Chicken Enchilada Soup

Got this recipe from Real Mom Kitchen blog, but of course I altered the recipe. :)
It's perfect soup weather!!

Ingredients:
1 small can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 small can diced tomatoes
1 10-ounce package frozen whole kernel corn
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped yellow, green, or red bell pepper
1 10-ounce can enchilada sauce
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup shredded Pepper jack cheese
2 chicken breasts (cooked and cubed) or 1 large can of chicken

Directions:
In crock pot, combine all ingredients and cook for 3 to 4 hours on low. Top with pepper jack cheese and serve. Can also be topped with avocado, sour cream, or crushed tortilla chips.

Tips from a Kitchen of Reality:
- I left out the onion, used canned chicken, and HOT enchilada sauce.
- Great EASY recipe... ENJOY!

Spanish Beef and Rice

This is a great weeknight recipe when you have a lot going on. Just dump everything in one large skillet and dinner is ready in 20 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised for how easy this was.

3/4 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 (14 ounce) can beef broth
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice

1. Cook the beef, onion, and pepper until brown, then drain the fat.
2. Add the broth, tomato sauce, chili powder, garlic powder, and rice. Heat to boiling, then turn down to simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.

Kitchen of Reality Tips
- You can serve topped with cheese, sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, olives, you get the picture.
- I served this with a side of corn, but several reviews of the recipe said that they had added corn and/or black beans into the recipe with the rice. Also, some people said they made it with salsa or taco sauce instead of plain tomato sauce.
- This makes quite a bit and the ingredients are inexpensive. Great for freezing and reheating later.

Taco Lasagna

1½ lb. ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 can (16 oz) stewed tomatoes, chopped
1 can Rotel
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies
2½ C shredded cheddar cheese
2 C shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
6 large flour tortillas

• Brown hamburger and onion. Drain well.
• Add tomatoes, seasoning, and chilies. Simmer for 30 minutes.
• Layer 2 torn up tortillas in bottom of a greased 9 X 13 inch pan.
• Top with half the meat mixture, then 1 cup of each of the cheeses.
• Repeat layers, ending with a tortilla layer.
• Cover with foil and bake at 350° for 30 minutes.
• Remove foil, add last ½ cup of cheddar and bake 5 more minutes.
• Serve with sour cream and salsa.

This is a family favorite. I always freeze the leftovers in individual servings to send in lunch boxes.

I never use the green chilies, but always use more cheese. Can you ever use too much cheese?

Mexican Lasagna

Love this recipe, especially this time of year when there is tons of zucchini to be had.

Ingredients:
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 3 cups zucchini (cut into small 1/4-1/2 inch pieces)
- 1 can diced tomatoes with chilies (drained)
- 1 can black beans (drained)
- 1 can corn (drained)
- 1 can enchilada sauce
- 1 1/4 cups grated cheddar cheese
- flour tortillas
- sour cream & guacamole

Directions:
- Saute zucchini in oil until tender.
- Stir in tomatoes, beans, corn, and sauce.
- Simmer for 5-8 minutes.
- Layer tortillas, vegetables, cheese -- making 2 to 3 layers-- depending on the size of your baking dish.
- Cover with foil.
- Bake 25-30 minutes until bubbly around the edges.
- Cool for 5 minutes-- serve with sour cream and guac.

Reality Notes:
- If you have a round baker similar the the one I do-- you can use one large tortilla for each layer and then cut it like a pizza so you have pie shaped servings.
- Fresh corn and tomatoes make great choices over canned if you have them in the kitchen.
- I have found that the very bottom tortillas will sometimes stick to your spatula when trying to serve it-- so you may want to put a little enchilada sauce or a small veggie layer on the bottom to prevent this.
- If you like SPICE-- add some fresh jalapenos! YUM.

Southwest Salad

This is a recipe I got from one of Drew's aunts and we love it! It's a great, quick, summertime, weeknight meal that requires no cooking. We also eat it in the winter sometimes just because we love it so much.

Ingredients:

1 bag of lettuce (you can cut up your own but I'm a fan of the convenience of the bagged stuff.)
1 can of corn
1 can of black beans
1/2 c of salsa
1/2 c of ranch dressing
as much shredded cheddar or Mexican mix cheese as you want
1 chopped tomato
tortilla chips

Layer first three ingredients in a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Mix together salsa and ranch dressing and pour on top of lettuce mix. Top with cheese and tomato. Crush tortilla chips and put on top.

NOTE: We like to just put chips on the salad that we eat so they don't get soggy. You could cover the whole dish if you were taking it to a picnic or something.

Enjoy!