Salmon Foil packets

Clyde and I try to have salmon once a week.  It is very fresh here and we enjoy our meal prepared this way.

Salmon Packets
Spray a piece of aluminum foil with cooking spray.  You need one square of foil for each packet.  Place 1/2-3/4 cup cooked rice in the middle of the foil.  Pour 2 tablespoons of chicken broth on the rice.  Place the salmon on the rice and sprinkle with lemon pepper.  Slice a lemon and place slices down the salmon.  Seal up the edges on the foil and back for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

Impossibly Easy Mini Cheeseburger Pies

I have a Betty Crocker Calendar with recipes on it.  I have made these but with a breakfast twist.  This just looked like a fun, kid-friendly recipe.

Mini Cheeseburger Pies
Burger Mixture
1 pound lean ground beef
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tablespoon dried minced onion
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup (4ounces) shredded cheese

Baking Mixture
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Bisquick
2 eggs

Garnishes
mini kosher dill pickles
diced tomato
ketchup and or mustard
shredded lettuce

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray 12 regular muffin cups with cooking spray.

In a skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until beef is no longer pink and beef is thoroughly cooked (about 7 minutes).  Cool 5 minutes and stir in Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt and cheese.

In a medium bowl, stir baking mixture ingredients with a whisk or a fork until well blended.  Spoon one scant Tablespoon in each muffin cup.  Top with 1/4 cup of beef mixture.  Spoon one scant Tablespoon more over top of the beef mixture.

Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Muffin tops should be golden brown.  Cool 5 minutes.  With a thin knife, loosen the muffins from the cups.  Place on a cooling rack and cool for 10 minutes.  Serve with garnishes and enjoy.

Smothered Pork Chops with Potatoes

4 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 boneless pork loin chops, about 1/2 inch thick, trimmed of fat
1 can cream of mushroom soup (you can use condensed or ready to eat - doesn't matter)
2 1/2 cups cubed frozen hash browns, thawed
1/4 cup heavy cream

In a 12-inch non-stick skillet, cook bacon over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp.  Remove bacon with slotted spoon; drain on paper towels.  Drain all but 1 Tablespoon of bacon fat from the skillet.

Sprinkle the pork chops with salt and pepper.  Add pork chops to bacon fat in skillet over medium heat.  Cook chops 4 minutes, turning once, until lightly browned.  Remove pork chops from skillet; set aside.  Stir in mushroom soup, potatoes and the cream; heat to boiling, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat; simmer uncovered 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Return pork to skillet.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes, turning once or until pork is no longer pink in the center.  Sprinkle the top with bacon bits and serve.

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Wraps

This is on my Betty Crocker Calendar that is hanging in my kitchen. I needed something to feed the military Sunday and it looked like it would fit the bill.  Clyde got a few bites and said it was a keeper.  He suggested I should post it - so here it is.

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Wraps
2 pounds skinless chicken thighs
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buffalo wing sauce (the mildest you can find from a 12 ounce jar)
3/4 cup ranch dressing  - separated
8 flour tortillas
3 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

In a 1 1/2 quart slow cooker, place chicken and sprinkle with salt.  Cover and set on low.  Cook 6-7 hours - stirring to break up about 1/2 way through.  With a slotted spoon, remove chicken from slow cooker and place on cutting board.  Remove the liquid from the cooker (and save for soup stock!  This is pure chicken broth!).  In the slow cooker, mix the buffalo wing sauce and 1/4 cup of the ranch dressing.  With 2 forks, shred the chicken.  Return the chicken to the slow cooker and mix with the sauce, keeping it all warm on the low or warm setting of your slow cooker.

To serve: spread each tortilla with some of the remaining ranch dressing.  Top with 1/4 - 1/3 cup of the buffalo chicken mix and sprinkle with 1/3 cup of shredded lettuce.  Roll the tortilla - burrito style and secure with a toothpick.  

