthy Table is published by Harmony Books and is available for purchase now!

This cookbook is filled to the brim with family-friendly recipes that focus not only on making better choices in the kitchen, but also on the value of sitting down together for family dinner. I love “fixing up” old family favorites, and this book had page upon page of family-friendly dishes.

One of the first recipes that caught my eye was a recipe for Creamy Verde Chicken Chili – something totally up my family’s alley. We love Tex-Mex flavors!

When I saw the ingredients list, I admit I was a little skeptical. Okra and cauliflower in chicken chili? I was afraid my kids would turn their noses up at “hidden” healthy ingredients. After all, my kids are teenagers, so it’s not very easy to sneak anything past them!

I was amazed at how easy this recipe was to prepare. I put the chicken, salsa, beans, tomatoes, cauliflower, chicken broth, and seasoning blend* into my pressure cooker. Then I blended together the remaining ingredients and poured the mixture on top of everything. I closed and sealed the lid and turned the pressure cooker on. Then I waited while my house filled with the delicious smells of the Southwest.

I was shocked when my kids started eating that they immediately began commenting on how delicious it was. And then I was even more startled when they all reached for seconds to fill up their bowls again.

We will definitely be making this delicious chicken chili again in the near future. I can’t wait to try more of the recipes in this cookbook! I’m excited to try new ways to feed my family more healthy alternatives, while not sacrificing the time that we have together.

*the frozen small-cut seasoning blend is found in the frozen vegetable section of your grocery store and contains diced onion, celery, and bell pepper.

Creamy Verde Chicken Chili

Reprinted from Trim Healthy Mama; Trim Healthy Table. Copyright ©2017 by Pearl P. Barrett and Serene C. Allison. Published by Harmony Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

About Trim Healthy Mama’s Trim Healthy Table

From the bestselling authors of the Trim Healthy Mama Plan and Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook, a new cookbook for the whole family!

The Trim Healthy Mamas have helped hundreds of thousands of women lose weight and live healthier lives with their bestselling cookbook and eating plan and now they are ready to help the entire family! After experiencing incredible life transformations of their own, readers want to be able to help their families feel better and trim down, too.Trim Healthy Table is just the answer. It bursts with over 300 family friendly, delicious and trimming recipes, along with practical advice on how to healthfully nourish your family without going insane and chaining yourself to the kitchen.

Bestselling authors and sisters Serene Allison and Pearl Barrett have 18 children between them and their two families have been thriving on the Trim Healthy Mama plan for years. Trim Healthy Table contains all their best tips, tricks and encouragement for families, whether large or small. Serene and Pearl shamelessly share cunning ways to get picky eaters gobbling down veggies and other healthy foods they usually detest. You will learn how to painlessly use whole, unprocessed foods, including blood-sugar friendly carbs, fats, proteins, fruits and vegetables to create meals even the fussiest kids (and husbands) will love. You’ll also learn how one basic meal can make a whole family happy even with different nutritional needs. The quick and easy recipes include lots of one-pot dishes such as, skillet meals, slow cooker meals, electric pressure cooker meals, casserole and soups. With the recipes you can wake up to hearty breakfasts, prepare bars for on-the-go or try a creamy, quick-to-make smoothie, even Indulge yourself with the many trimming desserts…cake for breakfast is celebrated! And, if you’re simply looking for single serve 5 – 10 minute meals, the “Hangry Meal” chapter has you covered.

In addition to the hundreds of recipes, included is a “Simple Start Guide to the Trim Healthy Plan” which concisely explains how you can trim down by getting your blood sugar under control and how to, ever so gently, help other members in your family who may be struggling with weight issues. So, gather your family, bring them to the Trim Healthy Table… eat up… and trim down!

About the Authors

Photo Credit: David Bean Visual Reserve

PEARL BARRETT and SERENE ALLISON are sisters who share a passion for healthy eating. They both have large boisterous families and love to experiment in the kitchen on ways to best nourish their families while staying slim and healthy in the process. They are former Christian recording artists who traveled extensively for the record label, but they relinquished their touring careers to embrace a life at home with children, dinners, dishes, and diapers. They never looked back.

Win Trim Healthy Mama’s Trim Healthy Table

One lucky reader will receive a copy of Trim Healthy Mama’s Trim Healthy Table!

