really good tortilla soup
Posted: March 5, 2021 Filed under: appetizers, soups | Tags: beef broth, cheddar cheese, cheese, chicken breast, chicken broth, chicken thighs, cilantro, corn, fritos, fritos scoops, garlic, green bell pepper, green onions, jalapeño, olive oil, onion, sour cream, tomatoes, tortilla chips, white onion Leave a comment
A Soup For The Soul
Flashback back January 2009 my dear Cousin Julie – also a fiery foodie – emailed the family this recipe for tortilla soup. Like some of my emails I filed the recipe with good intentions but it sadly got lost in my mess of an email “organization” system. Almost 10 years later I was researching old emails we sent each other and knew what I had to do. Share this with you!
As a lover of tortilla soup I posted the soup I’ve been making since the 1990s here at Betty’s Cook Nook. I wasn’t confident my time-tested soup could be unseated as my favorite and well, I was right. However, there was one magical thing about this recipe that I plan to incorporate into my own – specifically adding chicken thighs which definitely provided more flavor than its nearby neighbor, the boneless chicken breast.
Foodie Tips
❤ To make the soup very rich and hearty, Cousin Julie suggested adding a small can of refried beans and a small can of pinto beans. She noted – don’t use black beans as a substitute for either of these! If the soup turns out too spicy (is this possible?), serve it with sour cream as it will counteract the heat. More lime juice can be added at the table.
❤ Cousin Julie reminded us that she was not a fan of spicy foods and you will see that somewhat reflected in the recipe below. I, on the other hand, look for many opportunities to dial up the heat. The good news is I’ve never had a bad tortilla soup and these recipes can be adjusted in many ways to arrive at your very own favorite bowl.
❤ Looking to spice up your life? We can’t help but love our new custom fit Vertical Spice Racks that help us make the most of kitchen organization… and our cabinet space! Thanks to Joe for finding these!
i. Time
Total prep: About 90 minutes.
ii. Ingredients
the soup ingredients
1 medium | onion, chopped
1 | bell pepper, chopped
2-3 | cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 tablespoon | olive oil
1 large box | chicken broth
1 large box | beef broth
1 large | chicken breast
2 (or more) | chicken thighs
1 large can | diced tomatoes (or fresh if you have them)
1 can | Rotel tomatoes and green chilies, diced – use mild flavor
1 can or 1 bag (frozen) | whole kernel corn (I used Trader Joe’s frozen roasted corn)
1 small can | tomato paste (or sauce, if you prefer)
1 teaspoon | ground cumin
1 teaspoon | chili powder
1 teaspoon | oregano
1 teaspoon | salt
2 teaspoons | worcestershire sauce
juice | from 1 large lime
the toppings
1-2 | jalapeño peppers, sliced (deseeded or not!)
cheddar cheese | fresh grated by hand, if you can
dollop or two | sour cream
avocado | sliced or cubed
fresh cilantro | chopped
green onions | chopped
tortilla chips (or fritos or fritos scoops)
iii. What To Do
1. Let’s Get Cookin’
Sauté the onion, bell pepper and garlic in the olive oil until tender. Add the broths and chicken breast and thighs and cook for 20 minutes over medium heat until the meats are tender. This night marked the debut of our new Calphalon Space Saving 8 quart Nonstick Pot which worked wonders! and left plenty of room for the makin’.
2. Let’s Get Choppin’
Remove the meats from the soup and chop them up. Return to the broth. Add all the remaining soup ingredients and simmer for at least 1 hour, preferably longer if you have the time.
3. Serve It Up
Spoon the soup into bowls and top with your chosen toppings (suggestions above)!
Let me know what you think about this tortilla soup!
Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook
hondo corn casserole
Posted: November 17, 2019 Filed under: sides | Tags: butter, cheddar cheese, corn, cream style corn, egg, green chilies, onion, pepper, ritz crackers, salt, sugar, unsweetened condensed milk Leave a comment
Thanksgiving Spectacular
In uncommon fashion I’m pre-posting some recipes that are on deck and ready for the upcoming foodie festival!