Note:  I had to reheat the mixture so by the time I got to it - it was pretty soupy.  I used the extra ranch as a dipping sauce instead of spreading it on the tortilla.  I also used the grande sized tortillas and doubled the recipe so it would fit in my slow cooker.  I made 14 very large wraps and one very small one.

Chinese Beef and Broccoli

I found this recipe in on of my diabetic magazines.  It is easy, and fixed on the stove top.  I think this will quickly become one of standbys.
Chinese Beef and Broccoli
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 Tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
12 ounces boneless beef top sirloin steak, bias-sliced as thin as you can
1 pound fresh broccoli
3 Tablespoon hoisin sauce
2 Tablespoons water
2 Tablespoons sesame oil
1 Tablespoon canola oil
34 cup reduced sodium broth (either beef or chicken)
In a medium bowl stir together 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch, the soy sauce, garlic powder and crushed red pepper flakes.  Add beef and stir to coat.  Marinate at room temperature 20 minutes but no more than 1 hour.

Start your rice or pasta now if that is what you want to serve this on.  Do not add extra salt.

Cut broccoli into 2 inch florets.  Peel broccoli stems and cut into 1/2-inch slices and set aside.  For sauce, stir together the hoisin sauce, the water, sesame oil and the remaining 1 Tablepsoon cornstarch and set aside.

In a very large skillet, heat canola oil over medium-high heat.  Add beef mixture.  Stir fry 2 minutes or until the meat is pink in the center.  Remove mixture and set aside.

Stir broth into skillet, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add broccoli and bring to boiling.  Reduce heat to medium and cover.  Cook 3-4 minutes or  until the broccoli is crisp tender.  

Add hoisin sauce mixture to the broccoli and cook and stir until thickened.  Add beef and heat through.  Serve over rice, pasta or couscous.  Serves 4

Note: I made this with flank steak because it is what I had.  It was delicious and cooked up quickly.  Clyde had it over rice for dinner and couscous for lunch.

I love these because of the history behind them. They truly are Navajo tacos from the time of the "Trail of Tears". My family really enjoys the taste. They are fried so definitely not a frequent food, but still yummy.




Navajo Tacos
2 cup unbleached flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs powdered milk
1 Tbs baking powder
1 cup water
Vegetable oil for frying
Extra flour to flour your hands


Heat oil on stove to about 350 degrees. (Med-hi) Mix flour, salt, milk and baking powder together. Add water and mix with your hands. Knead it and shape it into 8 balls. Pull each dough ball and flatten. Spread and pull. Don't worry if it is round. Then put into oil. Turn after a couple of minutes. When the other side is golden remove from oil and put on paper towel to drain.


Serve with your favorite taco toppings.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I made this at Carianne's house in April. Everyone liked it, except Noah. "I am sorry Aunt Heidi. I just don't like spices." He didn't like the green peppers. It made me laugh. Anyway, I am doing this from memory since I lost the recipe a while ago. I made homemade meatballs, so that recipe follows.

Sweet and Sour meatballs
1 can  cubed pineapple
1/4 c. water
3 Tbs. corn starch
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 Tbs. soy sauce
3 Tbs. white vinegar
1 green pepper, chopped
meatballs
rice

Drain juice from pineapple to get 1 cup, if you need to add water to make it, that's fine. Pour into skillet. Add the water, corn starch, brown sugar, soy sauce and vinegar. Cook on medium heat stirring frequently. It will start to gel up. After it is all like that add the meatballs, pineapple (from the drained can) and green pepper. Let it simmer 15-20 minutes. Serve over rice.