Open to US residents only. Prizing provided by Harmony Books. This giveaway will end at 11:59pm ET on October 4, 2017, after which a winner will be chosen at random and notified via email. Good luck!

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Connect with Trim Healthy Mama

Visit TrimHealthyMama.com
Follow the Trim Healthy Mamas on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter
Check out their Podcast and YouTube channel for more Trim Healthy content!

Instant Pot Vegetable Beef Soup

Lolli — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 12:00:54 +0000

I got my Instant Pot a few months ago when Instant Pots went on super sale on Amazon (I’m guessing you heard about the rush of Instant Pot sales like I did).

I had never used a pressure cooker before, but I was intrigued after seeing an infomercial while eating out at a restaurant with my friend in Colorado a couple of summers ago. It was one of those infomercials that made an electric pressure cooker look like a magic-worker. They’d throw something in the pot, cook for a few minutes, and pull out perfectly cooked meats and vegetables.

I had a hard time believing that what I saw on that infomercial was really possible. But when I saw an Instant Pot on super sale, I decided to give it a try. (PS – I’m linking to the Instant Pot I bought on Amazon, and I highly recommend that you keep an eye on it in case it goes on sale again before the holidays. Or just put it on your holiday wish list for someone to buy for you!).

Guess what? It really does work magic with food! After trying it for the first time, I was completely hooked, and I’ve been using my Instant Pot at least weekly (and often more than once a week) since then. I’m now making the best stews and roasts I’ve ever made, and any time I need to make dinner in 30 minutes, I turn to my Instant Pot for something quick and delicious.

And that’s where this soup comes in.

I had stocked up on ground beef and wanted to make something unique for dinner. I love making soups during the fall and winter, but SOUP is not the first thing I think of when I’m planning on using ground beef. I found a hamburger soup recipe from Pioneer Woman and modified the ingredients as well as the directions to make it Instant Pot-friendly. It was a hit with the whole family, and I was especially happy to have perfectly-cooked vegetables in less than 30 minutes.

Here’s how to make it:

Yum

Instant Pot Vegetable Beef Soup

Ingredients

2 lbs lean ground beef
1 large onion, diced
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes, with liquid
3 cups beef broth
4 carrots, sliced into round disks
3 stalks of celery, sliced or diced
3-4 medium-large potatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp ground oregano

Instructions

Turn Instant Pot on SAUTE; add ground beef, onion, and garlic and saute until beef is cooked through. Drain off as much of the oil as possible.
Add can of stewed tomatoes with liquid, breaking up the tomatoes into small pieces. Stir in beef broth, diced vegetables, tomato paste, and seasonings.
Place lid on the Instant Pot and close the vent (seal). Press the manual button and set the time for 4 minutes. Once the timer beeps, press cancel and turn the valve from seal to vent to release the pressure. Once all of the pressure has released and the silver valve has dropped, remove the lid.
Enjoy your soup!

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This soup can be cooked in a stock pot if you don’t have a pressure cooker. Just allow the soup to simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Do you have an Instant Pot? I’d love to hear about your favorite recipes to cook in the Instant Pot in the comments below!

Creamy Chicken Poblano Soup

Lolli — Fri, 28 Oct 2016 14:37:09 +0000

My mom and sister and I have a favorite poblano chicken soup that we love to eat at a food court when we’re together every August. A few years ago, I was lamenting the fact that I couldn’t make the delicious soup at home, and my sister happened to mention that she had a similar recipe that she made at home frequently. I was so excited to be able to make this soup at home! But…in my typical forgetful fashion, it took me another year or so before I actually got the recipe from her.

It was worth the wait.

Oh, this soup! While it’s not an exact copy of the chicken soup that we love to eat together every August, it’s a winner in its own right. This is pure comfort food in a bowl (and may I suggest serving it in a bread bowl? Mmmm! It’s even more delicious in a bread bowl).

I know that hot soups in August aren’t really typical, but come fall and winter? I could eat soup every day. Now that the weather has turned colder (and will just keep getting colder…boo!), I’m adding soups to the dinner menu a few times a week. I just can’t seem to get tired of soup, and this soup is a new family favorite.

