Fallout Baked Potato Soup

I discovered about 9:00 tonight that I really didn't have anything for lunch tomorrow...I normally make soup on Sunday for lunches all week, it's cheaper, I know what's in it, and I only have half an hour for lunch, so I don't have to wander out to find fast food that I will actually eat. But we were just getting home from the ski trip Sunday evening, and I haven't been to the store since.

We had several baked potatoes leftover from the trip (we always have a lot of leftovers because we and  the friends we ski with always make way too much food), which we carted all the way home from Oregon because I refuse to waste food. I needed to find a use for them, so this is my version of Baked Potato Soup made mainly of ingredients I had in the refrigerator and cupboard. I have a friend whose Mom used to call this sort of meal "fallout" which I've always found amusing; basically it's anything that "falls out" of the refrigerator.

She would give me a hard time for scraping together whatever leftovers were in the refrigerator, heating it up and serving it for me and the kids for dinner. Chili, scrambled eggs, pickles, wrap it in a tortilla...She thought it was pretty disgusting and called it "pig slop", but I did it because if there was a dab of this and a scosh of that, one of them would always be unhappy with what they didn't get. I was a single Mom and it's why I dislike wasting food today. (Also, from childhood I have hated to let my food "touch", so I wasn't real crazy about this prep method myself!)

Ingredients:
2 medium potatoes of your choice
Olive oil or reserved bacon grease
1/2 chopped onion
1 stalk minced celery
1 shredded carrot
Minced garlic
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
Salt and pepper to taste
Tabasco sauce, also to taste-I find a little goes a long way, so I used four "splashes".

Garnish:
Bacon crumbles
Sliced green onion

Grated cheese; I used Gouda, again brought back from the trip. It doesn't grate very well, and usually it isn't leftover-we had cheese, meat, and veggie trays, and our choice of beverage while watching the Olympics, but as I said, we brought a lot of food. The great thing about this soup is it requires so little cooking!

I might mention that I don't normally garnish my soups for lunch, just toss it in the microwave and heat at work which would incinerate the garnish, but I wanted the photo to look attractive :)

Method:
If you don't have leftover baked potatoes, rub medium potatoes with olive oil and bake in 400 degree oven until done. At this point, you really should just throw your favorite toppings on, eat and be done with it, however, we overestimated our appetites and these were relegated to the refrigerator for "later", hauled home, and here they still were.

Dice the leftover baked potatoes fairly small, 1/2 inch or less and set aside. Heat butter in a sauce pan and saute onion, celery, and carrots until nearly tender.


Add chicken broth and diced potatoes. Bring to a boil. Whisk milk and cornstarch well. Add to soup and heat through. Season with spices and Tabasco-feel free to be creative.

 

My son, the one who dredges most of his food in cayenne pepper, said the soup wasn't very spicy (apparently the lining in his mouth and esophagus were still intact), but it still tasted good. As usual, sorry about the photos, my camera is old and wheezing it's last shuttery clicks. You do know, don't you, that today's digital cameras don't need the shutter click, but we, who have always operated cameras that clicked wouldn't know if the photo took without the accompanying sound!!

I'd ask the guys for a new one for Mother's Day, but one of them recently borrowed my blender to make cheesecake  and burned it up, so I'd have to decide between a camera and a new blender. Or some of my favorite perfume. Usually, though, I have them all come over on Mother's Day for what I call "obligatory slave labor", the price they pay for my having let them live to grow up. They clean up the yard, haul away the recycling, repair what needs repaired. And I cook!

Lunch is made, tomorrow is my "Friday". How could life get any better? Good-night!

Tortilla Soup

I fell in love with Tortilla Soup in Mexico at the end of the year. I mean really good, authentic Mexican food, not Taco Bell or El something-or-other in the states. So I've been searching for recipes and it seems like there are as many recipes for Tortilla Soup as there are cooks! I chose one from that had fried tortilla strips in it, not crumbled corn chips. Then I just sort of "averaged" the ingredients, but will credit basic recipe to Bigoven.

Most recipes called for chicken breast, but I had thighs, so that's what I used:

4 chicken thighs
Olive oil
4 cloves  minced garlic
1/2 chopped yellow onion
1 minced jalapeno-seeds and veins removed for less heat, I seeded 1/2

Cover chicken with water and add seasonings: Cumin, chili powder, cayenne, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper to taste. Boil until chicken is well done, then shred chicken, reserving stock.

Saute garlic and onion in olive oil and add to stock.
Add 32 oz. chicken broth
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes (I used fire-roasted diced tomatoes)

Heat while cooking the tortilla strips:

Cut tortillas in half, then into 1/4" strips. Fry in oil until crisp and drain on paper towel.

Place fried tortilla strips, cheese and avocado in the bottom of bowl, then cover with soups. Add more tortillas strips and cheese if desired. Squeeze lime on top and add cilantro.

Garnishes:
Shredded Cheese
Chopped Cilantro
Sliced Dried Peppers
Avocado
Lime Slices




Other things that can be added, limited only to your imagination:

Corn Kernels
Black Beans

It's hard to make "original" chili...

Four Bean Chili

3/4 cup small white beans
3/4 cup small red beans
3/4 cup pinto beans
3/4 cup pink beans

Sort over and rinse (these are "agricultural products") to remove any stones and dirt. Cover with water and soak overnight.

1 1/2-2 lbs. ground beef, ground sirloin, chili or stew meat
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large jalapeno pepper, minced
cloves of garlic to taste (lots), minced

2-3 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon garlic salt
salt and pepper to taste

Salt and pepper to taste, cook beans on medium low heat.
28 oz. crushed tomato in puree
16 oz. "Fiesta style" frozen vegetables

Meantime, brown ground beef, chili meat, ground sirloin, stew or chili meat in frying pan on medium heat. Add chopped onion, jalapeno, garlic and garlic salt. Cook until most or all grease is evaporated. Add to cooking beans. Add crushed canned tomatoes. Cook for 1-2 hours until beans are tender.

Stir in frozen vegetables. Serve with cornbread.