Tortilla Soup

One boneless skinless chicken breast
One quart of chicken broth
Two tablespoons oil
One onion, chopped finely
Two jalapenos, seeds and veins removed, diced
12 oz can V8, preferably Picante, not the hot or bloody mary mix, regular is ok too
Juice of one lime
Handful of cilantro, chopped

Optional toppings:

Corn tortillas
oil
cheese
sour cream
avacado, sliced

Put one boneless skinless chicken breasts in a pot with one quart of chicken broth.  Boil for about 8 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Take the chicken out of the broth and allow to cool while you are cooking up the rest of the soup.    Heat up a couple of tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan.  Add a diced onion.  Saute until the onion is tender and fragrant.   Throw in two jalapenos that you have seeded, removed the white veins and chopped.  Saute for a few more minutes.  Add the sauteed onions and peppers to the broth.  Add a twelve ounce can of V8, preferabley the Picante V8, if you can find it.  Regular V8 is ok too.  Add the juice of one lime or a tablespoon of white or cider vinegar to the soup.  The lime juice is better, but don't make a special trip to the store if you don't have it. Bring the soup to a boil and then turn the heat down to low.  While the soup is simmering, shred the chicken and add this to the soup.  Take a handful of cilantro and chop it up.  Throw this into the soup right before you are ready to serve.    You can serve this with tortilla chips, but my favorite thing to do is to slice up a few corn tortillas and fry the strips in some hot oil until crispy.  Put some fried tortilla strips in a bowl.  add a little bit of grated cheese.  Ladle soup on the tortilla strips.  I also like to top the soup with a dallop of sour cream and some slices of fresh avacado. 

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

I found a recipe on Allrecipes but I changed it up a bit about a year ago and I think its delicious.  When I first made them I did not know they were gluten free or what gluten even was.  When my mom found out that she was gluten intolerant, as was my brother and sister, I realized that I had the best cookie recipe ever for them.  They are super easy and the ingredients are ones that are usually on hand.  These are my absolute favorite peanut butter cookies!

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients.  Form into balls and press with forks in the traditional criss cross pattern.  Bake for 8-10 minutes. Enjoy!

Sponge/Seafoam Candy

I love seafoam candy.  It is crunchy and reminds me of honey. It is covered in chocolate.  There isn't much more you can ask of a candy.    I first tried a type of this candy in fifth grade when my friend brought home Crunchy bars from Canada.  They are my favorite candy bars but are really hard to find.  I later found sponge candy at Maceys grocery store in their bulk candy section.  It tastes wonderful and is always available but the problem with that is it costs $12.99 a pound. Talk about ridiculous.  I found this recipe a while ago and it tastes exactly like the Macey's candy and it is so easy to make.  This recipe is made from ingredients that I already have on hand. 

Sponge Candy

Vegetable oil for greasing pan
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
6 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla

 Liberally grease a  round 10 inch spring form cake pan.  Line with parchment paper allowing 2 inches to stand above the top of the pan.  Grease again.  In a deep sauce pan add sugar, corn syrup, water, and vanilla. Over medium-high heat bring the mixture to a boil (without stirring) and cook until hard crack stage until temperature reads 300 degrees F. on a candy thermometer. This should take about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat. Quickly add the baking soda and blend into the sugar mixture. The mixture will bubble up when you add the baking soda. Be very careful not to touch the hot mixture!! I touched it on accident once and I had a blister for 2 weeks. SO BE CAREFUL.  Immediately after the baking soda is mixed into the sugar pour into the prepared pan.  Let this set and cool completely before removing is from the pan.  Cut up into pieces and dip in melted chocolate if desired, which of course you would desire.  Store in an airtight container. 

This recipe makes a lot but do not try to cut the recipe in half, the sugar heats too quickly and burns.  I have learned this from experience. 

I hope you enjoy this candy as much as I do!

Greek Yogurt and What to do with It

I love Greek Yogurt.  It is thick and creamy and tastes like a cross between cream cheese and sour cream, without all of the calories.  In fact, most diets allow and encourage yogurt.  But it is expensive.  I decided that I would just go ahead and buy it for myself.  I would buy a quart.  If I ate about a half cup a day it should last for 8 days.  I really like to eat it with fresh fruit, especially blueberries and raspberries and a squiggle of honey.  But I noticed that my container of yogurt ran out way before the 8 days were up.  Then I saw the problem.  Joe had sampled Greek yogurt at Costco.  He doesn't have the portion control skills that I have developed. He would fill his bowl with about a cup or more of yogurt at a time!  I confronted him.  I told him Greek yogurt is concentrated so he only needs half of what he thinks.  No change.  He countered that he was really hungry and the lady at Costco told him it was really good for his body.  I told him to add fruit to stretch his yogurt, but he said he only liked it with honey.  Finally I told him that Greek yogurt is an R rated food.  Only adults have the wisdom to eat the right amount and to appreciate it.  You can imagine how that went over.  I needed to ship Joe off to military school or figure out a cheaper source for my new found favorite food.