Meatballs
1 pound ground beef/turkey/axis deer/etc.
1/2 c. dry bread crumbs
1/4 c. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 small onion OR 2 Tbs. minced dry onion
1 large egg

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients. (It works best if you just mix it with your hands.) Shape the mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place on rectangular pan, 13x9x2. (Grease pan if using a meat with less fat like deer.) Bake uncovered 20-25 minutes or until no longer pink in the center and juice is clear. (makes about 24)

Lemon - Thyme Shrimp

I wanted something a bit different for dinner last night, so I  wandered around in my daughter's Pinterest accounts.  I found a recipe in Carianne's that I liked but knew I had to fix to fit Clyde's and my tastes.  Here is what I came up with.  It is really good.
Lemon-Thyme Shrimp
1/3 cup olive oil
1 lemon zested, then halved
3-4 fresh thyme sprigs
Pasta, couscous or rice
2 Tablespoons butter
1 pound medium uncooked shrimp, deveined with the tails off


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  In an 8x8 glass baking dish, combine the olive oil, lemon zest and thyme sprigs.  (The olive oil should generously cover the bottom of the dish).  Season with salt and pepper.  Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, checking every few minutes.  If it looks like it is getting too brown, remove from the oven and proceed to the next step.  Meanwhile cook the rice, pasta or couscous.


The next step after you remove the pan of oil from the oven is to add the 2 Tablespoons of butter to the oil.  Mix it in well.  Add the shrimp and bake it for 6-8 minutes or until the shrimp turns pink and begins to curl.  Don't overcook.  


To serve, remove the shrimp from the oil and drizzle with the juice of 1/2 lemon. Serve with the starch of choice.  Clyde love it with couscous. 
So good!


Note:  I didn't add the extra butter to mine and didn't miss it.  I just gave this recipe to a friend and she used the leftover olive oil as a dipping sauce for French bread that she served with her meal.  Sounds heavenly.  What I eliminated from the original recipe Carianne had found was 5 cloves of garlic, finely minced in the oil. Clyde and I do not do well with garlic or onion so it just seemed prudent to eliminate that.  My friend added it to her oil and it burned - so she started over and eliminated it too.  I think if you were doing this that whole cloves of garlic would be the way to go. It also said to strip the stems of thyme of all of the leaves.  I didn't.

BBQ cups

When we get together we give each other recipe ideas. Besides my chicken noodle soup (which I posted under noodles) I made 2 others at Carianne's. Here is my recipe for BBQ cups. (I tripled the recipe while I was there.)


1 lb. ground meat
1/2 c. barbecue sauce
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1 Tbs. onion, minced
1 can biscuits, (10 count)
3/4 c. cheese


Brown the meat and drain. Add barbecue sauce, brown sugar and onion. Set aside. Put biscuits in muffin pans pressing up the side to make cups. Spoon in meat mixture and sprinkle with cheese. Bake @ 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.


*I have used ground turkey and ground venison and it tastes just fine.  These are great for preparing ahead and reheating.

Swedish Meatballs

When I was a teenager this was an extremely popular dish.  It has kind of fallen out of favor because it is very time consuming but I made it not too long ago and decided to post it because it is worth the time for a special occasion.  Because you are using ground meat, it is quite economical but because you have spent so much time on it, it makes the ground meat become a very special dish. 

Swedish Meatballs
1 egg beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup instant oatmeal
2 teaspoons minced onions
1 teaspoon Season All Salt (make sure you get the one that doesn't have MSG in it.  If you can't find that just sprinkle about an 1/8th teaspoon each of garlic powder, paprika, Cajun seasoning, and salt in the mix)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 pound lean ground meat (beef or turkey work great)
2 Tablespoons butter
2  Tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons bouillon granules - beef or any flavor works fine
1/8 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
2 cups milk
Combine egg and 1/4 cup milk in large bowl.  Stir in oatmeal, onions and spices.  Add ground meat and mix well.  Shape into about 30 meatballs.  Arrange on a baking tray.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes - until cooked through. 

5 minutes before the meatballs are finished cooking, melt butter in a sauce pan.  Stir in flour and bouillon granules with pepper.  Add 2 cups milk.  Cook and stir over medium-high heat until the sauce thickens and is bubbly.  Add meatballs and coat well. 

