Chipotle and garbanzo bean soup (crock pot)

I have bookmarked hundreds of recipes to try from magazines, tv shows, and cookbooks. None of them are conducive to planning ahead, so I find myself rushing to cook dinner between the girls bath and bedtime routines, which can get pretty hectic. A great solution for that is slow cooker meals, so you will probably see more of those on the blog in the coming weeks. First up is this chipotle and garbanzo bean soup from a cookbook my mom got me on her recent trip to New Mexico. I was able to prepare it during morning naps, and it was ready to serve when Robert got home from work. This soup is spicy, hearty, and delicious!! We will definitely make this one again.

Chipotle and garbanzo bean soup
Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 (15 ounce) cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 chipotle chiles in adobo, seeded
• 2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from can of chipotle chiles)
• 6 green chilies, chopped (I used fresh jalapenos, sliced. 2-3 depending on your spice tolerance)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 cup chopped green onion

• 1 cup cubed monterey jack cheese

• 2 limes
• cilantro

Combine first 8 ingredients (through garlic powder) in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours.

Thirty minutes before serving, remove the chicken from the soup, shred, and return to the slow cooker. Add the green onions. Continue cooking on low until ready to serve.

Divide the cheese equally into soup bowls. Ladle the soup into bowls over the cheese, add juice from half a lime into each bowl, and garnish with cilantro.

Fried okra

Thanks to a generous donation of okra from my Mema's garden, we had Paula Deen's delicious fried okra this week. It was easy to make and turned out great!

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Chorizo and potato tacos

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Chicken and peaches

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Fried chicken

We tried a new fried chicken recipe from Food & Wine magazine last week, and it was a huge hit! The buttermilk soak added lots of flavor and kept the chicken juicy, and the batter made it crispy and delicious! Yum!

(I couldn't find the pictures I took so I borrowed one from the website).

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Dinner last night was spicy poblano burgers from Cooking Light magazine.

Lindsay made these (with some Sous Chef help from me), but I wanted to do the post because these suckers were GOOD. The burgers were juicy and flavorful (with a little heat but not too much), and the pickled red onion was a nice topping. But the showstopper was the chipotle cream spread. It was just enough to cool down the heat of the poblano and was bursting with flavor. It was Yum. Seriously. Make it.