Scroll down below and you’ll find three recipes that hail to my kitchen from my Cousin Julie – Hondo Corn Casserole (thank you, carbs), Madeira Turkey, and Wild Mushroom and Pecan Stuffing! These are on deck and coming out of the oven soon!
For you new-comers out there if you missed it make sure and check out the latest posts perfect for Thanksgiving – Pumpkin Bread, Sour Cream Apple Pie plus Brandied Pumpkin Flan which is a family Thanksgiving staple. On our sister site Home Style Austin you can score our newest recipe Honey+Rosemary Roasted Cashews which are great for gift giving. Enjoy our 2019 fall “flavorites” from us to you!
This is surely going to be a Thanksgiving to remember. Photos and my usual rambling on about the good ol’ days to follow!
HONDO CORN CASSEROLE
This recipe sat in my cookbook likely since the 1990s. This year I was searching for the best sides to make for Thanksgiving and dived in. I couldn’t remember the origin of the recipe but when I read the ending of the recipe “If guests arrive, give them a drink and regale with stories of Texas Gulf Coast wonders” I knew this recipe hailed from someone special.
One phone conversation with Cousin Jennifer and it was confirmed – this recipe was from my dear Cousin Julie Sutton Mueller. Jennifer said this was one of Julie’s long-standing recipes at the holidays and as the recipe indicates – it’s a crowd favorite and people always ask for this recipe. That certainly proved true this Thanksgiving when I made it for our annual gathering at Canyon Lake!
Foodie Tips
❤ All about the corn: You can use a box of frozen corn – the instructions below presume you’ll use canned corn. If you’d like to increase the serving sizes to 8-10 you can add a can of the whole kernel corn.
❤ “Unsweetened condensed milk” – you’ll likely not find this in your store… but never fear – it’s the same thing as evaporated milk. Who knew?!? I didn’t until I researched it!
i. Time
Total prep: About 75 minutes
ii. Ingredients
16 ounce can | cream style corn
16 ounce can | whole kernel corn
1 cup | cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup | Ritz crackers, crushed
1 small | onion, chopped (or several green onions, chopped)
1 | cage free egg
3 tablespoons (or less) | sugar
⅔ cup | unsweetened condensed milk (see foodie tip above)
1 stick | unsalted butter, melted (tip: my Grandmother “Nanny” insisted on Falfurrias brand butter)
1 small can (4.5 ounces) | chopped green chilis
to taste | salt and fresh cracked pepper
iii. What to do
0. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Meanwhile…
1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl combine all the ingredients together and set aside.
2. Grease or spray an oven casserole dish and fill it with your casserole mixture. You can either refrigerate this overnight until ready to bake or you can simply jump to step 3!
3. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the top is golden brown. Recommended step: If you’d like to make a pretty top crust, 10 minutes before the casserole is done baking sprinkle more cheese or crushed Ritz crackers on top. Deeeee-licious!
Serves: 6-10 (see recipe expansion tip above)
Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook
A Scan Of Cousin Julie’s Hondo Corn Casserole
Enjoy your preview of what’s to come for Thanksgiving 2019!
the big soup
Posted: March 1, 2014 Filed under: soups | Tags: artichoke, asparagus, bay leaf, carrots, celery, chicken breast, chicken broth, chickpeas, corn, cream, dill weed, green pepper, meat, mushrooms, okra, onion, parsley, pasta, pea pods, pinto beans, plum tomatoes, potato, rice, seasoned sausage, soup, thyme, vegetables, water, zucchini Leave a comment
Everything But The Kitchen Sink Soup
This “BIG SOUP” recipe is insanely flexible! It starts with a base of chicken broth and our familiar friends onion, celery, carrot and herbs. But then the party gets a little crazy – you add whatever fresh, canned or frozen veggies, pasta and or meats that you have loitering around the kitchen, making this soup “soup-er” flexible.
