South of the Border

My favorite thing about the cold weather?  Soup!  That's right.  Its so easy to make, you can use many of the same ingredients with different flavor profiles and have a practically new meal each night.  And, you can feed your kids veggies without tears.  What really could be better, right?!

Today, I had a hinkering for some "south of the border" flavors, and with only frozen chicken, soup seemed to be the logical answer.  Into the crockpot went the following:

1 package of boneless,skinless chicken breasts, frozen

1 box chicken broth

1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles

1 can black beans

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1 huge heaping tablespoon diced garlic

1 small onion, diced

1 carrot, sliced

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp dried cilantro

2 Tbsp lime juice

1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

When it was all done, I simply shredded the chicken with a fork and served, topped with a dollop of greek yogurt and avocado.  I think it was a bit lax on the spice, so next time, I'll up the cumin to a tablespoon.  

I did read a recipe where the cook added a can of enchilada sauce to soup.  That sounds good, too, but I was concerned about the spice level because of the kids.  Might be something to try down the road, though.

I also made homemade whole wheat tortillas to go with the soup.  Okay, I'm going to be honest, the kids loved the tortillas.  Me, however, I was not thrilled.  The recipe called for 

• 3 Cups whole wheat flour
• 1 Cup white flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup warm water, plus 2 TBL
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 2 TBL Olive oil

Mix it all up and form a ball.  I let mine sit for quite some time before actually breaking it into 12 individual balls.  

Roll them out with a rolling pin, and cook on a griddle pan until light bubbles form on each side.  

Perhaps there are some foods that just should not be healthified. I think tortillas are one of them.  Or, maybe I just need a tortilla press to get them thinner.  They ended up taking a bit too long to cook because they were so thick.  We rolled them out quite thin, but as soon as they hit the heat, the proteins seemed to contract.  

After his soup, P put butter and strawberry jam on his tortillas.  I think the fat makes them tastier and more pliable.  I'll try to make tortillas again, but with a slightly less healthy recipe.