Serve as an appetizer with toothpicks or over noodles or rice for a main course.

Note: I quite often put a 1/2 cup sour cream in the sauce after it has thickened and just before I add the meatballs.  It adds a richness that is wonderful. 

Make-Ahead Chicken Tetrazzini

I made this for the military on Sunday and it was a big hit.  I liked it because I could mix it up Saturday and cook it up Sunday.  This would work well with any precooked poultry or pork.

Make-Ahead Chicken Tetrazzini
8-12 ounces spaghetti or linguine
1/4 cup butter
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
3 Tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken broth
3/4 half and half
1/4 chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
3 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Chopped fresh parsley for topping

Cook spaghetti as directed on package.  Drain.

Meanwhile, melt margarine in Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add mushrooms, cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently.  Reduce heat to medium low.  Add flour, cook and stir until bubbly.  Gradually add broth, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens.  Remove from heat; stir in cream, parsley, salt and pepper.  Add cooked spaghetti and chicken to mushroom mixture, tossing gently to mix.  Spoon mixture into an ungreased 9x18 baking pan.  Cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Heat oven to 350.  Uncover the baking dish; sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top of the casserole. Re-cover with the foil.  Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes or until is thoroughly heated through.  Remove the foil for the last 10 minutes of cooking.  Sprinkle with parsley and let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Note: When you put the foil on to put in the refrigerator to chill, you might think the sauce is awfully thin.  That is why you are chilling it.  It works with the starch in the pasta and by the next day it is perfect after baking.  I think if you baked this immediately this would not work well.  I suggest if your family does not like mushrooms replace them broccoli or leaving them out all together.

Mexican Fried Rice Casserole

This is a recipe I came up with when I had a bunch of leftovers and didn't know what to do with the little bittses (as my mother would say).  So I combined them and came up with this.  This meal is ready in 15 minutes.

Mexican Fried Rice Casserole
2 or more cups of leftover rice
1 cup cooked chicken, pork or beef, cubed (or more if you have it)
1 can black beans or kidney beans, drained and rinsed or if you have leftover refried beans in the refrigerator - add them at the end
1/4 -1/2 cup salsa - as spicy as your family likes
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 -1/2 teaspoon Cajun Seasoning (optional)

In 1 or 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil, brown the rice.  I add the spices just after I brown the rice because it blooms them and makes them really pop.  Add the meat, beans and salsa and heat through.  I like this not to be soupy but to be able to hold its shape in a tortilla or on a chip.  Salt and pepper to taste and serve on flour or corn tortillas or as is with a salad. 

Note: This is a quick and easy meal.  The spices can be adjusted to your family's taste.  Some families may want more or less spice than others.  I serve it with lettuce, tomato and shredded cheese on tortilla chips or tortillas but it is great just on its own (which is how I eat it since I don't need the extra carbs).  If I have it, I make guacamole with it.  It is filling and healthy meal plus you just about emptied the refrigerator!

Hobo Dinners

I have done these in the fire for camping but never thought of doing them in the oven. Here is a simple, tasty all in one meal. It was a big hit. (Marcus was not filled though. We are contemplating cost to food ratio of all you can eat buffets for him.)


1 lb. ground beef
potatoes
onion
Seasoned Salt
aluminum foil


Cut foil about 15 inches. Place a ground beef patty in the middle of the foil. You can choose the size. Sprinkle with seasoned salt. Put an onion on that and potato wedges on top. Sprinkle with seasoned salt again. Wrap entirely, make sure there are no holes. (Label or shape differently so you know which one goes to which person.) Cook in oven for an hour at 375 degrees.


*I used about 1/3 a pound of ground turkey for Andy's patty and about a 1/4 for Marcus. We didn't use onion. I put some onion powder on Andy's and mine, though. We also added some carrots to the potato on top. It was simple and yummy.

