Nessa's Chicken & Rice Soup Recipe

I made this really yummy chicken soup yesterday! It started with a quest to find a way to use up a lot of left over cooked rice. Since the weather was quite crisp yesterday, soup sounded terrific. I was quite proud because although I consider myself a good cook, I use lots of recipes and do very little on my own. This creation was all mine and it turned out really well. Very frugal, but still oh so yummy!

What You Need:
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 tablespoon minced garlic
6 cups water
1 cup chopped onions
1 tablespoon dried celery flakes
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 tsp. salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 chicken bouillon cubes
4 cups cooked white rice
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter

What You Do:
I cooked this in my 5qt. crock pot. I had not thawed the chicken breast, so I added the water, then put them in there frozen. To this I added the onions, garlic, celery flakes, parsley, pepper, and salt. I let all this cook on low for 4 hours. I then removed the chicken breast and shredded them up using two forks, then returned them to the pot. At this point I added two chicken bouillon cubes and the butter, and gave the whole pot a good stir. About an hour before dinner time, I added the milk and rice, and stirred again. I cooked the soup for about 7 hours total on low, but I'm sure you could cook it longer if you'd like. Of course you could do a shorter cooking time on high. My house smelled heavenly with this simmering away all day long. This would be awesome with warm, buttered homemade bread.

Bean Chalupa Recipe

What You Need:
1 pound dried pinto beans
1 (3 1/2-pound) pork roast, I used a boneless roast
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (10-ounce) can Rotel tomatoes
4 cups hot water

What You Do:
Rinse and sort beans. Put beans in 6 qt. crockpot that's bean sprayed with Pam. Add roast on top of beans. Add all other ingredients, making sure water completely covers the roast. Cook on high for about 8 hours or until beans are done. Using two forks, shred the roast and mix it well into the beans. This might work better if you removed the roast to a plate to shred, then added back to the crock. Serve in bowls over Fritos with shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and any other tex mex toppings you enjoy. It is also very good served over rice.