Some of the best cooks never follow a recipe to the “t” and this is surely one of their favorites!
Foodie Tips ~
♥ Note the variations on the original scan –
For more soup: Add additional vegetables and broth.
For two meals: Freeze the leftovers.
For creamed soup: Add ½ to 1 cup cream 5 minutes before serving. Do not boil the cream!
For pureed soup: Put all ingredients (no bones) into a blender and work your magic, until smooth.
♥ If you discover a version you really like, make record of the ratios so you can make it again on the next go.
♥ I was 10 when this recipe appeared in the 1976 edition of Apartment Life Magazine. How alarming it is to see the office phone hanging on the wall in the photo below! PS ~ I also love the bananas T-shirt!
i. base ingredients
2 cans | chicken broth
4 | chicken breasts
1 | large onion, chopped
1 | celery stalk, chopped
1 | carrot, chopped
2 sprigs | parsley
1 teaspoon | thyme (or dill weed)
1 | bay leaf
to “cover” | water
ii. “scavenge” for these accessory ingredients
1 small can | pinto beans, chickpeas and or plum tomatoes
1 medium can | corn
½ package | frozen okra, asparagus, artichokes and or pea pods
2 | potatoes, chopped
1 small | zucchini, chopped
1 | green pepper, chopped
¼ pound | mushrooms, sliced
¼ cup or more | pasta or rice
1 length | seasoned sausage
cubes | leftover meat
1 | kitchen sink (just checking if you’re paying attention!) :)
iii. what to do
1. In a medium/large pot over medium heat, add the first eight ingredients in step “i” above. Add water to cover.
2. While waiting for the soup to simmer, scavenge for your step “ii” ingredients above, whatever form they take.
3. Add fresh veggies and rice after the soup’s been simmering 15 minutes or canned, frozen ingredients and pasta after 20 minutes. Simmer soup for 30 minutes or until everything’s done.
Shazam!
Click To View –> An Original Scan Of The Big Soup Recipe
corn fritters
Posted: March 25, 2012 Filed under: appetizers, desserts, sides | Tags: corn, eggs, syrup Leave a commentBefore Twitter, There Was The Fritter
If you knew me when I was a young pup, in addition to finding me shy, you’d also consider me a great bad-gift-giver.
One Christmas I gave my family (ahem, let’s be clear… MYSELF) the Activision Skiing video game (see the mind-numbing action here). Me aside, a Kiker family flop. Probably the worst gift I gave anyone ever, was when I gave dad a butter slicer for his birthday.
A butter slicer? What was I thinking. More importantly, what was dad thinking?
I still have the butter slicer (at left) and while it sat dormant in my kitchen drawer during my college and early-adult years, it now makes a debut in my kitchen every week or two when perfect butter slices are a must. And perfect butter slices are always a must.
I have to admit the butter slicer is really handy… especially for days like today when I whipped-up a batch of these savory and delicious corn fritters. I’ve heard of fritters, but reuniting with these gave me the good-time jitters… I loved them and watched my belly swell with pride as I popped these out of the skillet and into my mouth.
Thank goodness I found this recipe in mom’s cookbook.
When was the last time you enjoyed a fritter?
i. ingredients
17 ounce can | del monte brand family style corn
1 | cage free egg
2-1/3 cups | all-purpose biscuit mix
salad oil
to taste | syrup
to taste | butter
ii. what to do
1. Heat 2-3 inches of oil to 375°F in a heavy skillet.
2. Pour liquid from corn into medium-sized mixing bowl.
3. Add egg and biscuit mix; stir until smooth. Fold in corn.
4. Drop tablespoonfuls of batter into hot oil. Fry to golden brown, turning once.
5. Drain on paper towels.
6. Serve jitters hot with syrup and a slight brushing of butter.
Shivver, Me Fritters!
