Chicken Enchilada Soup Recipe

Before anything else, I have to get this off my chest – I tried tilapia this week… and hated it! I baked it in foil pouches with lemon, garlic, lemon pepper, a little butter, and veggies. The boys and Brian all liked it, but it still had too much of a fishy smell and taste to me. I’m sure part of it’s mental, but I could only eat a few bites. I think I may have to make my foray into seafood through a fried recipe, like Janalyn suggested. Breading might help mask the fishiness. Regardless, I will try again… eventually. :)

On to my menu plan for this week – I’ve got two recipes for you! One is a favorite, and one is new to me too. Stick around till the end of the post, too – I’m doing a cookbook giveaway!

Monday: When I was at Sam’s a while back, I picked up a sample pouch of McCormick’s Crusting Blends – it’s the French Onion, Pepper & Herb blend. I’m planning to use this and do baked chicken tenders with sweet potato french fries, and fruit for dessert.

Tuesday: Chicken Enchilada Soup – this is that favorite recipe I mentioned. I got this recipe from the family that “adopted” us when we were in college, and who we still are great friends with over 10 years later. We always asked to have this when we were invited over for dinner! I usually make it in the fall and winter, just because that seems more like soup weather to me, but we’ve got a rainy week ahead of us so it sounded good – plus it makes a TON, so we’ll plan on having this for two dinners and two lunches. We’ll probably have salad with it to get in our veggies.  Ready for the recipe? Now remember, it makes a LOT. I’m halving the recipe, and we’ll still have enough for the four meals I mentioned. This makes it a perfect dish for serving to company, or to make at the start of a busy week.

• Ingredients:

• 3 large cans of white chicken, drained (You could also stew your own chicken, but using canned meat & broth is a definite time-saver. I’ve done it both ways.)
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 can chopped green chiles
• 6 cups water
• 2 cups flour
• 6 cubes chicken bouillon
• 2 tbsp. seasoned salt
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 2 tbsp. paprika
• 2 pints sour cream (I always use reduced fat sour cream, and you can’t tell one bit!)
• 1 bag tortilla chips
• shredded cheddar cheese
• chopped green onions

• Directions:

1. Sautee chopped white onion, green chiles and butter in a skillet over medium high heat. When done, add chicken. Stir and set aside.
2. In a very large pot, put 6 cups of cold water and all the flour in. Us a whisk and stir until there are no more lumps of flour. Then add the 6 cups of chicken broth, bouillon cubes, and all of the spices. Cook on medium high to high heat, stirring continually until the bouillon is dissolved and the mixture is your desired thickness.
3. Add the chicken/chile/butter mix to the large pot, and stir. Then add the 2 pints of sour cream. Stir, and cook until the sour cream is heated through.
4. To serve, crumble tortilla chips in the bottom of your bowl, add the soup and then top it with cheese and chopped green onions.

Wednesday: Leftover soup with sauteed squash/zucchini blend for a side.

Thursday: We’re having some friends over, so we’re going to grill chicken for fajitas and make some guacamole. I’m still trying to decide what to do for dessert – any recommendations?

Friday: This is when I’m trying a completely new (and a little intimidating) recipe – Paella. To give you the back story on why I decided to try this – Brian and I are huge Top Chef fans, and they are always using saffron (and talking about how amazing it is). So, last time we were in Fort Worth I picked some saffron threads up at Central Market and I have yet to use them! I did a search for recipes using saffron, and paella popped up over and over again. I finally settled on trying one from allrecipes.com. It’s called Easy Paella – can you see why I was drawn to that one? I read the reviews – which I always recommend doing on that site, as they provide great suggestions – and I’m making a few changes to the recipe to suit our tastes – here’s my slightly modified version:

• Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 cups uncooked short-grain white rice
• 2 pinch saffron threads, ground with a pinch of sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 bunch Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 10 oz. can of diced tomatoes
• 2 lemons, zested
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 Spanish onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1 pound chorizo sausage, casings removed and crumbled

Saturday: We’re going to eat out somewhere – not sure where yet, but all I know is it’ll be a break from cooking & clean-up!
Hopefully after reading this long post you haven’t forgotten the giveaway I mentioned! I have mentioned before that I think food makes a great gift. This cookbook is called “Gifts From a Jar” and it is centered around that idea. It’s filled with recipes for mixes – you place the dried ingredients in a jar, attach the recipe, and the recipient adds a few remaining items to make the dish. This book even includes fabric, raffia, and perforated recipe cards to use with the gifts!


This giveaway is open to all US and Canadian readers. Entries will be accepted until midnight CST Monday, May 31.

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Edited to add – a winner has been chosen!

Congratulations Amber Ryder!