I remembered that back in the mid eighties I had fiends with home yogurt making machines so I started researching and discovered methods and recipes without special equipment.  I have tried it a couple of times and it is really good and really easy.  You don't need a yogurt maker, but you do need an instant read thermometer(available at Walmart or Target), a cooler, an electric blanket or throw, and 9 pint sized mason jars with lids.  I like to use the wide mouth jars but it really doesn't matter if you use the standard size.


Greek Yogurt

1 gallon of milk-skim to whole, whatever your preference
Enough powdered milk to make 1 gallon
1/2 to 1 cup of Greek yogurt to start the culture

Put your milk in a large pot.  Add the powdered milk.  Notice that I haven't told you exactly how much powdered milk to use.  You need to read the instructions on the powdered milk you have.  You might even add a little more powdered milk.  The more powdered milk you add the thicker the yogurt will be.  This is called fortified milk.  It is a double strength milk. Heat the milk to 190 degrees,  The heating chemically changes the milk.  If you skip this step or don' heat it adequately you will get a stringy and slimy yogurt.  Now the yogurt has to cool to 120 degrees.  If you want to speed the cooling you could put the pot in the sink surrounded by ice.  When the milk gets down to 120 degrees take out 2 cups and mix it with the yogurt.  I use a wire whisk on this step.  Then put the milk-yogurt mix into the pot of milk and whisk until the yogurt is completely incorporated.  At this point you can pour the milk through a cheese cloth or a thin tea towel to take out any grains or grittiness that has entered the milk during the heating and cooling process. 

Next, fill the jars with the yogurt infused milk.  Put the lids on the jars and screw down the bands.  Put all of the jars into a cooler and throw in the electric blanket.  Set the electric blanket to high.  Allow this to "cook" for 14 hours.  Next, put the yogurt in the fridge.  You will want to wait about 12 hours for the yogurt to cool and thicken up. 

The yogurt will stay good for at least 4 weeks in the fridge.  Make sure you keep 1 cup of the yogurt to start your next batch.

So the cost of this yogurt is the price of a gallon of milk and the price of the powdered milk.  In Dallas at this time the cost is about $4 for 9 pints of the best Greek yogurt you have ever eaten.

But what to do with all of that yogurt if you don't have a thirteen year old boy around?  I made some Mango Frozen Yogurt last night.  It was so good, just like the kind at Tutti Frutti.  I will post more Frozen yogurt recipes when I try them.

Mango Frozen Yogurt

2 C Greek yogurt
2/3 C milk
1/2 C sugar
2 T honey
2 large ripe mangoes, peeled and chunked

Put the mango chunks, milk, honey and sugar in the blender and process until smooth.  Add the yogurt and process until well blended. Place in the freezer or fridge for about an hour to chill.  Pour this into an ice cream freezer and let it run for 20-25 minutes. Perfection!

Thai Sticky Rice

At the request of my aunt here is the recipe for Thai Sticky Rice with Mango.  I love this dessert and I think it is just as good as what you can get at a Thai restaurant. 



Thai Sticky Rice with Mango

1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon tapioca starch
3 mangoes, peeled and sliced 


          Combine the rice and water in a saucepan; bring to a boil; cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until water is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes.  While the rice cooks, mix together 1 1/2 cups coconut milk, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil; remove from heat and set aside. Stir the cooked rice into the coconut milk mixture; cover. Allow to cool for 1 hour.  Make a sauce by mixing together 1/2 cup coconut milk, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and the tapioca starch in a saucepan; bring to a boil.  Place the sticky rice on a serving dish. Arrange the mangoes on top of the rice. Pour the sauce over the mangoes and rice. 

We made this with real sticky rice the last time and it was very good but buying real sticky rice can get expensive so if you are on a tight budget I would just stick to regular rice.  But if you really want a treat and have the money, get the sticky rice.


We have also made this using bananas and it is pretty tasty. It reminds me of breakfast.  A really good breakfast.  I think berries would be really good too.