Yum

Poblano Chicken Soup

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 poblano peppers, seeded and diced
5 stalks celery, diced
2 medium white onions, diced
3 carrots, diced
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin (or more if you love cumin like we do)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon thyme
3 quarts chicken broth
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
3 cups diced chicken (you can use rotisserie chicken or grill some chicken with cumin and garlic)
1/2 teaspoon sriracha sauce
1 cup heavy cream

Instructions

Heat oil in large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, onions, celery, garlic, peppers, salt, pepper, cumin, and thyme. Saute for 7-8 minutes.
Add chicken broth and cilantro and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
Add diced chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until the soup is heated through.
Shortly before serving, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add flour and stir to combine. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3-4 minutes. Do not allow to brown. Ladle 1 cup of the hot broth from the soup pot into the skillet, whisking constantly. When the first cup of liquid is incorporated, add another 2 cups, one at a time. Cook 3-5 minutes longer, until mixture has thickened.
Stir contents of the skillet back into the stockpot; whisk to blend. Add sriracha sauce and cream.
Serve with extra cilantro and crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

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This poblano chicken soup recipe shared by my talented sister who is an amazing cook! Her cookbook now lives on my phone as tiny pictures from a well-loved collection of recipes (because I was tired of wishing I could make all of her delicious dishes at home, so I just snapped pictures of all of the recipes I wanted….and slowly but surely I’m going to make all of them and type them out for my family. It’s a tasty challenge to be facing, let me tell you!).

Easy Lasagna Soup

Lolli — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 13:50:45 +0000

Last month, I shared a new family-friendly recipe using RAGU Homestyle Thick and Hearty Roasted Garlic Sauce (seriously, if you haven’t see this recipe for Chicken Parmesan Meatballs, you really should go save it now!).

This week, I was challenged to create another recipe using RAGU Homestyle sauces, and I immediately thought about trying a lasagna soup. I have seen several recipes for lasagna soup in the past that looked delicious….but a little complicated. I rarely make lasagna because it’s so time consuming – all of the layering (actually, dealing with wet, floppy, sticky cooked noodles is enough to deter me!).

But we LOVE eating lasagna – the sauce, the cheese, the noodles – at our house, so I really wanted to figure out a way to have the flavors of lasagna without all the work.

I totally nailed it with this soup. It was so easy to make, and everyone loved having the lasagna noodles already cut up – so much easier to make AND eat, I promise!

The reason tonight’s dinner was so easy and tasty was RAGÚ® Homestyle sauce. It is RAGÚ’s thickest sauce, which was perfect for our thick and hearty lasagna soup. RAGÚ® peels, chops and simmers each ingredient and uses a special blend of herbs (basil, fennel, oregano and black pepper) to layer and build the flavor. Plus, they don’t use artificial flavors, artificial colors or high fructose corn syrup.

You can get RAGU Homestyle in the following delicious flavors:

Homestyle Thick and Hearty Traditional Sauce
Homestyle Thick and Hearty Meat Sauce
Homestyle Thick and Hearty Four Cheese Sauce
Homestyle Thick and Hearty Roasted Garlic Sauce
Homestyle Thick and Hearty Mushroom Sauce

Yum

Easy Lasagna Soup

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 tablespoon garlic cloves, minced
1 (23 oz.) jar RAGU Homestyle Pasta Sauce
5-6 cups chicken broth
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (6 oz) jar tomato paste
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
12 uncooked lasagna noodles, broken into pieces
1 cup whipping cream
Basil, dried or fresh, chopped
Ricotta cheese
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Brown ground beef, diced onion, and garlic in a large pot (I used a cast iron pot), Drain any excess oil.
Add RAGU Homestyle sauce, chicken broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, and spices to the cooked meat mixture. Stir in broken lasagna noodles. Heat to boiling, then reduce temperature to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add 1 cup cream, stir, and heat for an additional 5-10 minutes.
To serve, top each bowl of soup with a scoop of ricotta cheese, and sprinkle with mozzarella, Parmesan, and basil.

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If you love cheese like we do, then take our lead and be generous with the cheese you add to your soup! You can’t go wrong by loading it with these three yummy cheeses!

What is your favorite way to use RAGÚ® Homestyle sauce? And what is your favorite flavor? Sometimes a good, hearty traditional sauce hits the spot!

Want MORE delicious recipes with RAGÚ®? You’ve got to check out the recipe section HERE for a ton of family-friendly homestyle dishes.

