Sunday Meals!

Shawn's dad came into town last night from Tennessee, it's so great to see him! In preparation for his arrival, we (again I mean ME) had a very productive Sunday. While Shawn so generously helped out by watching football, ha!, I managed to get all of the housework done AND prepare a couple of tasty dishes for the day! Enjoy!

Brunch: Ham, Mushroom, and Cheddar Frittata
Dinner: Chicken Tortilla Soup
Dessert: Pumpkin Bread

Ham, Mushroom, and Cheddar Frittata
Retrieved from: fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com

8 eggs
2 Tbsp non fat milk
3/4 cup low fat cheddar, shredded (divided)
1/2 cup of ham, diced
1/2 cup white mushrooms, sliced
1/4 sweet yellow onion, diced
1 tsp butter
Salt & pepper to taste
Green onion for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add onions & mushrooms and saute until tender, remove from heat & set aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and milk together. Add 1/2 cup of cheese, ham, mushrooms, onions, salt and pepper to taste. Coat a tart or pie pan with cooking spray and add the egg mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Top the frittata with the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese and return to the oven for 10 additional minutes. Remove from the oven cool for 5 minutes before cutting.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
Retrieved from: fortheloveofcooking.blogspot.com
Adapted by: ME!


Shredded Chicken:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of any fat
3 cups of chicken broth or water (I used 2 cups of chicken broth and 1 cup of water)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp sweet yellow onion, diced finely
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and gently boil for 20 minutes. Let the chicken breasts cool then shred with two forks.

Soup:
2 tsp olive oil
2 cups of onion, diced
1 cup of celery, diced
2 cups of carrots, diced
1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped (more if you want spicy)
4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 1/2 quarts of chicken stock
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 tsp of cumin (I used about 1 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp ground coriander seed (I used about 1 1/2 tsp)
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
1/2 a cup of fresh cilantro, chopped (divided)
6 fresh white corn tortillas

Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Once hot, add onions and sauté until tender. Add the garlic and stir constantly for 60 seconds. Add the carrots, celery, jalapeno, tomatoes, broth, cumin, coriander, sea salt and pepper to taste and 1/4 cup of cilantro. Cut the 6 corn tortillas in half, 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 30 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and the corn tortillas have melted away. Add the chicken, taste and re season if needed.

Corn tortilla strips:
5 corn tortillas
Cooking spray
Sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray the baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray. Spray each side of all the tortillas & lay in a pile. Cut into thin strips & spread across the baking dish then season with sea salt. Bake in the oven until golden brown - watch them carefully because they burn easily. It usually takes about 3-5 minutes.

Additional Toppings:
1 - 2 avocados, diced
Cotija cheese, grated
Fresh cilantro (remainder from above ingredients)

Ladle soup into large soup bowls. Add some avocado, tortilla strips, a sprinkle of cheese and cilantro.

**The recipe only called for 2 chicken breasts which didn't seem nearly enough for the large pot of soup. I ended up using 6 thinly sliced chicken breasts.
**PLEASE PLEASE use cotija in this soup, it transforms it!!
**This was the first time I made my own tortilla strips, totally worth it!
**I only LIKE cilantro, don't totally LOVE it, so I didn't add any to the bowls of soup.

Pumpkin Bread
Retrieved from: fortheloveofcooking.blogspot.com
Adapted by: ME!

1 cup of pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups of white sugar
1 1/2 cups + 1 tbsp of flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 cup walnut pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, oil, eggs, and sugar. Combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger; stir into the pumpkin mixture until well combined, add walnuts and mix. Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan. Bake in the oven for 55-65 minutes or until a tester comes out clean when inserted into the center of the loaf.

**I made two batches, one with walnuts and one without. I prefer the bread without the walnuts!
**Don't hesitate to slather your piece with butter although it's perfectly fine without it :]