Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is another shared recipe from my sweet Momma-we recipe swap a lot, but lately, it's just been her swapping! She got this recipe from another blog-Mommy Hates Cooking!  We added a few things to our recipe though to give it a little more protein! My sweet boy in brown is a cheese fanatic! While he honestly is supposed to be staying away from dairy, we try cheesy things every now and then and this is one he LOVED!!!!  It's a little on the spicy side.  I personally think it's perfect, but just a heads up, even though we use original Rotel, it still has a little bite to it. (Of course that also depends on your personal spice meter!!!)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

32 oz. chicken broth

1 packet of taco seasoning

1 small onion, chopped

1 Tbsp. butter

1 can of Rotel, original

16 oz. Velveeta cheese

1 small carton of  heavy cream

2 cans of Navy beans, drained and rinsed

Combine chicken broth and taco seasoning in a large pot. Bring to a boil and add chicken breast. Boil chicken, remove from pot, and shred. DO NOT throw out the liquid! In a side pot, melt the butter, and saute onion until tender. Add onion, Rotel, beans and Velveeta cheese to the pot of taco seasoned chicken broth and cook over medium heat until the cheese melts. Once cheese melts, reduce heat and add heavy whipping cream. Do not let it boil, or it will scald the milk. Serve warm with tortilla strips!

*I suggest putting your Velveeta in the freezer before you start cooking. When it is time to add your Velveeta, remove it from the freezer and shred it.  It will make it hard enough to shred without the soft cheesy mess!

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

My sweet Momma fixed this one cold winter evening when I came home for fall break! It has become a cold weather staple! My husband begs me to fix it once a week, and it is by far better than Olive Garden. But what isn't better made at home versus when you buy it! That little bit of love you put in a homemade dish makes it taste so much better. Without further ado...

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

1 cup chicken breast, cooked and shredded
4 tbsp. butter
4 tbsp. flour
1 quart half and half
14 ounces chicken broth
1/2 cup celery, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup carrots finely shredded
1 cup onion, finely diced
1 cup fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. parsley
1 lb. potato gnocchi
Salt and Pepper
Freshly grated parmesan cheese, optional

**As a side note, we have used a few different types of gnocchi, and our favorite are the mini gnocchi! Small and bite size!

Sauté the onion, celery, and garlic in the butter and olive oil over medium heat until the onion is translucent.  Add the flour and make a roux. (For those of us who are simply southern, a roux is just a mixture that is a super thick looking paste.) Let the roux cook for about a minute before adding 1 quart of half and half.  Into the roux, add the carrots and chicken. Once the mixture becomes thick, add the chicken broth.  Once the mixture thickens again, add the spinach and seasonings.  Cook gnocchi according to the package and add to the soup.  Simmer until soup is heated throughout. 

We like to eat with fresh grated Parmesan cheese!

Hope you enjoy!

Pull up a chair and have dinner with us!

Every night, my husband calls, and as soon as I say "Hey Babe!" His response is "Hey babe, what's for dinner?" Hey blog reader, I'm Katelin. I am a stay at home southern Momma to our one year old. She is our ray of sunshine! I wear many hats, and while my most important ones are wife and Mommy, I also help out at a small local downtown stationery and design business, Sweetest Beginnings, and I also babysit a chunky little 9 month old! Yes, I'm crazy! My husband works for UPS, and this month begins the ever so busy "Christmas rush" for any one working in the delivery business! On top of that, we live an hour and a half from his hub! Mornings are early and nights are late, so a lot of nights, it's just my Sunshine and I! If you're a mommy, you understand that sometimes, when it's just  been you and a toddler, all day, when it comes dinner time, I am exhausted, my Sunshine is hungry and exhausted, and I can't get dinner done because of sweet tugs to my pants and fussy blue eyes that are asking me to pick her up and hold her!  Dinner sometimes needs to be fast, and sometimes I have time to actually cook! I try my very best to meal plan at least 2 weeks! I write our menu on the fridge-including lunch options-yet every night, without fail, my sweet little boy in brown calls and ask "Hey babe, What's for dinner?" Some nights, it's whatever is on the fridge menu, some nights it's a "run by Chick-fil-a and grab us something", and sometimes, it's every man for himself. While I can't promise you that this blog will have a post every day, in fact, I can promise I won't blog every day! I can promise, however, that I will try my best to blog and share at least one new recipe a week! Sometimes they maybe crockpot recipes, sometimes small lunch options we do, and sometimes you may just get a sweet sugary recipe of goodness, on those days that I can't take it anymore and break down and bake my favorite Pumpkin Cream Cheese Loaf! My pictures may not be numerous, and they will not be professional, but, this is my life, pull up a chair and have dinner with us!