Brazilian Chicken Soup With Rice

Lolli — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 20:09:49 +0000

This Brazilian chicken soup with rice is one of our family’s favorite soup recipes ever.

Note: Amazon affiliate links are used in this post to show the tools I use to make this tasty soup!

I discovered the recipe back in 2009 when I was sent a rice multi-cooker. We still use ours several times a week and LOVE to death BUT it is not available anymore – this one is similar. If mine ever dies on me, I will be replacing it immediately!

Brazilian Chicken Soup With Rice

Enough about the rice cooker and back to this delicious chicken soup with rice recipe. I have changed the recipe just slightly since the first time we made it (by leaving out the shrimp and frequently cooking it in the crock pot versus a Dutch oven), but I can’t recommend it enough. Please note that although the rice is a very important part of the soup, it is cooked and stored separately from the soup and only added to the soup bowl when ready to eat.

Note: in all honesty, I have no idea if this recipe is really like anything that would be served in Brazil (I’d love to know!) but regardless of what it’s called, it’s simply good soup! And right now is definitely soup weather!

Dish me up a bowl!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Brazilian Chicken Soup With Rice

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

1 hour 15 mins

Total time

1 hour 30 mins

Author: Lolli

Recipe type: soup

Serves: 8

Ingredients

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts (I use about 2-3 breasts or 4-6 thighs, depending on how meaty I want the soup)
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup diced green bell pepper
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
⅓ cup finely chopped toasted peanuts
1 medium jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 bay leaves
1¼ teaspoons salt
¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
3 cups chicken broth
1½ cups coconut milk
10 ounces frozen peas
Chopped fresh cilantro, to taste
4 cups cooked jasmine or basmati rice

Instructions

Place the chicken in a medium mixing bowl and season lightly with salt and pepper. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the lime juice and rub chicken with minced garlic. Mix thoroughly and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Heat olive oil in a large Dutch Oven. Add onion and pepper and sauté for about 4 minutes, until soft and fragrant.
Stir in the canned tomatoes with juice, peanuts, jalapeno, bay leaves, salt, pepper, broth, and coconut milk. (Note: be sure to stir or shake the coconut milk prior to pouring from can). Add the chicken with marinade and stir until well combined.
Heat to boiling and then reduce heat to simmer. Cover and simmer for at least an hour, or until chicken is cooked through (if chicken is very thick, you may want to cute into smaller chunks).
While soup is heating, prepare rice.
About 10-15 minutes before serving, remove the chicken and cut or shred into bite-sized pieces and return to pot. Add frozen peas and additional 1 tablespoon of lime juice. Replace lid and heat for an additional 10-15 minutes.
To serve, place some warm cooked rice (approximately ⅓ to ½ cup depending on portion size) in the bottom of each soup bowl and ladle the soup on top. If desired, sprinkle with chopped cilantro and/or chopped peanuts.

Notes

Instead of simmering on the stove, I like to throw everything in the crock pot after sauteeing the onions and peppers and cook on low for 5 hours or so.

Hearty Pumpkin Potato Soup Recipe

Lolli — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 01:27:03 +0000

You are going to LOVE this pumpkin potato soup – your new favorite soup for winter!

When I think of cooking with pumpkin, I typically think of sweet, baked treats (I’ve made plenty of them over the years!) but I’ve very rarely had savory dishes with pumpkin.

Since tomorrow’s Fresh Flavors Swap is all about pumpkin main dishes, I knew that I wanted to at least attempt to add pumpkin to a dinner this week. I’ve seen pumpkin soup before, but I had never tried it before this week. I wasn’t sure if my family would be keen on pumpkin soup for dinner, so I thought I’d be sneaky and add pumpkin to a hearty potato soup that they’d normally eat.

My little pumpkin soup experiment was a huge success. Everyone in the family loved the soup, and they had no idea that there was pumpkin in it! The pumpkin made the soup thick and creamy and perfect. I can’t wait to make it again!

