Tortilla Soup

Recipe courtesy food network 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 6 cups chicken broth, low-sodium canned
• 1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen and thawed
• 1 ripe tomato, chopped
• 1 cup shredded cooked chicken
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 2 limes)
• About a dozen corn tortilla chips, broken a bit
• Lime wedges, optional

Directions

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, chipotle, chili powder, and salt and cook until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil, reduce the heat slightly, and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add the corn and cook for 5 minutes more.
Pull the saucepan from the heat and stir in the tomato, chicken, cilantro, and lime juice. Divide the tortilla chips among 4 warmed bowls, ladle the soup on top, and serve with lime wedges, if desired.
Know-How Get every last drop of juice from those little limes. Before halving, microwave them for a few seconds and roll them under the palm of your hand to release the juice from the pulp.
Add a swirl of chile and homey tortillas to comforting chicken soup and you have a bold hug of a meal.

**My variation: Used low sodium chicken broth (2 14oz cans) instead of 6 cups. I cut the chicken into cutlets, covered them in my fav mojo sauce/smoked paprika/some chili powder/cayenne pepper and broiled for 5 mins on each side on the shelf closest to the broiler. They were juicy and flavorful! Then I cut them up into little pieces and added them after the rest of stuff has been cooked.**

Recipe

My fav sweet potato recipe

It's extremely simple, but I'm writing it down anyway!

• Wash the sweet potato really well
• Wrap it completely in foil
• Turn your broiler on
• Put the foily sweet potato on a cookie sheet or in a pyrex dish
• Cook for 30-60 minutes on broil depending on the size of the sweet potato
• You can check it at 40-45 minutes by sticking a knife in it....if the knife slips into it with no resistance then it is technically done....I love mine really really done like syrup dripping off of it because it is so done.
• Be careful though because oven temperatures vary and my 60 minutes may mean your 40....etc...Experiment with the timing to find your "perfect" sweet potato :) 

To dress up my S.P. I just sprinkle it with some cinnamon. It's almost like a dessert because it's so sweet.

Roasted Beet Salad

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

• Level: Easy
  
  
• Yield: 6 to 8 servings

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Times:

Prep

10 min

Inactive Prep

--

Cook

10 min

Total:

20 min

Ingredients

• 2 (15 1/4-ounce) cans sliced beets, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup pitted ripe olives
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• Salt, pepper and garlic powder, to taste
• Dash hot sauce

Directions

Remove broiler tray from oven and coat with nonstick cooking spray. Replace tray and preheat broiler. After beets are drained place on coated broiler tray. Place under hot broiler, turning every 2 to 3 minutes until edges start to brown, approximately 8 to10 minutes. Remove beets from oven and allow to cool. Mix remaining ingredients with cooled beets. Toss and serve.

**My variation: So here is how I eat my veggies! Covered in yummy stuff  to hide the taste :)  I use fresh beets. Don't slice them too thinly or else they burn too quickly under the broiler.
Please note: I love to eat this as soon as I make it but others say it tastes even better if you let it sit overnight and really let the juices sink in. ** Another thing I love to add to this is baby spinach....mix it all up in the sauce and yum! Can't taste any veggies :D

Paula Deen minus the butter