Amy the Mom

The Very Best Tortilla Soup

This is so good, you should make it tonight.  It's probably the most requested dish from my kitchen.  I think it's quite easy to make, but my friend LeAnn claims that anything with more than eight ingredients won't make the cut in her kitchen.  I cheat when I make this by using a store bought rotisserie chicken and buying the pico de gallo from Chipotle.   It's cheaper than making it yourself and a big time saver.   You can serve this soup in about 45 minutes from start to finish or you can let it simmer and thicken up overnight-then it becomes more of a tortilla stew, equally delicious either way.  To be honest, I don't even put tortilla strips in the soup.  The whole point of adding the tortillas is for thickening, but you're going to use corn masa for that.   If you want to use them as a garnish, go for it. 

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup diced red pepper
•  ¾ cup diced green pepper
•  1 cup diced yellow onion
• 2 cloves minced garlic
•  1 ½ tsp Ground Cumin
• 1 ½ tsp Ground Coriander
•  Fresh ground black Pepper, about 1/2 tsp
• 1 quart Chicken Stock (preferably no salt)
• ½ cup frozen or fresh Corn
• 1 cup pico de gallo or Chipotle's tomato salsa
• 1 quart Petite Diced Tomatoes (28 oz. can)
•  Pulled meat from one small roasted chicken (just get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery)
•  1 tbsp Chicken Base
•  ½ tbsp Kosher Salt
•  6 tbsp Masa Corn Flour

Optional topping ingredients:   

Avocado, cut into cubes

Lime wedges

Sour cream

Fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

Extra pico de gallo

In a large pan, sautee the onion, peppers and garlic in a little olive oil for about five minutes.  Set aside. 

 

In a large stockpot, combine all ingredients except chicken meat and corn masa.  Bring ingredients to a simmer, then gradually whisk small quantities of the corn masa into the soup, sprinkling it across the surface and stirring until dissolved. 

Normally, I get all my spices from either Penzey's or Indian groceries.  But I grabbed this roasted cumin from the grocery during a recent visit and love it.  It's powerful good.

 

 This is my favorite brand of canned tomato products:

 
Dei Fratelli products are the best.  Their pizza sauce is so rich and delicious, everything else tastes like water in comparison. 

For the chicken stock, my pick is Kitchen Basics.  I prefer the unsalted version for this soup,
 
because the soup base adds plenty of sodium, and you're adding plenty of Kosher salt.

 
This is the only soup base I keep on hand.  It's a little spendy, but so worth it because a little goes a long way.  It adds a nice kick to gravy if the flavor is weak and it's the secret to my rich Chicken Tortellini Soup. 

 
I line up all the toppings in ramekins, and let each person add to their taste.  If you're on a low carb diet, this is a good choice and it's gluten free, too.  I'm on Weight Watchers right now, so it's three points for a one and a half cup serving.   

Lemon Pecan Bars

You have to try really hard to not be happy when experiencing weather like we've had the last couple of weeks.  Impossibly blue skies, temperatures in the mid to upper seventies, and sunsets every night that leave me awestruck.  Even a painful dentist visit hasn't dampened my spirits.   In the last week, I've discovered that lightning bugs (or fireflies) are showing up in my backyard.  I don't know what happened to the lightning bug population over the years, but when I was a child the skies were filled with them at night.  Unless I'm in remote rural areas, I never see them during the summer anymore.  Any ideas how to develop a thriving firefly population?  I would love to see their flickering all over my neighborhood each evening.

So, it's the 4th of July already.  I believe I promised a recipe a couple weeks ago, then never delivered.  Shame on me.  The garden calls, and then we had the entire downstairs interior of our house painted last week which was demanding, but produced gorgeous results.  When I finish cleaning the house, I'll share some pictures.

These are from a Realtor in my office, who I believe snagged a blue ribbon from the State Fair for her efforts-deservedly so.  Lemon bars are such a perfect summer treat, but these have pecans, which I think make them even more exceptional.  Can you omit the pecans?  I suppose, but I don't know why you'd want to do such a crazy thing.  These bars look like they belong on a red and white checked tablecloth, next to some homemade fried chicken and tangy potato salad.  You should definitely include them for your menu tomorrow.   They seem like they should require so much more effort than they actually do.  Maybe after you make them, you should rub some flour into your clothes and smear a little on your cheeks to make it seem like you slaved for hours in the kitchen whipping these up. 

Lemon Pecan Bars

For the crust:
1/2 C butter, softened
1 1/3 C all purpose flour
1/4 granulated sugar (I prefer superfine)

Mix together the above ingredients with a fork or pastry blender until crumbly.  Press into an 8 inch square baking pan and bake for twenty minutes at 350 degrees.  Crust will still look white when finished, do not brown it!

Filling:
2 eggs
3/4 C granulated sugar (again, superfine is best)
2 TBSP all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
4 TBSP lemon juice (NOT the concentrate, the real stuff only!)
1/2 C coarsely chopped pecans

Powdered sugar for topping

Mix all the filling ingredients, except pecans, in a blender on medium speed until combined.  Stir in the pecans and pour the mixture over your pre-baked crust.  Return to the oven, and bake for an additional twenty minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with enough powdered sugar to barely coat the surface.  Allow bars to cool before cutting. 

The Very Best Taco Dip in the Whole World

If my friend Marisha cared about writing a "blob", I'd be in serious trouble.  I couldn't very well copy her recipes if she was publishing them herself.  Lucky for me, she considers this vanity project solid evidence that I have too much time on my hands.  Whatever.

Whenever Marisha has a party, I park myself next to her Taco Dip, and make sure I have a cold beverage handy-ideally, a margarita or Negra Modelo.  The dip is incredible, but you must serve it with Tostitos "Hint of Lime" chips.  Makes all the difference.  I am altering her scrumptious dish with the addition of fresh cilantro, which I can't get enough of. 

