Chicken Taco Soup

1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 fluid ounce) cup chicken broth
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts
shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
crushed tortilla chips (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, broth, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.
2. Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

Bill Echols Taco Seasoning

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Calzones

Dough:

1 tbs. yeast
1 ½ cups hot water
mix and let dissolve

2 tbs. sugar
2 tbs. olive oil
4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt

Mix all. Roll out into circles. Put toppings, sauce and cheese on bottom half of dough circle. Fold over and crimp. Brush tops with beaten egg or butter. Cook at 350° for 20 minutes, until brown

Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars

YUM! One of my favorite desserts ever.

You can see the original recipe here: Apple Struesel

1 pouch Betty Crocker oatmeal cookie mix
1.2 cup firm butter
2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cut sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 can (21 oz) apple pie filling
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat over to 350°F. Spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. Place cookie mix in large bowl. With pastry blender or fork, cut in better until mixture is crumbly and coarse. Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture; press remaining crumbs in bottom of pan. Bake 10 minutes. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, vanilla and egg with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread over partially baked crust. In medium bowl, mix pie filling and cinnamon. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle reserved crumbs over top. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool about 30 minutes. Refrigerate to chill, about 2 hours. Store covered in refrigerator.

Sherbet Punch

You can see the original recipe here: Sherbet Punch

1/2 gallon lime or raspberry sherbet, softened
1 liter ginger ale
2 cups lemon-lime soda
2 cups grapefruit or citrus soda

Just before serving, place sherbet in punch bowl. Add ginger ale and soda; stir until sherbet is almost dissolved.

Starting a New Blog

I hate to cook. I'm not sure why. It seems like a lot of work for something you're just going to eat--funny how I don't feel that way about making cakes. Weird. I'm pretty much Queen of the Freezer. If it can be cooked in the toaster over, I'm all for it!

This is a blog to keep all my recipes that are tried and true, and to give my kids proof that I can cook. I love that I'll be able to search the blog, add ingredients easily to my grocery lists and that I can access them anywhere that has internet. Maybe I'll be able to plan my meals more easily and I may cook more. I wouldn't bet on it though. Probably a risky move.