Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

THE Original RECIPE for SLOW COOKER CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP
CAME FROM MELISSA DARABIAN ON THE FOOD NETWORK
I of course changed it a bit

Republished November 11,2024

Ingredients
3 chicken thighs, skin removed (i used left over turkey that was cooked & added it the last hour)

10-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (i rinsed mine before using)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth ( i used Swanson Chicken Stock for cooking 26 ozs)

1 1/2 cups water
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 jalapeno, finely chopped (i did not have a jalapeño so i used a large can of chopped chiles)

1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
Juice of a lemon
i used tortilla strips and crunched them on top of the soup
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (i used this cheese maybe a couple T per bowl)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Put 2 - 4 slices of ripe avocado on top of each bowl of soup

Directions
Place the chicken, tomatoes (and juices), beans, broth, water, onion, garlic, jalapeño (or chiles)  cumin, and chili powder in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours. (i cooked on low for about 6 hours. at hour 5 i added the turkey. i would use chicken thighs though)

Uncover the slow cooker and use tongs to remove the chicken from the pot. Once cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones and shred, then return the meat to the pot. Stir in the lemon juice. Crumble a few tortilla chips into each bowl and cover with some soup. Serve sprinkled with cilantro and grated cheese.

If you want it hotter, add hot sauce while it's cooking.

This was my Instagram post since it was the first time I made it and it came out SO freaking good!!

Per serving: Calories: 275; Total Fat: 8 grams; Saturated Fat: 4 grams; Protein: 22 grams; Total carbohydrates: 29 grams; Sugar: 7 grams; Fiber: 6 grams; Cholesterol: 56 milligrams; Sodium: 364 milligrams

Original recipe from Melissa Darabian

Organic Black Bean, Turkey, 'Shroom Chili with Dean and Deluca spices

Chili for someone else because it has no GARLIC in it and 

I L O V E Garlic!!  

But, I have a good friend who just had back surgery, and she and her husband like my chili that I make just for them. The first time I made it, their request was no garlic, no onions, no mushrooms and not spicy & made with ground turkey and black beans.  SAY WHAT?!? That isn't chili!!  But over the years, they have decided that everything but the garlic is ok, so this is how I make it now, just for them. Since it's a pretty good dish, I decided to blog it.  At the end I'll tell you what I would add to it for me!  

First, I bring out the big crock pot so they can have some to eat and some to freeze.

I used over a pound of Shelton's ground turkey from happy pastured turkeys with a little S & P and I sautéed that in a little bit of olive oil just to brown it, then put it in the crock pot with the tomatoes and tomatoe paste.

Then I sautéed the shallots and mushrooms in a little olive oil and added that in. If you wanted to make this vegetarian, the mushrooms are meaty and hearty and make a great meat substitute or just a great addition to chili with meat or turkey.

Then I dumped in the rest of the ingredients and spices and turned it on low in the crockpot where it will stay for the next 8 hours or so.

Ingredients

1 or more pounds of ground turkey or beef

2 cans of organic black beans, drained and rinsed (if you remove these, it becomes #PALEO
2 cans of organic petite diced tomatoes
1 10 oz package Trade Joes crimini mushrooms, chopped up fine
2 medium shallots chopped up fine
1 jar yellow and red roasted peppers from Trader Joes chopped up
Equivalent of 1 can of tomatoe paste, though I squirted it out of a tube

2 small turkish bay leaves  

Dean and Deluca Chili Powder Blend which is what sets my chili apart from other chili because it is a rich dark perfect blend of spices!
Dean and Deluca Hungarian paprika, greek oregano, basil, thyme and cumin to taste. they don't like things 'spicy' so i never use more than a teaspoon of anything and mostly just a pinch.  Last time I made it they said it was kind of boring, because I barely used any spices, so i upped the chili powder blend in this one!  They just don't like 'hot' spicy things I think . . . or garlic!

If I was making it for me, I would add a ton of fresh grated garlic, greek black olives chopped up, red chili pepper flakes, Louisiana hot sauce & more fresh peppers chopped up. 

I would serve it with greek yogurt and colby/jack cheese shredded on top of it and maybe some more olives chopped up on top.  I USED to serve it with crushed up fritos and sour cream and cheese on top.  It was yum, but I don't eat fritos anymore :( 

Mish Mash of Italian Paleo one pot dish for dinner or whenever . . .