Foodie Tips ~
♥ Salad oil is vegetable, canola, peanut, sunflower or the like.
♥ Serve with syrup + BUTTER = Yes! (remember to make it Falfurrias brand butter per Nanny). You can melt the butter and brush it atop the fritter just before dipping it in your favorite syrup. De-li-cious!
♥ I haven’t tried this yet, but I bet the fritters are also great with a dusting of powdered sugar.
♥ A 17 ounce can of corn? They come in 15.25 ounce cans these days. Go figure.
beef tamale pie
Posted: February 25, 2012 Filed under: casseroles and one-dish meals, meats poultry and fish | Tags: cheddar cheese, chili seasoning mix, corn, corn meal, green pepper, ground beef, lawry's seasoned salt, onion, tomato 11 Comments
Growing Up, Christmastime Meant “Tamaletime” For The Kikers
And living in San Antonio meant we had easy access to some of the best hand-made tamales on the planet.
This tamale pie recipe is a variation on the handmade tamales we enjoyed during the holidays. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do; you’ll find this savory pie won’t last long … In fact …
… “Here today, gone tamale!“
i. ingredients
1½ pounds | lean ground beef
1 | white onion, chopped
½ cup | chopped green pepper
1 teaspoon | lawry’s brand seasoned salt
1 package | chili seasoning mix
1 pound | tomatoes, chopped
1½ cups | cooked and drained whole-kernel corn
1 cup | pitted black olives, sliced
1 cup | yellow corn meal
1 teaspoon | salt
2½ cups | cold water
1 cup | shredded cheddar cheese
ii. what to do
0. Preheat oven to 350°F.
1. Brown the beef in a medium skillet, breaking up meat with spoon; drain and return meat to skillet.
2. And the next 5 ingredients and simmer 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the corn and olives; transfer to a 2-quart baking dish.
4. In a separate pot, combine the corn meal, salt and water, stirring until thick over medium heat.
5. Spread corn meal mixture over the beef mixture and bake about 40 minutes.
6. Remove your pie from oven briefly to sprinkle with cheese then return to bake for another 5 minutes.
Makes 6 servings
Foodie Tip ~
♥ Let’s go all the way – why not garnish your pie with sour cream, chopped scallions, guacamole and jalapeño?!
I found the original recipe (below) in mom’s 3-ring black binder. I think mom was more likely to “clip” recipes in her early days until she learned the art of freestyle cooking; the green index card file contains many of the recipes that are handwritten indicating they were favorite creations of hers… or her friends.
patrick’s chicken tortilla soup
Posted: May 15, 2011 Filed under: appetizers, soups, The Best Of The Best Recipes | Tags: avocado, cheddar cheese, chicken, chicken broth, cilantro, corn, EVOO, green chilies, monterey jack cheese, onion, pepper jack cheese, sour cream, stewed tomatoes, taco seasoning, tortilla chips 3 CommentsThis recipe is dedicated to my special niece Melissa ~ Her zest for food taught me
the more spice you add to life, the merrier!
~ ♥ ~
If my Mom “Betty” was still alive, I would have made sure she put my own favorite recipe in her cookbook. And better yet, I would have made her some bowls of this great-tasting soup.
I’ve tweaked this recipe over the years, and you can also edit it to please your own personal taste buds. I’ve had several friends say it’s the best tortilla soup they’ve had … plus, it’s easy to make. My secret? Squeezing lime juice on top just after the cheese starts to melt.
