Spice Up Your Life

Love me some spices. I think a lot of people that are just beginning to cook are a little afraid of them though. How much spice do I use? What do I buy and for what? The only way to find out is to just go for it! I'm pretty notorious for making things too spicy, but that's how I like it! I've made bland dishes, and dishes so spicy that I sweat while eating. You can't win 'em all, but you should try 'em all. Go buy some new spices for your cabinet. Here's what's in mine...

Well that's nice Steph, but what should I buy?
Here's some staples I just can't live without:
salt & pepper
seasoned salt
red pepper flakes
oregano
basil
parsley
curry powder
Buy and use these and you can make almost anything taste fantastic.
Thanks for reading!

Homemade Tortilla Soup

My friend Nicaela introduced me to La Siesta about a month ago, and the BEST tortilla soup of my life! Ever since then I dream about tortilla soup. Fresh cilantro, melty cheese, chunks of warm avocado... heaven in my mouth.

I can't say that I completely came up with this recipe. The truth is I googled how to make tortilla soup and stole bits and pieces of other people's recipes. I think this is completely acceptable though. After all, nothing is really original any more. And more than anything, I'm just trying to teach you how to cook!

So if you love tortilla soup as much as I do, try this one...


Ingredients

1 bunch of cilantro
2 chicken breasts
1 anaheim chile- Beware. I didn't remove the seeds and it was EXTRA spicy! If you are sensitive, remove the seeds.
1 yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
3 plum tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth
1 can sweet white corn or 1 cob fresh white corn
1 avocado
2 corn tortillas
1/2 cup shredded Oaxaca cheese
vegetable oil
salt & pepper

How to cook it

I was really surprised how simple this recipe is, yet how fancy it looks! No need to be intimidated on this one kids.

Start by putting the chicken broth in a large pot over high heat. While that is warming up, get out a griddle pan. Over medium heat place the garlic (peel on), onion (chopped in half and peeled), whole anaheim chile, and whole tomatoes on the griddle pan. Cook these until they are golden brown or have some nice grill color on the outside like pictured below. This will take about 5-8 minutes, turning frequently.



When the veggies are done cooking, remove them from the pan. Throw all of the veggies into a blender. Make sure to peel the garlic and chop the tomatoes, chile and onion into quartered chunks. This is going to sound weird, but I stole this from another recipe and it totally makes it great! Also throw in one corn tortilla into the blender along with some of the chicken broth. Blend everything together until smooth. Add the blended veggies & the corn to the simmering chicken broth.

Next cook your chicken. I just threw it on the same griddle pan I cooked the veggies on. Season it with some seasoned salt & pepper and grill until done. Shred it up into bite sized chunks and throw into the soup.

Once everything is in the soup you can let it simmer for as long as you want. I cooked it about an hour and was impressed by all the flavors.

The last step is to add the garnishes when serving. Make sure you add these garnished to individual cups rather than the whole pot of soup, they will get soggy and ruin the soup! I fried up a fresh corn tortilla on the chicken pan with some veggie oil until it was browned then chopped it up into tortilla strips. I think this is the best way to go, it really adds a lot of flavor. Chop up some cilantro, throw some cubes of avocado, and the shredded cheese in it and you're done!

It involves a lot of small tasks at the end, but the garnishes make the soup. Suck it up & do it.

Happy New Year!