Paleo Spaghetti . . . kind of . . . sort of . . . but not really

So, I haven't made anything new for awhile until tonight.  This is really a mish mash to resemble spaghetti/italian something because I was missing Italian food. Basically Spaghetti and Meat Sauce.

I started with:
one sweet onion, chopped
about 6-8 ounces of brown crimini mushrooms chopped
sautéed in a little olive oil because i don't like cocoanut oil but that's what i should have used

Then I added 1 pound of Shelton's ground turkey to the veggies

Season with whatever you want but I used S & P, garlic, Dean and Deluca Oregano and Basil

I then added the threads from one pre-cooked spaghetti squash that I had roasted in the oven and pulled the 'spaghetti threads' out  ( here is how to do it in case you need directions: http://www.kitchentreaty.com/how-to-cook-spaghetti-squash-two-different-ways-in-the-microwave-or-in-the-oven/ )

I also had some crunchy roasted cauliflower that i chopped up and added to the whole thing, 3 big florets

Then I added about 3/4 of a jar of gluten free, organic pasta sauce and heated it all up. You could also just use fresh tomatoes cut up and some organic tomatoe sauce, maybe a little tomatoe paste instead. Add some red pepper flakes to make it hot. Grate some cheese over the top of it and even mix it with real spaghetti to make it go farther if you aren't doing paleo.

It actually tasted really yum, even though it's not the prettiest thing i have ever made.  

Baked Tilapia with Olive Tapenade & Cauliflower Mash

Another (sort of) Paleo friendly meal

As I might have mentioned, I am eating dairy on my new lifestyle change of eating, way of life, so not pure Paleo. Though I still say that none of us were there at the time of the cavemen, so who really knows!?  

This was the easiest meal to make because I used some pre-prepared foods.

Trader Joe's has a new Mediterranean Olive tapenade that has a lot of good stuff in it.

I took a piece of tilapia and covered it with the tapenade, baked it in the oven for about 30 minutes at 350.

Then I made a variation of my favourite cauliflower mash with cheese and garlic in it.  I used a bag of microwave cauliflower and placed whole garlic cloves in with it, to soften the garlic & some butter with S&P to taste.

added the garlic and some shredded cheese then used my immersion blender to get it smooth.  Yum!!

What IS for breakfast? Paleo conundrum!

Breakfast - it can get boring, but you can make a lot of variations of this dish.  This is what I had this morning.

Baked eggs & turkey bacon in a muffin cup 

Pre-heat oven to 375

I sprayed the muffin cups with non-stick spray and lined them with one piece of turkey bacon.  You could also use real bacon or canadian bacon or even some ham. I wanted to use up my turkey bacon, because I do eat real bacon.

I took 2 eggs, 1/2 cup egg whites, a handful of shredded cheese, Mt. Olive sliced jalapeno peppers, S & P.  Whipped that all together and divided amongst the four muffin cups. 

Sorry this is a bad photo, the muffin tin is one of those flexible ones, and it's red! you can take the extra ones out and put in a plastic bag to eat the next day or freeze them if you make a big recipe. Let hem cool for 20 minutes before you put them in the fridge (they will keep for a week) or freezer.

**You can also make these by dicing up a bunch of veggies like peppers, green onion, broccoli,mushrooms, & use canadian bacon or ham all diced and added into the sprayed muffin tin, then just beat the eggs that you have added the shredded cheese & S&P, i also add hot sauce, pour OVER the veggies & meat, and bake at 375 for about 20-25 minutes.   

Chicken Thighs with lemon, mushrooms, asparagus

So tonight's dinner is something else I made up and is Paleo friendly. Let's call it:

 chicken thighs with lemon and vegetables 

 

This is what I used:
4 bone in, skin on Chicken thighs from Whole Foods 
Dean & Deluca rosemary 
1 lemon, cut into quarters 
1 TBSP coconut oil 
granulated onion 
garlic powder 
Dean & Deluca Tandoori blend
S&P
Sliced crimini mushrooms
thick cut asparagus 

I seasoned the chicken,  then browned on both sides in the hot coconut oil. i added some olive oil though because i realize that the reason i don't like coconut oil is that it tastes and smells like coconut. i don't care that much for coconut. granted, most of the taste cooks away, but it's too much for me for a savory dish. 

Then I put the thighs in a roasting dish lined with parchment paper, squeezed the lemon juice from half the lemon into the bottom of the dish. 

Then i browed the veggies that i had left over, in the rest of the pan oil for a minute or so, then I poured all of that into the same dish along with the squeezed lemons and baked at 400 for 35 minutes.

It was AMAZING