Southwest Chicken Soup

My little sister Melissa introduced us to this recipe and it was an instant hit. My favorite thing is that you can double the chicken/bean mixture and freeze it for an easy weekday meal! Just defrost and add some chicken broth. We had a bad experience with a few recipes calling for salsa verde, and so I was skeptical even though this recipe technically calls for "Green Salsa." (Is that the same thing? We don't know.) But I was pleasantly surprised at the nice flavor, definitely not too spicy. Yum! 

Southwest Chicken Soup
Source: Melissa Walker

Ingredients:
2 cups shredded chicken
1 TBS El Paso Taco Seasoning
1 can White Beans, mashed
1/2 cup Green Salsa
1 red pepper, diced
34 oz chicken broth

Directions:
Cook and shred chicken. Place shredded chicken in frying pan, add taco seasoning and brown. Drain and mash white beans. (When mashing the beans, mash them really well. The inside of the beans serves to thicken the soup so you want all of the skins broken and mashed together.) Combine beans, green salsa, diced red pepper, and chicken. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Simmer ten minutes. Serve with cheese and tortilla chips.

FREEZER MEAL
Before adding chicken broth, remove desired amount of chicken/bean mixture and place in a freezer bag. (You could also place in a tupperware container.) Freeze and store. When you are ready for a quick and delicious meal, defrost and add 2 cans of chicken broth. Simmer 10 minutes and serve!

Jalapeño Stuffed Chicken

One of my big accomplishments this month was chopping and freezing a bunch of Anaheim and Jalapeño peppers. We had a bunch left over from when we bottled homemade salsa with my family in Morgan. So, I decided that I needed some good jalapeño recipes and after searching around for a bit, we found this one. The original recipe called for 3 jalapeños, but it was a little too spicy for us (we are kind of wimps when it comes to spicy things). I adjusted the recipe down to one pepper, and I think that will be much better for our mouths. The recipe has a great flavor though and we will definitely be making it again. 

Jalapeño Stuffed Chicken 
Source: Adapted from Gina's Skinny Recipes (admittedly, I removed pretty much everything that made this "skinny" - but the recipe really is so good!)

Ingredients:
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped
4 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz shredded cheddar jack

2 tbsp chopped green onions
8 thin sliced skinless chicken breast cutlets
1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
2 Tbs lime juice
1 Tbs olive oil
salt and fresh pepper

non-stick spray

Directions:
Wash and dry chicken cutlets, season with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450°. Lightly spray a baking dish with non-stick spray. Combine cream cheese, cheddar, green onions, jalapeño and bacon crumbles in a medium bowl.

Lay chicken cutlets on a working surface and spread 2 tablespoons of cream cheese mixture on each cutlet. Loosely roll each one. You may secure the ends with toothpicks to prevent the cheese from oozing out, or just tuck the ends over carefully.

Place breadcrumbs in a bowl; in a second bowl combine olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper.

Dip chicken in lime-oil mixture, then in breadcrumbs and place seam side down on a baking dish. Repeat with the remaining chicken. When finished, lightly spray the top of the chicken with oil spray.

Bake 22-25 minutes, serve immediately.