As temperatures start to “dip,” what better way to warm-up chilly evenings, than with this all-time favorite tortilla soup recipe? Perfect as an appetizer, or as a main course, one bowl of this soup usually leads to two … or more! Totally a comfort food staple for the Fall Foodie in you.
ingredients
2 cups | cooked chicken breast (cubed)
1 cup | chopped onion
1 tsp. | olive oil
1 – 4 oz. can | chopped green chilies
1 – 1.25 oz. package | taco seasoning mix ~ the hotter, the better
1 – 16 oz. can | stewed tomatoes
6 cups | chicken broth
1 – 10 oz. package | frozen corn
1/3 cup | fresh chopped cilantro
to taste | tortilla chips, broken into pieces
4 cups | your favorite grated cheese (we prefer pepper jack, monterey jack or cheddar)
1 | avocado
garnish | sour cream
garnish | green onion (scallion)
to taste | fresh ground black pepper
garnish | a squeeze of lime juice
what to do
1. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and place into a medium pot filled with water. Bring to a boil for 5-7 minutes and cook until done. Drain and set aside.
2. In a 5-quart saucepan over medium heat, sauté onion in oil 3 to 4 minutes, until soft.
3. Stir in chilies and the seasoning mix, cook 1 minute.
4. Add tomatoes and juice, breaking them up with a spoon.
5. Stir in broth and bring to a boil.
6. Add corn and chicken, reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Top with the cilantro.
8. Spoon into bowls and top with chips, cheese, avocado, and sour cream. Garnish with scallion, black pepper, and a squeeze of lime.
Serves 4-5 hungry folks. The soup refrigerates well; keep the garnish (chips, cheese, avocado, sour cream) as last minute additions.
Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook
calabacita
Posted: May 1, 2011 Filed under: casseroles and one-dish meals | Tags: calabacita, chicken, cilantro, corn, cumin, EVOO, garlic powder, green chilies, onion, squash, zucchini Leave a commentThis special recipe is dedicated to our dear family friend Bristol ~
thanks to her, mom’s recipes live on; the greatest treat I’ve ever received.
~ ♥ ~
My mom’s great friend “Bristol” said “calabacita” was one of mom’s absolute favorite recipes because she loved its spicy taste. Now I know where I get my love of spicy food!
I didn’t even know how to spell calaba-HUH?, but thanks to Google, I do now. Calabacita means “little squash” in Spanish and is often made of a variety of summer squashes with thin, edible skins, including zucchini, yellow crookneck, Mexican straight-neck and sunburst squashes (per the research I did online). We’ll see what mom used!
I remember something squashy as a kid, but not sure of the name. I think mom “dumbed” the name calabacita down to “squash” for me since my tiny tongue was too young to pronounce “ca-la-ba-ci-ta.” Although I do remember the young ability to say “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!”
5/14/11 UPDATE ~ I received mom’s cookbook this very week and scoured both the cookbook and the little recipe card file… and no calabacita recipe! All I can figure is that mom probably had the recipe in her head and didn’t need to write it down. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t share it with her friends! I’m on the hunt for the recipe, so in the meantime, enjoy the recipe below from the other Betty (Crocker)… the ingredients look similar to what I remember eating… except I don’t remember mom using chicken… but she did use both yellow crookneck squash and green zucchini.
i. ingredients
1 tablespoon | extra-virgin olive oil
1-1/2 lb | uncooked chicken breast tenders (not breaded)
8 to 10 small to medium | zucchini (2 1/2 lb), peeled, thinly sliced (8 cups)
1 medium | white onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 can (15.25 oz) | Green Giant® whole kernel corn, undrained
1 can (14.5 oz) | diced tomatoes with green pepper and onion, undrained
1 can (4.5 oz) | Old El Paso® chopped green chiles, undrained
1-1/2 teaspoons | garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon | ground cumin
to taste | salt and pepper, if desired
1/2 cup | chopped fresh cilantro
ii. what to do
1. In a 5- to 6-quart saucepan or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add the chicken; cover and cook 4 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink in the center.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients except cilantro. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until zucchini is tender.
3. Stir in cilantro; cook 3 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.
Foodie Tips ~
♥ While I don’t remember mom serving calabacita over white rice, consider it (from me to you).
♥ Making instant rice? Why not substitute water with chicken or beef broth?
Enjoy!
Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook
Betty's Cook Nook 