Tortilla Soup

Story:
When I got married, Julie & Brent R. gave me a binder with dividers, a few recipes, and plenty of sheet protectors. This book would eventually become my personalized collection of recipes. A "recipe scrapbook," if you will... but without all the fancy "embellishments." I now have all sorts of recipes filling the pages: nicely typed recipes, sticky notes, cutesy recipe cards, printed e-mails, index cards, photocopies, Relief Society handouts, and magazine cutouts. One of the original recipes from the couple who gave me this book, was a recipe for Tortilla Soup. I probably had this book for about 5 years before I tried making it... and now it's one of our faves! Thank you, Julie!

Ingredients:
1 T butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/4 t black pepper
1 can diced green chilies
1/8 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t chili powder
1 large tomato, diced
1 C diced cooked chicken (I like to use my Cafe Rio chicken)
5 C chicken stock (save out 1 C)
1/2 C dry Masa
Garnish:
tortillas
cheddar cheese, shredded
avocado, coarsely chopped

Directions:
Melt butter in stock pot. Add onion, garlic, and black pepper. Stir and cook until transparent.
Add chilies and the rest of the herbs and spices.
Add tomatoes, chicken, and chicken stock. Simmer for 15 minutes.
In a separate bowl, mix the reserved chicken stock with the Masa. Whip until all lumps are gone. Add to the soup and stir until thickened.
Cut tortillas into strips. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Put the strips on the cookie sheet and spray the top sides as well. Bake in 350 degree oven until crisp.
To Serve:
Place a few tortilla strips and a few pieces of avocado into the bottom of the soup bowl. Pour in soup and top with more tortilla strips and grated cheese.

Enjoy!

Cheese Balls

Story:
Cheese Balls. Thanksgiving, every year. Christmas, too. My mom always had a cheese ball out. She even had one of those wooden cheese ball serving plates. You know, the kind with the two ceramic tiles inlayed in each corner with the little knives attached with a skinny chain? I hate to admit it, but sometimes I wouldn't be hungry for the Thanksgiving feast, because I had already had my fill of Wheat Thins, Ritz, and Triscuits topped with the following cheeses.

Three Cheese Nut Log
Ingredients:
Kraft Roka Blue processed cheese
Kraft Old English processed cheese
4 oz cream cheese
2 T grated or minced onion
chopped peanuts

Directions:
With cheeses at room temperature, blend together. Add onion. Chill for easy handling. Shape into a ball or a log. Then, right before serving, roll in the chopped nuts.

Note: I don't use the peanuts like my mom did--we're not big fans of nuts around here. But the nuts do give it more of a "polished" look. And sometimes I have to go to different grocery stores to find the Roka Blue cheese. However, the little glass containers that the cheeses come in work great for little orange juice glasses at breakfast!

Pineapple Cheeseball
(This one is actually a little easier to make, and it's probably my preference, though they are both great!)

Ingredients:

8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
Small can of crushed pineapple,well drained
Fresh minced onion--about a tablespoon

Directions: Mix well. Chill. Form into ball. Voila!