Hearty Pumpkin Potato Soup

Yum

Hearty Pumpkin Potato Soup

Ingredients

1 lb ground Italian sausage
3-4 heaping teaspoons minced garlic
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste
6 cups chicken broth
1 bay leaf
3-4 medium potatoes, diced
1 can pumpkin puree
3 cups fresh spinach, chopped
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup lowfat milk

Instructions

Heat sausage in a large Dutch oven, breaking up into small crumbles, and cook until browned; drain excess fat if necessary.
Add minced garlic, chopped onion, and spices (oregano, basil and red pepper flakes). Cook, stirring frequently, for about 2-3 minutes.
Add chicken broth, pumpkin puree and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Add diced potatoes and cook for 10-15 minutes, until potatoes are soft when stuck with a fork. Using a potato masher, smash some (but not all) of the potatoes. Stir.
Stir in spinach, milk and cream, and stir just until heated through. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Notes

I based this recipe on a Sausage Potato Spinach Soup recipe I found on Damn Delicious. I thought it would taste great with pumpkin, and I was right!

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Did you see the ROUND UP I posted with 20 of my favorite pumpkin dessert recipes from the very first Fresh Flavors Swap linky party?

Be sure to check this week’s Fresh Flavors Swap for more Pumpkin Main Dishes and Dips! I can’t wait to see the new recipes that everyone links up!

ALSO – Check out the Fresh Flavors Swap upcoming themes – hope to see you there! We’ll be sharing the posts that are linked to the party on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest as well as posting a weekly Round Up Post where you may be featured…

Easy Tex-Mex Vegetable Soup

Lolli — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 16:12:08 +0000

I love a good challenge, especially when food is involved. This month, I was challenged to come up with a recipe or fun way to use Libby’s NEW Vegetable Cups, and I have to admit….I surprised even myself. My whole family couldn’t get enough of the Tex-Mex Vegetable Soup that I made! Although this post (and the giveaway that follows) have been sponsored by Libby’s, all thoughts, opinions, and recipe are my own.

This past weekend, we were hit by a pretty hefty snow storm, which meant that it was the perfect setting for some warm, comforting soup. But it also meant that we couldn’t get out to the grocery store to do a weekend shopping trip (I tried heading out once on Saturday and turned around as soon as I got out of the neighborhood because the roads were so bad!). So as I was contemplating what I could make for dinner on Sunday, I gave myself an added challenge to use all canned or dried foods.

When I mentioned my plan to my husband, I’ll be honest with you. He was not excited. He’s all about fresh and homemade, and when I said “canned” he immediately turned his nose up.

Guess what? This SOUP changed his mind.

I’ve made soups before using canned vegetables, but the challenge with full-sized cans is that you can only fit so much variety in the pot before you’re over-flowing. With Libby’s 4-ounce vegetable cups, I was able to add 4 different kinds of veggies – corn, peas, green beans, and carrots – to the soup and had just the right amount to feed all 6 of us for dinner.

My once-skeptical husband said, as soon as the last drop was consumed from the soup pot, “You have more of those vegetable cups, right? So we can make this again?”

Yes, the family is all eager to have this vegetable soup again and again. By the way, each one of my kids, including my rather-picky 9-year-old, had multiple servings of soup…until the whole pot was gone. And we’re talking vegetables here…not chicken nuggets and fries!

Super-Easy Tex-Mex Vegetable Soup

By the way, I plugged the recipe into my Weight Watchers recipe builder and was pleased that it came in at a low 4 PointsPlus per serving. Of course, if you add anything extra to the soup, like tortilla chips or shredded cheese, that number will increase slightly.

Tex-Mex Vegetable Soup

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

15 mins

This soup comes together in just 15 minutes for a quick and satisfying dinner, but the flavors improve with time! If you have extra time, I recommend simmering the soup for an hour before serving.

Author: Lolli

Serves: 8

Ingredients

4 cups water
⅔ - 1 cup small pasta (like shells or macaroni)
1 4 oz cup Libby's Diced Carrots
1 4 oz cup Libby's Sweet Peas
1 4 oz cup Libby's Sweet Corn
1 4 oz cup Libby's Green Beans
1 bay leaf
¼ cup Sofrito tomato cooking base (or vegetable bouillon)
1 14.5 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes (with seasonings), undrained
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon dried onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

Add water to medium pot; bring to boil. Add remaining ingredients. Note: you can either drain the vegetable cups or just dump the whole cup plus liquid into the soup.
Heat on medium-high until heated through. When soup starts to get bubbly, you can turn the heat down to simmer for 30-60 minutes or you can serve right away.
Remove bay leaf before serving. Optional toppings: shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips, sour cream, fresh cilantro, etc.

