Freezer Chicken Tortilla Soup

Last night I wanted something quick and easy.  I had leftover fajita chicken from the other day, pinto beans in the freezer and homemade hot sauce in the freezer, and freezer cream of chicken soup.  From that, I made Freezer Chicken Tortilla soup!  It took about 20 minutes to defrost everything in the microwave, and about 10 minutes to cook!  Perfect Meal!!

Ingredients:

Cream of chicken soup from freezer (about 4 ladle-fulls)

Salsa from the freezer (about 2 cups)

Pinto Beans from freezer (about 4 ladle-fulls)

Fajita Chicken meat cubed (equivalent of a couple chicken breasts)

Tomato (diced)

salt (to taste)

pepper (to taste)

tortilla chips (a handful)

shredded cheddar cheese (a couple tablespoons)

Directions:

Dump it all in a pot except the last two ingredients.  Heat through.  Ladle into bowl.  Crunch up a couple tortilla chips and top with cheese.  YUMMO! 

 

*I suggest adding a little bit of cut up avacado to the top too.  I was out.

 

Technorati Tags: soup,chicken tortilla soup,chicken soup

Catastrophe in the Making

It’s official!  Cooking Catastrophe is a catastrophe!  Can we say “bite off more than you can chew?” 

I will keep the blog because I do like having a record of good recipes, BUT I will update less often.

If that bothers you, I completely understand.

July 5th shopping trip

I made my weekly Sunday morning trip yesterday.  Let me tell you…Walmart before 12:00pm on the SUNDAY after JULY 4th ROCKS!!!  No one was there!

Walmart:

• Great Value Froot Loops (the boys seem to like them…I tried them, tasted like the real stuff)
• Smart Start Cereal
• Facial cleanser (noxema)
• turkey sandwich slices
• Ranch dressing
• Spaghetti noodles
• Tortillas (refrigerated ready to cook)
• breakfast turkey sausage
• cherries
• fuji apples
• brocolli crowns
• mushrooms
• 3 big yogurt containers (we are on a yogurt and granola kick right now)
• apple juice
• coke
• sams cola zero (thought I would try it…it’s okay—I’ll drink it for .56 cents a 2 Liter)
• Total:  $44.96

United Marketstreet:

• Granola (ginger snap)
• Granola
• Cherries (okay, they were REALLY Ripe and looking great!  I am a cherry fan)
• White grapes
• bananas
• Total:  $13.44

Grand total:  $58.40

I realized I will need to make a trip to Sams for milk by the end of the week (maybe this weekend).

June 28 Shopping Trip

Here we go again!  I am a week behind on this, but amazingly I found my receipts tucked (not so neatly) in the bottom of my purse. ;0)

Walmart:

• Diapers
• Cheetoes
• Bananas
• Tomato
• Asparagus
• Mushrooms
• Turkey Sandwich meat
• Skippy Peanut Butter
• Turkey Bacon
• Yogurt (2 big containers)
• Lactaid tablets (chewable)
• coke
• apple juice
• Total:  $54.11

United Market Street:

• Granola (ginger snap)
• Granola
• Avacado
• Large Nectarines
• Black Plums
• Total:  $10.55

One more trip:  This one I don’t have the receipt to….

SAMS:

• Milk (2 for about $5.50)
• Bread (4 for about $7)
• Total:  approx. $13.00

 

Grand total:  approx. $77.66

That’s awesome!!! My new budget of $80 a week stayed in place here!!! Yay!

July Menu 2009

Hey everyone!  I am soooooo behind here!  I’ve got a couple recipes and some grocery shopping posts to get up here in the next couple of days. 

Here’s our monthly menu!  Last month was the first time and it worked out well.  We didn’t use every menu item (our bad eating out habit conquered all on those days).  This is money that is budgeted, though…so I figured the meals would just get tacked onto this month. 

Here we go:

• Bar BQ Pork, corn bread muffins, pinto beans
• Bacon-Egg Carbonera
• Meatloaf, Veggie, Rolls, Baked Potato (2)
• Spaghetti, French Bread (2)
• Chicken fingers, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Carrots
• Grilled Pork Chops, Mushroom gravy, Veggie, Rolls
• Spicy Gouda Potato Bake
• Chicken Fajitas, Pinto Beans
• Grilled Chicken, Veggies, Brown Rice
• Chicken Salad, Grilled Cheese, and Soup
• Grilled Pork Chops, Veggie, Homefried potatoes
• Pizza
• Roast with Carrots and potatoes, Rolls
• Hamburgers, Fries
• Savory Chicken, Veggies, Potatoes
• Chicken Marsala, Veggies, Potatoes, Rolls
• Eggs and Noodles
• Fried Pork Chops, Veggie, Rice
• Calzones

Have fun this month with your own menu!  If you want to have me post any of these recipes, I’ll do it gladly.  Just ask in the comment section!  Happy Cooking!