Marisha's Taco Dip

2 Cups Daisy sour cream
1 packet McCormick's extra spicy taco seasoning
Pace chunky medium salsa
2 jalapenos, diced
1 green pepper, large diced
1 bunch green onions, sliced thin
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
a palmful of fresh chopped cilantro
One head iceberg lettuce, sliced into thin pieces, then chopped

Combine the sour cream and the taco seasoning, then spread in an even layer in a 9x9 glass dish.  On top of that, spread a thin layer of the salsa-about half the depth of sour cream mixture.  On top of the salsa, sprinkle the jalapenos, green peppers, tomatoes and cilantro.  Top with lettuce.  Best if it's allowed to sit for at least an hour before serving.

If you are gastronomically weak, use the mild taco seasoning and ease up on the jalapenos....wussy.   

A Cup of Soup and Eggrolls

My dad recently retired after working for the same company for nearly 40 years.  Every single day, he packed the same lunch-a sandwich with a slice of American cheese and mustard, and a packet of Lipton's Cup-a-soup.  I'm embarrassed to report that when my mom would tell me to pack my dad's lunch for the next day, I'd often complain about the chore.  It was such a trivial task, and I bitched about it.  Thinking about it makes me want to hop in a time machine and go back to 1986 and kick my snotty little teenage ass. 

I doubt that it happened with any frequency that my dad was taken out to a nice restaurant for lunch, but I've got a company expense account which permits me to dine at white linen establishments with regularity.  God, I'm spoiled.  My dad also made his hot tea each morning with a powdered concentrate and Coffeemate.  My nose gets bent out of joint if someone asks me to meet them at Caribou instead of Starbucks.  I'm pretty sure one day of my Triple Venti Latte habit would cover about two months of his morning beverage consumption.

I suppose the financial pressures of the season have me thinking about all this.  My son asked me for a $4,500 laptop the other day and seemed genuinely surprised when I told him his budget for a Christmas present is quite a bit less than a tenth of that amount.  He had gone to the extra trouble of outlining all of the tasks he would perform-without complaint-if given such an extravagant gift, so I'll give him points for creativity, but DUDE.  Come ON.  I'm guilty myself-I would love to have a Rebel XTI, because my pictures would certainly be of gallery quality the second that hot little number was placed in my hands.  Truthfully, I lack for nothing.   

Just prior to my last trip to Ohio, my friend Marisha invited me to her home to make eggrolls.  I'd long ago suggested we do this together, rather than her just handing me a recipe and trying to muddle through it on my own.  So I joined Marisha and Connie, another friend of Marisha's, on a Wednesday night for eggroll prep.  Marisha had done all of the ingredient shopping earlier in the day, and Connie and I asked how much we owed her.  The ingredients were approximately six dollars.  We each made forty eggrolls.  For a little warmup prior to dinner,  Marisha made soup from Wai Wai noodles.  Wai Wai is in a little pouch just like Ramen noodles, but it actually has a really good flavor.  Marisha had asked the lady working in the Asian grocery store how she prepared Wai Wai and the employee responded that she added fresh cilantro and green onions to the soup mix and prepared it per the instructions.  The results were awesome.  Robust flavor and noodles with texture.  If you're making it at home be careful with the spice pouch, it's potent used at  full strength.  I wish I'd known about this frugal delicacy years ago when I was flat busted broke.  Eating a tasty meal for a dime and some change would have been nice.

As far as the eggrolls...you know I always try to be exacting in my recipe posts.  This one won't be like that, mostly because Marisha prepared the filling for us prior to our arrival.   Marisha weighs about 85 pounds soaking wet and doesn't quite hit the five foot mark.  She's originally from India, but grew up in Kathmandu.  She immigrated to the US when she was twenty-two, following her older sister.  The woman is like the Energizer bunny.  She is constantly in motion, talks at lightning speed and rarely sits down, except to sleep.  So I'll try to boost the post with pictures, descriptive technique narration and hyper-links.

Marisha's Egg Rolls

One pack of frozen spring roll wrappers, thawed (Spring Home preferred)
1 large carrot, shredded
3 cups finely shredded cabbage
1 bunch green onions, diced
3 small bundles bean thread
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup bean sprouts
1/4 tsp MSG
fresh ground black pepper to taste
high quality soy sauce to taste

Take the thawed wrappers and carefully peel them off the stack.  One corner should be pointed toward you.  Place a small amount of the filling about an inch from the corner of the wrapper facing you-approximately 2 tablespoons.  Keep a small bowl of water nearby.  Wetting your fingers, rub the edges of the wrapper.  Bring the corner facing you under the filling, tucking it tightly.  Bring the left and right corners toward the center, overlapping them.  Tightly roll the eggroll, moistening the top corner so that it adheres well.  The eggroll will only be about an inch thick and five inches long. 

They can be cooked immediately in Canola oil on medium heat.  Fry until a lovely golden brown.  I actually believe they taste better after being frozen.  Take them directly from the freezer into the oil, being careful to avoid splatters.  Serve with sweet and sour sauce, or fish sauce or whatever Asian condiment you enjoy.  You could certainly add pieces of pork or shrimp to these if you like.  These are awesome appetizers for the holidays.

      

This is such a hectic time of year, and I'm grateful that I took time out of my whirlwind schedule to make these.  For less than ten dollars, three of us spent a wonderful evening talking, laughing and creating eggrolls.  I unplugged for awhile, and I really enjoyed being in that moment.  For me, that's no small feat.  The constant multitasking, the obsessive checking of email, the steady din of video games and 24 hour cartoons-it was absent for an evening.  Thank you, Marisha, for a wonderful Christmas gift.