Lemon Pepper Salmon Packets

You will see I have pattern here.  There is lemon pepper in all of the fish meals.  Maybe that is how it makes them tasty to us - but we sure like it this way.  I like the foil packets because they are just roll up and toss away to clean up.  We have this recipe at least twice a month.  We try and eat salmon once a week.

Lemon Pepper Salmon Packets
4 sheets 9x9 inches each of heavy duty aluminum foil
1 pound salmon fillet
1-1 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 Teaspoon salt
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, cut into thin strips

Preheat oven to 475 degrees or preheat grill to medium high.  On each of the 9x9 square sheets, spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Cut the salmon into four serving sizes - if necessary.  Place skin side down on foil squares. Sprinkle lemon pepper and salt over fish.  Place lemon slices on each piece of salmon.  Divide the bell pepper slices over the salmon.  Divide the carrots over the salmon.  Fold top and edges.  Pinch tightly to seal.  Leave room in packet for heat circulation.  Bake 15 minutes in the oven on a baking sheet.  Grill 8 minutes per inch of flesh on the grill - covered (15-20 minutes is usually more than enough time).  Carefully open packet to check to see if fish flakes easily.

Note:  This too is very 'juicy' so we remove it from the packet to eat it.  We always get out salmon with the skin on because we think it tastes better.  We find the skin stays behind in the foil pouch 80% of the time but otherwise just peels away.  This is truly one of our favorite ways to eat salmon.  My other favorite way is just grilled on a plank.  But since we cannot have grill - it makes it difficult to do that for the time being.

If you don't have bell peppers or carrots - do this anyway.  It really just needs the lemon and lemon pepper to taste good.

Baked Fish Fillets

When you choose fish, you want it not to smell like fish.  That sounds odd but you are looking for a fresh outdoor smell when you choose fish.  Don't take it if it smells fishy or has a rainbow sheen to the flesh.  It has been there too long.  It should feel firm and never slimy.  This is a really tasty way to serve fish.

Bake Fish Fillets
1 pound of mild-flavored fish, about 3/4 inch thick
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon pepper or lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt or 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Heat oven to 375.  Grease bottom of a rectangular pan, 11x7x1 inches (or cover with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray).  Cut fish fillets into 4 serving pieces, if need be.  Place pieces skin side down, in the pan, folding thin ends unders if necessary for even thickness.

Mix together remaining ingredients and drizzle over the fish.  Bake uncovered for 15 -20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Note: Some mild flavored fish include flounder, cod, perch and catfish.  Flounder is very thin but I just shorten the cooking time - you can do the same if you have thin fillets. 

I have substituted lime juice and lime zest for a slightly different flavor.  Our common menu with this is lima beans for Clyde, oven roasted asparagus for me, tossed salad and rice.

Lemon Pepper Halibut Packets

I am finding more and more that I only really like fish cooked a few ways.  I do love it deep fat fried, but I am not going to do that at home - we will save that for a restaurant.  I am also seeing repeats of the same kinds of recipes in my patterns of cooking fish - which makes me laugh.  I am trying really hard not to eat fish covered in cocktail sauce or tartar sauce, so here are few recipes of how Clyde and I have come to enjoy our fish pretty much straight up.

Lemon Pepper Halibut
1 pound halibut, 1/2 ot 3/4 inch thick (see note at bottom)
1 teaspoon lemon pepper without salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 medium zucchini or summer squash, cut into 2x1-inch strips
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch strips
1 lemon, sliced thin
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 475 degrees or heat coals or gas grill for direct heat.  Cut four foil sheets into 18x12 inch pieces of heavy duty foil. Spray with cooking spray.  Cut fish into 4 servings, if necessary.  Place 1 piece of fish on each foil square.  Sprinkle fish with 1/4 teaspoon of the lemon pepper on each square and divide the salt equally among the squares.  Lay lemon slices over fish - however many you want on each fish (I usually use three slices per piece).  Arrange the squash and peppers over each piece of fish so it is evenly distributed.  Drizzle with the olive oil.  Seal edges tight -  making a 1/2 inch fold and folding again.  Allow space on sides for expansion and air circulation of packets.