Weekly Shopping List June 21 and Shopping Report

 

This shopping trip came quickly this week due to the fact that I didn’t go shopping last week until mid-week.  I am still trying to take advantage of all the freezer cooking that I stored, and spend as little as possible.  I am working on spending less than $80 a week…and hopefully saving the $20 a week that I have been spending to pay for the times I go to Sam’s every 3-ish months.  If I can do that, then I have saved us and extra $200-$300 every 3-4 months in grocery money!!  That would be awesome!!!

Here’s my list this week:

• Dry Pinto Beans
• Avacados (2)
• Potatoes
• Tomato
• Broccoli
• Yogurt
• Eggs
• Fritos
• Toothpaste for N
• Huggies
• Bananas
• Tuna
• Poptarts
• Granola
• Coffee
• Vanilla Yogurt
• Cheetos

Let me give you a back story on some of these items.  I go shopping every Sunday, traditionally.  This has been happening since I started staying home (about a year now).  My husband knows this is when I go.  My list was actually shorter this week.  The highlighted items are those that I was told to go get later in the week.  Needless to say, the second trip cost half as much as the first trip!! I was shocked and glad that I had saved so much money this week on my initial trip.

The extra items I ended up getting that were not on the list were:

• Coffeemate
• Kids Toothbrushes
• Cereal

Then, of course—I had to go get milk yesterday.

• Milk
• Lactaid

 

That’s not bad..normally I get at least 5-6 items that are not on the list. 

 

Here’s the damage:

First Trip:  $40.96

Second Trip:  $18.61

Third Trip:  $8.50 ( lost my receipt, so this is an estimate)

Total:  $68.07

Not bad for a family of 4 that spent over a $100 a week just a couple of weeks ago.

Chicken Marsala and Veggie Fettuccini

This was a first time recipe for me last night.  I got the Chicken Marsala recipe from Mom’s Budget.  I did not have Marsala Wine, so I used White Cooking Wine instead.  I had made the chicken last week sometime and put it in the freezer, so I can attest to the fact that it is great when you cook it up after freezing it!  My husband gave this recipe a 7.0—even though my pasta needed a little more moisture.  I am modifying my pasta recipe to add some of the pasta water so that we achieve this. ;)

What you need:

1 1/2 lbs. chicken breast, thinly sliced

1 cup flour

1 egg, beaten (maybe more—you be the judge)

1 stick of butter (I use reduced calorie butter by Land O’ Lakes)

2-3 tbsp. of olive oil (I added another tablespoon of oil after cooking the first batch because I used more chicken)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 cup Marsala Wine ( I used White Cooking Wine)

Salt & Pepper

_____

Fettuccini or Spaghetti noodles (enough for 4 servings)

1 Zucchini

8-10 mushrooms

1-2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2-1 cup pasta water

salt & pepper & garlic powder

 

Directions: (as written at Mom’s Budget—see above link)

In skillet, melt butter and add olive oil.  Dip chicken pieces in egg, then dredge in flour to coat.  Place chicken in frying pan and fry until golden brown on each side.  Add chicken broth and remaining ingredients and simmer in skillet for ten minutes. 

While cooking chicken, start pasta water to a boil.  In a separate hot skillet, add oil for pasta.  Put in zucchini and mushrooms and season with salt/pepper/garlic powder to taste.  Cover with lid and let cook on Med-Low.  Once pasta is al-dente, drain pasta and reserve a little pasta water for your dish.  Add pasta to veggies and add pasta water.  Give it a toss.  Re-season Salt and pepper to keep flavor. 

Serve Pasta and Chicken hot.  Take a little parmesan cheese to the table and put it on the pasta for more flavor.

 

***Mom’s Budget is a great source of recipes and household tips.  Check it out!!  You can also get the instructions on how to freeze this chicken dish for OAMC or as I do it:  Several times a month cooking! ;0)