About Libby’s Vegetable Cups

Libby’s Vegetable Cups are the only 4 oz. Vegetable Cups on the market. They have as few as 10 calories per cup, are free of saturated fats and trans-fats, and are rich in Vitamin C. The single-serve, microwaveable Vegetable Cups are available in five varieties:

Sweet Corn
Cut Green Beans
Sweet Peas
Diced Carrots
Peas & Carrots

Libby’s Vegetable Cups are conveniently portioned in single-serve and easy-to-open packaging making then perfect additions to lunchboxes for time-crunched families, but they’re also great to use in side dishes, main courses and even appetizers. They are perfect for portion control, eliminating waste and quick, healthy servings of your favorite vegetables. The Cups are pre-cooked and can be served cold or warm, whatever you prefer! By the way, Libby’s also has single-serve fruit cups as well, which my kids love to bring in their school lunches. Get more information on Libby’s products, including the Vegetable Cups, HERE.

Enter to WIN a Libby’s Giveaway

I’m excited to be giving away a Libby’s prize pack which includes Pyrex 14-Piece Glass Food Storage Set with Lids, a $75 gift card, as well as an assortment of Libby’s® Vegetable Cups. This giveaway will run through 11:59 PM ET March 9, after which a winner will be chosen at random and notified via email. Enter on the form below.

Entry -Form

Good luck!

Italian Sausage and Tomato Soup {Groundhog Day Recipe}

Lolli — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 23:51:10 +0000

Earlier today, we were talking with the kids about Groundhog Day – what it means, what happens on Groundhog Day, how long it’s been a tradition in the US. My husband decided that we needed to start a new family tradition and find a new recipe to prepare and eat every Groundhog Day. After a little bit of brainstorming, our 14-year-old son suggested a recipe with ground HOG (ie, ground pork), which we ALL thought was perfect.

My husband put on his thinking cap…and, meanwhile I headed upstairs for a much-needed Sunday afternoon nap. When I woke up, the house smelled heavenly and dinner was ready to eat.

Pictures first, of course!

The only thing we may change for next time we make this soup is to use crushed tomatoes instead of diced, since the kids said that there were too many big chunks of tomato. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for everyone, though. My husband and I loved all of the tomatoes!

Since I am currently doing Weight Watchers, I like to plug everything in to the Weight Watchers recipe builder to calculate the PointsPlus value…and honestly, with the sausage in this soup I was expecting a pretty high PointsPlus value. I was shocked to find that this soup is a LOW 4 PointsPlus per serving (the recipe yields about 10 good-sized bowls of soup!). I even added the tortilla chips to the calculation….so the final Points+ is 4, garnishes and all! To say that I was thrilled with that number is an understatement!

The trick with the healthy factor is this soup is that it is 95% good stuff – veggies and black beans and broth. Since I used 12 ounces of sausage (the sausage I used was 2 PointsPlus per ounce) there’s a very small amount of sausage per serving…but the flavor is BIG!

Ready for the recipe?

Italian Sausage and Tomato Soup {Groundhog Day Recipe}

Italian Sausage and Tomato Soup (Or Groundhog Day Soup)

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

Author: Lolli

Serves: 10

Ingredients

12 ounces ground mild Italian sausage
½ cup chopped onion
3 (14.5 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes, with liquid
4 cups chicken broth
1 can black beans, drained
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Sweet peppers, sliced thin (optional)
Tortilla chips, crushed (optional)

Instructions

Brown Italian sausage and onion over medium-high heat in a large pot, stirring to break up sausage.
Add remaining ingredients except tortilla chips and sweet peppers.
Cover and simmer for at least 20 minutes.
Serve with sweet pepper strips and crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

PS – as you might have seen from my pictures above, I used Vegetable and Flaxseed chips from Trader Joe’s. If you happen to have a Trader Joe’s nearby, or if you can find something similar, I highly recommend a veggie and flaxseed chip. If you can’t find them, then regular tortilla chips are yummy, too!

Be sure to check out my other Weight Watchers Recipes!

Note: I am currently a paid ambassador for Weight Watchers, but this recipe post is not sponsored or endorsed by Weight Watchers in any way. I am just excited to share the fun and fresh new recipes I’m finding and eating while I am losing weight!

If you like this recipe, you are going to love these recipes, too:

Click on one of the Weight Watchers-Friendly below to see the recipe: