Apparently it’s soup week here in my kitchen! That’s not a bad thing, right? Today I’m sharing a Lightened Up Broccoli Cheese Soup that is heavy on the veggie and light on the cheese. A good balance.

I recently picked up way too much broccoli at the grocery store (those sales always make me think I need more than I actually do, I’m a sucker for sale pricing). We can only eat so much roasted broccoli no matter how much we love it. Since I’ve been craving soup I searched around and found one that worked for me on one of my favorite healthy blogs, Skinnytaste (Gina’s Skinnytaste Cookbook is one of my favorites!). What I loved about Gina’s Broccoli Cheese and Potato Soup recipe is that it wasn’t super heavy on cream or cheese, but was bulked up instead with vegetables that were eventually pureed so it got the creamy texture I was looking for. I made adjustments to the ingredients based on what I had on hand and the soup eaters in the family gave this one a big thumbs up.

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This Slow Cooker White Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe was originally created in partnership with Bush’s Beans.

My slow cooker has been working on overtime lately. Actually, my goal lately has been to use it as much as possible since let’s face it, it makes getting dinner ready (when you’re not home to get it ready) 3 million times easier. With basketball practice and gymnastics and after school activities that kids need to be picked up from, those precious dinner making hours are basically non-existent when you have school aged kids. Right now I am in search of all types of slow cooker recipes that my family will love – would you share some of your favorites with me?

This White Chicken Tortilla Soup is a slight twist off of one of my favorite soup recipes – chicken tortilla soup. I decided to change up a few key ingredients such as using white beans instead of black and switching to poblano peppers (love!) from bell peppers. I used Bush’s Great Northern Chili Beans for added flavor, I absolutely love adding these beans to soups and chilis. This soup was devoured for dinner (then lunch) for a few days. So filling, yet so good for you!

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If you follow me on Facebook then you may remember me teasing you with some seriously delicious food that we were cooking up while in Montana with Bush’s Beans a couple of weeks ago. We spent an entire day cooking alongside chefs Jeffrey Saad and Connie Gutterson, learning new techniques and experimenting with new flavors, of course beans being the star ingredient.

(Photo Credit: Crackle Photograpy)

One of the recipes that I couldn’t get enough of is this Cumin Chicken with Black Bean Stuffing. No disrespect to the chicken, but I could seriously eat a huge bowl of this ‘stuffing’ on its own for dinner and be a happy camper. It is so good. It’s filled with all my favorite things…roasted peppers, spices, tortillas and black beans…a bowl full of goodness that gets even better after a squeeze of lime.

(Photo Credit: Crackle Photograpy)

The chicken is prepared so incredibly simple and delicious that I made it for my family within a few days of me getting home from my trip. I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and threw them on the grill and my husband and kids seriously inhaled it and asked for more. The chicken is seasoned very simply with salt and pepper and a little oil before grilled, then brushed with a brilliant 2-ingredient mixture of sweet agave syrup (or honey) and toasted cumin seeds. If you have never used whole cumin seeds before, this is the recipe to experiment with. You quickly toast them up in a dry skillet then add them to the agave (or honey) and voila…you have yourself something delicious.

(Photo Credit: Crackle Photograpy)

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Cumin Chicken with Black Bean Stuffing and a Bush’s Beans Giveaway for you

• Author: Aggie's Kitchen
• Prep Time: 40 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: 4-6 servings
• Category: Chicken
• Method: Grill

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Ingredients

For Chicken:

• 5 pounds whole chicken
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 tablespoon cumin seed (note: toast seeds in warm skillet first until fragrant for additional flavor!)
• 3 tablespoons agave syrup or honey

For Stuffing:

• 1 each green pasilla chile*
• 1 each jalapeño pepper*
• 4 each corn tortillas (6 inch)
• 1 can (15 ounces) BUSH’S^® Black Beans or BUSH’S^® Reduced Sodium Black Beans, drained and rinsed
• ¼ cup chicken stock
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼  cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 6 wedges lime

Additional Supplies:

• Aluminum foil
• Grill pan

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Instructions

1. Clean out inside of chicken, rinse chicken inside and out with cold water. Pat dry with paper towel and cut chicken into pieces.
2. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and lightly cover with oil. Mix cumin seeds with agave syrup and set aside.
3. Set one side of clean, well-oiled grill to medium high heat and the other side to medium low heat. When grill is hot, using tongs, place chicken skin side down on hot side of grill until there are nice grill marks (about 5 minutes). Then flip chicken over (skin side up), place on cooler side of grill, close grill lid and let chicken cook (3-5 minutes for breast meat; 12 minutes for bone in leg/thigh meat).
4. In the last two minutes of cooking, brush cumin seeds and agave syrup on both sides of chicken and cook each side for one minute. Chicken is done when internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F.
5. Remove chicken from grill and let rest at least 10 minutes before serving.

For Stuffing:

1. Using metal tongs blacken chile and jalapeño peppers on the grill for 3 minutes per side. Place chile and jalapeño in small bowl, cover with foil tightly. Let sit for 10 minutes. Once cool, wipe skin off (do not rinse under water). Discard stems. Discard seeds (unless you want it spicier). Chop chile and jalapeño into ½-inch pieces. Set aside.
2. Using metal tongs, place tortillas on the grill for 30 seconds on each side or until slightly charred. Chop tortillas into ¾-inch strips.
3. Pour black beans in medium-sized grill-safe pan. Add chile, jalapeño, tortillas, chicken stock, paprika and ¼ teaspoon salt. Place the pan directly on the grill and heat just until mixture comes to a boil. Remove pan from heat and set aside to cool briefly.
4. Serve chicken with a side of black bean stuffing and garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

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Notes

*Substitution: Use ½ cup canned roasted chiles in place of green pasilla chile and jalapeño pepper.

Note: this recipe was written for cooking on the grill, but of course a grill pan and skillet on the stove top will work just as well!

Recipe created for BUSH’S® Beans exclusively by Chef Jeffrey Saad, culinary expert and television host of numerous food-and cooking-related shows.

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Bush’s Beans wants to share a little bean love with all of my wonderful readers by offering this giveaway. I know the cold months are coming and most of you probably won’t be able to grill outdoors so this awesome Staub Grill Pan might help out with that, don’t ya think? Good luck!

Giveaway:

Staub Grill Pan
Apron
Silpat
Bean Strainer
Recipes (made at the event)
Spices
Coupons for free cans of Bush’s Beans

Starts today, Wednesday, November 2 and ends Wednesday, November 9 at 12 noon (EST)

(Sorry, giveaway open to US readers only. Winner will be chosen randomly using Pick Giveaway Winner plugin application – winner will be notified by email and have 48 hours to claim prize or another winner will be selected.)

To enter into the giveaway:

Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite way to cook with beans.

Additional Entries can be earned by:

(leave a separate comment after you complete each item, each comment will count as an entry)

1.  “Like” Bush’s Beans on Facebook.

2. “Like” Aggie’s Kitchen on Facebook. (if you already a fan, let me know, that counts as an entry!)

3. Follow @BushsBeans on Twitter

3. Follow @AggiesKitchen on Twitter (if you already follow, let me know, that counts as an entry!)

4.  Share about giveaway on Twitter: “I want to win a grill pan from @aggieskitchen and @bushsbeans http://tinyurl.com/6y9glcu!

5. Share about giveaway on Facebook with link to this post.

6. Subscribe to Aggie’s Kitchen RSS feed.

My friend Cheryl is also hosting this same giveaway…head over to Tidy Mom for more chances to win!

(and of course…I’m required to tell you…)

Disclaimer: Bush’s Beans paid for my trip to Montana but all opinions on this blog are and always will be my own.

The post Cumin Chicken with Black Bean Stuffing and a Bush’s Beans Giveaway for you appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

as I was finishing up this soup…she said it reminded her of a soup that her grandfather used to make and called Soup Soup. Since I had no idea what to call this soup, other than Sausage, Vegetable and Bean Soup, I thought Soup Soup sounded perfect! 😉

I honestly threw together this soup not knowing how it was going to turn out. I had lots of veggies in the fridge and some chicken sausage that needed to be used. We are having some cold days here in FL – I know not even close to the cold most of you have been having – but cold for us. I am actually loving the change of weather, and loved making soup that I knew would actually warm me up.

My little girl had two bowls of Soup Soup for dinner…and so did I. It was really tasty. Watch how much salt you add though…I felt the sausage and beans added a lot of salt to it so you don’t need to add too much extra.

 

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Soup, Soup…. Sausage, Vegetable and Bean Soup

• Author: Aggie's Kitchen
• Category: Chicken
• Method: Stove

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Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 links chicken sausage (I used Aidells Chicken and Apple sausage), chopped in quarters
• 2–3 zucchinis, chopped into quarters
• 2–3 yellow squash, chopped into quarters
• 1 can light red kidney beans, with liquid
• 1 can northern beans, with liquid
• 1 box of organic chicken stock
• 1/2 10 oz bag fresh leaf spinach

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Instructions

1. Saute onion, garlic and sausage in 1 tsp olive oil over medium high heat, for about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and squash and continue to saute for about 5-8 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2. Add both cans of beans with liquid, leaving 1/4 of the northern beans leftover in can. With spoon, mash beans into thick mixture. Add 1 TB of water to mashed bean mixture, swirl around, then add to soup pot. This will thicken up the soup a bit.
3. Add chicken stock and bring soup to boil. Once soup reaches boil, add spinach and bring down to a simmer. Simmer for about 20-25 minutes.

This soup definitely hit the spot! Hope everyone is staying warm!!

The post Soup, Soup…. Sausage, Vegetable and Bean Soup appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

So…anyone seeing all the reports on happy people in the news lately? Apparently happiness is contagious…hmmm…I will have to agree with that! Interesting reading…

Speaking of happy…I’m pretty happy that I made this soup today. After a week of splurging here and there, I really need this soup. It’s comfort food, full of stuff that is just good for you. Lentils are so healthy for you, they are low in fat and a good source of protein, fiber and iron among other things. If you haven’t tried them before, don’t be afraid…they are actually a very easy bean to cook, probably one of the quicker ones too. My grandparents and parents make soup like this all the time, it’s so economical and really goes a long way. I’m actually staring at my huge pot of soup and thinking I might of made way too much…but I can always freeze some smaller portions for a quick future meal.

Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 TB olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3-4 carrots, chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 32 oz cartons of low sodium chicken stock
• 1 lb bag of brown lentils
• 1 large can of Italian diced tomatoes (important that you get the Italian ones, it will add lots of flavor)
• broken spaghetti noodles or elbow macaroni, optional

Directions:

1. In a large pot, heat oil and add vegetables and garlic, salt and pepper . Saute for about 10 minutes, until soft. Add chicken broth, lentils and tomatoes to the pot and bring to a boil. Bring back down to a simmer and let cook for 50-60 minutes.
2. If you want to add in the pasta, add it in the last 10 minutes of the cooking process. Check for salt and pepper, add more to taste. Serve hot with grated Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.

Follow AggiesKitchen on Instagram and show us what recipes you are making from the blog! Use the hashtag #aggieskitchen - I'd love to see what you are cooking up!

Nicole at Test Kitchen Recipes was so nice to pass on the Butterfly Award to me! I recently discovered Nicole’s great blog…go check it out! Thank you Nicole!

Tomorrow the Gators are playing in the SEC Championship!
Here’s our little good luck charm…isn’t he cute?

GO GATORS!!

Have a great weekend!

The post Lentil Soup appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

Aaah…home sweet home. We are back from our family vacation to the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, TN. It was absolutely beautiful up there. The scenery was stunning and the air felt good. Good, but COLD! Our thin blood survived the freezing temperatures and we had a great time exploring an area of the country we have never been before.

(My sister, brother and I at the top of the Smoky Mountain National Park…)

We took the trip with my immediate family – my sister, her husband and her little one, my brother, and my mom. My dad wasn’t able to make it because he had to stay back and run the family restaurant.

(Goofballs in action…)

(A couple of Floridians really excited about snow…)

(My son Sammy’s first time in the snow…)

(All bundled up ready to go…)

We got back to Florida the night before Thanksgiving. We celebrated a nice Thanksgiving at my parent’s house with a ton of good food and wine…we were stuffed, it was fun, but we were really ready to get back home to Orlando.

So here we are home again…refreshed and ready to get back into a routine. I know most of you spend the day after Thanksgiving shopping with the crowds, but my day after Thanksgiving tradition is hitting the gym. After being on vacation for a week, I really really needed a good workout….and some good healthy food. I knew before I left that I would be making Ina’s Mexican Chicken Soup when we got back…the recipe sounded wonderful with all the chicken and veggies…and it was just what we needed Friday night.

This month’s Barefoot Blogger recipe was chosen by Judy from Judy’s Gross Eats. I can’t thank her enough for choosing such a delicious Barefoot Contessa soup for all of us to try!

Ina’s Mexican Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 split (2 whole) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on (I used shredded chicken from a Rotisserie I picked up at the grocery store)
• Good olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups chopped onions (2 onions)
• 1 cup chopped celery (2 stalks)
• 2 cups chopped carrots (4 carrots)
• 4 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 1/2 quarts chicken stock, preferably homemade (Swanson's low sodium chicken broth works for me!)
• 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes in puree, crushed (I crushed them with my hands, but I'm thinking that diced tomatoes would work here too)
• 2 to 4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced (my grocery store was out of jalapenos so I substituted a milder Anaheim pepper)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves, optional
• 6 (6-inch) fresh white corn tortillas (I substituted whole wheat tortillas, and only used 2)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Place the chicken breasts skin side up on a sheet pan. Rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until done. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones, and shred the meat. Cover and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the onions, celery, and carrots and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or until the onions start to brown. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the chicken stock, tomatoes with their puree, jalapenos, cumin, coriander, 1 tablespoon salt (depending on the saltiness of the chicken stock), 1 teaspoon pepper, and the cilantro, if using. Cut the tortillas in 1/2, then cut them crosswise into 1/2-inch strips and add to the soup. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Add the shredded chicken and season to taste. Serve the soup hot topped with sliced avocado, a dollop of sour cream, grated Cheddar cheese, and broken tortilla chips.

For serving: sliced avocado, sour cream, grated Cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips

 

Tip: Make your own healthier tortilla "chips" by slicing a whole wheat tortilla into strips, spray them with non stick spray, then crisping them up in a hot non stick skillet.

 

Recipe from Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa at Home

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