Tortilla Soup

Baker Girl is typing, but Grill Boy is dictating. He is knee deep in grape plucking:

One of the things that is always problematic is having a good breakfast without having to wake up early to cook it. Grill Boy is usually running out the door as soon as he is out of the shower and generally forgets to eat breakfast, but thankfully always remembers pants. So on their most recent trip to Costco Grill Boy and Baker Girl bought a GIANT crate of grapes, so he is plucking them off of the stems, so he and Baker Girl have an easy to go breakfast and more sleeping time.

Grill boy did the same thing with sandwich bags full of cheerios, as he has found grapes and cheerios are a wonderful breakfast snack for his 40 minute  commute to work. Preparing on Sunday is an easy way to get ready for the week, and a great activity while watching the DVR’ed Patriots Game. We watch it in just under an hour, without listening to stupid football announcers, commercials, or repetitive instant replays. There are only so many times you can watch a kick off.

But  breakfast prep and football aside, the big culinary experience of the day was Tortilla Soup with Chicken and Black Beans. Baker Girl unfortunately had to work all day, so Grill Boy was left to his own devices in the kitchen. [Baker Girl: I pictured him slaving over a hot stove ALLLLLL day].

Tortilla Soup with Chicken and Black Beans

1 small sweet onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

15 oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 tsp ground cumin

4 cups Chicken stock

1 skinless boneless chicken breast

Salt and Pepper

2 tablespoons lime juice.

Steps

1. Continuation from last nights dinner, where Grill Boy made a quick marinade of an extra defrosted chicken breast. He diced up the chicken into tiny edible pieces, tossed it all into a ziploc bag with a 1/4 cup of lemon juice, an a few healthy dashes of cayenne pepper [Baker Girl: Not so sure on that definition of “healthy dashes”].

2. Then the day of soup making began with finely dicing onions, garlic, cilantro.

3. In a fry pan, add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil, and saute the onion, garlic and cilantro mixture, until the onions are just about translucent (but only just).

4. Add to a blender with one can of diced tomatoes [Baker Girl: 15 oz can]. Puree until smooth.

5. In the pan from the onion/garlic/cilantro give your chicken bits a little fry.

6. Toss the tomato/onion/garlic/cilantro puree into a large sauce pan and let simmer until it begins to thicken. Add some cumin too.

7. While your two fry pans of chicken and tomato/onion/cilantro/garlic/cumin simmer, toss your frozen corn into a large stock pot, along with dice jalapeno, black beans, line juice, chicken stock, a small dash of chili power and red pepper flakes (large enough for all the ingredients you have going right now).

8. Once the tomato puree has thickened up a bit, and the chicken is a bit pink but white on the outside, toss everything into the big stock pot. Cover and cook at a simmer for about twenty minutes.

9. While it cooks, it may look a little watery, and since Grill Boy had no idea what it should look like, he added some flour. Grill Boy was mistaken, it got clumpy and took some serious effort to declump. [Baker Girl: I recommend corn starch if you are ever trying to thicken something up, although I would suggest just simmering soups on low to cook off excess liquid and thicken up].

10. Serve with shredded Monterey jack cheese on each bowl and enjoy with some delicious tortilla chips. And remember to take a picture before you start eating …opps

Outcome (We are thinking this should be a new feature for each entry…what do you the readers think?)

Grill Boy: I thought it was pretty tasty and even though Baker Girl is not a huge fan, 4he cilantro gave a needed taste to the dish.  It was a little spicy but not terrible.  I think the chicken chunks were too small because I really dont recall eating any.  The crunchy chips were an important addition as was the appetizer of guacamole.

Baker Girl:  HOLY SPICE BATMAN. The first bite delicious, the second bite, FIREEEEEE, in my mouth. But tasty nonetheless, I am now very curious about the definition of a “healthy dash,” methinks that healthy dash will put hair on my chest.