Cajun Chicken & Rice Soup

This recipe is for a teacher lunch and was yummy! It was supposed to be in honor of "Fat Tuesday", but then we got a snow day, so I had to postpone it. It still was yummy though! I tripled the recipe, so it's rather large, but if you would like to make the original recipe, you can find it here. It's also gluten free! My advice: make a ton and freeze the leftovers. :-)

Cajun Chicken & Rice Soup

Ingredients:

* 2.5 lb. chicken breast (salt, pepper, couple celery ribs & an onion)

* 3 medium onions, chopped

* 6 celery ribs, chopped

* Oil

* 1/4 cup minced fresh garlic cloves

* 2 (14.5oz.) cans diced tomatoes & green chilies, including juices

* 2 cups orange juice

* 1/3 cup minced fresh cilantro

* 2 Tbsp. Cajun seasoning

* 2 tsp oregano (I used Italian seasoning)

* 1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

* 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

* 1 tsp cayenne pepper

* 3 (15oz) cans of pinto beans (I used my black bean & corn mixture)

Directions:

1. Place chicken in large stockpot and cover with water. Add everything listed next to chicken in the ingredients, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover/simmer for 1-2 hours or until the chicken is tender. 

2. Remove chicken from the broth and set aside to cool.

3. Carefully strain broth from vegetables and seasonings, while saving the broth for the soup. (Skim the fat).

4. When chicken has cooled a bit, shred. (I use a stand up mixer)

5. In the large stockpot, saute onion and celery in butter until the onion is crisp-tender.

6. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer.

7. Stir in the tomatoes, OJ, cilantro, seasonings and broth. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and cover/simmer 20 minutes or until veggies are tender.

8. Stir in the rice, beans and chicken; heat through.

 Yield: 24 servings (9 quarts).

Breakdown: (per 1 1/2 cup)

393 calories

12 g fat (4 g saturated fat)

120 mg cholesterol

776 mg sodium

27 g carbohydrate

4 g fiber

42 g protein

Corn Bread Deluxe (Muffins)

This is the first recipe I've tried from my Puffy Muffin cookbook that was give to me by my Grandmother-in-law (p.30) I plan to serve it tomorrow at my teacher lunch with Cajun Chicken & Rice Soup. This recipe made about 36 muffins, though the original recipe is about half of this. Also, this recipe is gluten free!

Corn Bread Deluxe

Ingredients:

* 3 cups self-rising cornmeal

* 1 cup vegetable oil

* 2 cups sour cream

* 2 cups cream-style corn

* 1/4 cup onion, chopped

* 4 eggs

* 2 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Gently mix all of the ingredients by hand until combined.

2. Grease a muffin tin and place in the oven while it pre-heats to 350F.

3. Use an ice cream scoop to carefully place the batter into each muffin cup.

4. Bake in pre-heated oven for 30 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.

5. Enjoy!

Sunday Gumbo

I had never made any sort of gumbo before this and the teacher's at school got to be my guinea pigs! I made this for Tuesday Soup day and served it up with Baked Hush Puppies. I got lots of great feedback, so I will save it to use again! To make it even better...it is gluten free! The recipe comes from my Taste of Home: Best Church Supper Recipes book (p.157).

Sunday Gumbo

Ingredients:

* 1 lb. italian sausage links, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

* 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed

* 3 Tbsp vegetable oil (next time I will leave this out because the sausage makes plenty of oil)

* 1 medium red pepper, chopped

* 1 medium onion, chopped

* 3 celery ribs, chopped

* 1 tsp. dried thyme

* 1 tsp. dried marjoram (I replaced this with more thyme)

* 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

* 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

* 3 (14.5oz) cans chicken broth (I make my own broth)

* 2/3 cup uncooked brown rice

* 1 (14.5oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained

* 1 lb. uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

*2 cups frozen sliced okra

Directions:

1. In a dutch oven, brown sausage and chicken (do not completely cook) in oil. Remove meat with a slotted spoon and keep warm.

2. In the drippings, saute red pepper, onion and celery until tender. Stir in seasonings; cook for 5 minutes.

3. Stir in the broth, rice and sausage mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 20-25 minutes or until rice is tender and sausage/chicken are cooked thoroughly.

4. Stir in the tomatoes, shrimp and okra; cook for 10 minutes or until the shrimp turn pink. Stir occasionally.

5. Enjoy!!

Yield: 16 servings (~4 quarts)