Melinda's Black Bean Soup

I love this soup because it's healthy and hearty and easy! It's a fun soup to serve on Halloween as Black Goblin Goo or whatever. It's loaded with veggies and the kids don't even know because you blend it all up and it just tastes yummy. 

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 cup diced carrots (like 2 medium carrots)
• 1 cup diced onion (one small-medium onion)
• 4 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (3.5 ounce) can diced green chilies
• 2 (15 ounce) cans low-sodium beef broth
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dry oregano leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 lime, juiced, plus other limes to garnish
• Optional toppings: sour cream, tortilla chips, shredded cheese, chopped cilantro

Instructions:

• Heat olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic and saute for 4-5 minutes.
• Add the black beans, chilies, and beef broth. Stir to combine and then add salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and bay leaf. Simmer uncovered for about 20-25 minutes or until carrots are tender. Remove from heat. Remove bay leaf from soup.
• Transfer the soup to a blender. Place lid on blender but remove stopper in lid to let heat escape. Cover the whole with a paper towel to avoid splatters.
• Puree soup until desired consistency is reached. Squeeze in the juice from one lime and pulse to combine.
• Ladle into bowls and top with desired toppings. Enjoy!

This recipe is from the ourbestbites.com cook book. I love it!

Hannah's Broccoli Beef

Any Chinese fans in our family? Chinese is probably my favorite type of food... besides Italian. and Mexican. and okay, I just love all food :)

I found this recipe online, and we tried it out last night. WAY better than takeout! The sauce is especially great.

Ingredients

• 1.5lb flank steak, thinly sliced and chopped into about 2 inch pieces
• 1 cup beef broth
• 2/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1tbsp sesame oil
• 1tbsp minced garlic
• 4 cups broccoli florets
• 2tbsp corn starch + 4tbsp cold water

Instructions

Add beef broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and garlic to a crockpot. Mix together well and then add the little slices of steak. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours, or on high for 2-3.

30 minutes before serving, uncover the crockpot. In a small bowl, whisk the corn starch and water together until dissolved. Mix into crockpot, cover, and cook for another 20-25 minutes.

Just before serving, place broccoli in a large tupperware with 1/2 inch of water. Place the lid on the tupperware in an offset manner so that the container can vent. Cook in the microwave on high for 3 minutes, then drain, stir into crockpot, and serve with rice.

Enjoy! Wednesdays are my least-favorite, so I hope that this yummy meal can get you all through the week ;)

Hannah's Italian Chicken Skillet

It was 61° in Austin today, so it feels like summer to me... but the rest of you can make this tomorrow to bring that feeling into your homes ;) ha!
I made this for dinner tonight, and it got a thumbs up from both Ritchie & I. Pretty easy to make, SUPER yummy, and the fresh produce totally made me think of summer :) Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 boneless chicken breasts
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 small onion, peeled & diced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled & thinly sliced
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup roasted red pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped

Confession time: I totally didn't have fresh basil. I just sprinkled some basil from my spice rack into the skillet, and it still tasted great. But I guess if you have the fresh stuff... go for it ;)

Directions

Season chicken breasts with salt & pepper on both sides.

Heat up the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and add the chicken. Cook for 4-5 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes until the chicken is cooked all the way through. Put chicken on a separate plate.

Add the onions to the remaining oil in the skillet, and sauté for about 3 minutes until mostly cooked. Then add the tomatoes and garlic, and sauté again for another 3-4 minutes. Add the roasted red peppers and basil, and sauté for one more minute :)

Add the chicken back to the pan, stir together, and then serve warm.

We added some grated parmesan and served it with pasta, but let me know if you try any other sides! Also, I pretty much cook for Ritchie & I, and then give Leah some from my plate. But this recipe could easily be doubled for those of you with more mouths to feed :) Love you all!

this little cutie was my helper tonight :)

Katie's Salsa Chicken

This is a play off of "Hawaiian Haystacks", Enjoy!!

6 frozen chicken tenders
1 can cream of chicken
1 can (more or less) of salsa (use same can from cream of chicken)
A dollop of sour cream
1/2 cup (or so) of grated cheese - mix in half way through process

Place in crock pot on low for 6-8 hrs or high 4-6 hrs.  Once it's done, mix together and shred the chicken with a fork and knife.  Refrigerate leftovers.

Serve over rice with the following toppings (or any other toppings you would normally use in Hawaiian Haystacks, or you can even eat this without toppings and it will still be yummy!):

• Grated cheese
• Chowmein noodles (or instead, mashed tortilla chips for added texture)
• Chopped tomatoes
• Chopped bell peppers
• Sour Cream
• Chopped celery 

I have a rice cooker and about 20 minutes before dinner time, I get the rice going.  

This recipe is good to last Chris and I another 2 meals (3 meals total).  You can adjust the amounts of each ingredient based on how much chicken you want in the sauce or how cheesy/salsa-y/creamy you want it to be (I am always experimenting, so mine is always changing and it is always amazing!).

On the nights we have this as leftovers, I make a new batch of rice that day and add on toppings!  

***You can also use the crock pot 'mix' from this recipe as a yummy chip dip!***

Spanish Noodles

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. hamburger 
• 1 onion (chopped) 
• 1 green pepper (chopped) 
• 1 bag of spiral pasta 
• 1 can of corn 
• shredded cheese 
• sliced olives 

Instructions:
Brown hamburger with chopped onion and pepper. Cook spiral noodles in a separate pan; add spaghetti sauce and one can of corn. Combine all ingredients and put in a casserole dish. Top with shredded cheese & sliced olives. Bake @ 350 for 30 min.

Hannah's Crockpot BBQ Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 frozen chicken breasts
• 1 bottle BBQ sauce (I like use honey BBQ, but whatever's your favorite)
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Instructions:

Put chicken in the crockpot for 6-8hrs on low, or 4-6 on high. Combine the rest of the ingredients in small bowl to make a BBQ sauce. After chicken has cooked for a couple hours, drain juices from crockpot, add sauce, and cook for the remaining time. Cube chicken and serve over rice, or shred for sandwiches... the possibilities are endless ;)

Candace's Quick & Easy Taco Soup

Ingredients:

• 1/4 lb hamburger
• 1 Tbsp. 2 tsp. taco seasoning divided
• salt
• 1 can kidney beans
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can garbanzo beans
• 1 can corn
• 1 cup salsa
• Toppings: sour cream, cheddar cheese, olives, green onions, tortilla chips

Instructions:

Brown hamburger with 2 tsp. taco seasoning and salt to taste, then drain. Add in all remaining ingredients without draining. Turn heat up to high until hot, then let simmer for 20 minutes (for more full flavor).