Cooking time in the oven is 15 minutes.

Cover and grill packets over medium heat for 15-20 minutes or until the fish flakes with a fork and vegetables are tender.  Place packets on plates.  Cut an X across each packet and fold back foil.  You can remove the fish and vegetables to your plate or eat from the packet.  (Clyde and I like to remove our fish and vegetables because the squash has broken down at this point and it is swimming in liquid - but the choice is yours).

I serve this meal with a big tossed salad and fresh green beans in the summer in the winter I use canned green beans.  It is really good with a good loaf of French bread (but I am trying to be good and eat less white flour).

Note:  This is good with any good quality white fish.  I have made it with flounder but have cut the cooking time back to about 10 minutes on the oven (without the vegetables) and no more than 15 on the grill because the fillets are so thin.  When I use flounder, I cook the vegetables in a separate pouch.  Another favorite of ours is orange roughy.  It is a very mild white fish that is not very expensive.  Clyde is not a big fan of squash and he can no longer eat bell peppers.  He doesn't mind scraping off the vegetables and just enjoying the fish - hence why I serve another cooked vegetable he will eat.

Mini Lasagna Cups

Another pinterest find. There were no left overs after dinner tonight. I will have to double it in the future but that shouldn't be hard to do. It was super easy and tasty.

1/2 ground meat (beef, turkey, sausage)
2 c. spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 - 2 c. cottage cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
24 wonton wrappers
1 c. Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown meat in a skillet and drain. Add spaghetti sauce to meat and stir to combine.

In a bowl combine cottage cheese with salt and pepper.

Coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray and arrange a wonton wrapper in each cup. Take 1/2 the cottage cheese mixture and divide it among the cups (1-2 tsp.). Top with half the meat mixture (again 1-2 tsp.) and sprinkle some mozzarella on top of that. Place another wonton wrapper over the cheese and repeat the layers cottage cheese, meat mixture, top with cheese.

Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the wonton wrappers are golden. Cool in muffin tin for 5-10 minutes before serving. This helps them keep their shape.

Makes 12 mini lasagnas or 3 servings.

*The recipe called for ricotta but since it is too pricey I tried cottage cheese and it worked. Also, I used Hunt's spaghetti sauce with the meat in it and eliminated the browning meat step. I will definitely be using this recipe again.

Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells

I found this on pinterest and my family really enjoyed it. The pasta was a bit crunchy, but we are going to try to fix that.

1 pkg. jumbo pasta shells
8 oz. cream cheese
1 c. parmesan (freshly grated works best) + 1/4 c. for topping
1/4 c. pesto
2 c. shredded cooked chicken
1 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil and prepare pasta shells as directed on package. Drain pasta and set aside.

In a bowl combine the rest of ingredients (except 1/4 cheese for topping). Fill the pasta shells with the mixture (about a tablespoon each shell) and place in a baking dish. Sprinkle the cheese on top.

Bake for about 30 minutes. It says uncovered, but that made ours crunchy, so next time I am gonna try to cover it and see what it does.

I don't really like pesto (Shh, don't tell Andy) and I really liked this dish.

Quick Black Bean Soup

For some reason people think that soup is just for winter.  I like them year round because like this one, they are quick. This is not a heavy soup.  I serve it with tortilla chips and a shredded lettuce salad.  Dinner is ready in less than 30 minutes.  It is somewhat like a taco soup but lighter.  You make it as spicy as you want by how hot the salsa is you put in.
Quick Black Bean Soup
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 small onion, minced (optional)
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups chicken  broth
1 cup salsa (as spicy as you like - store-bought or homemade)
The juice of one lime
Melt butter in a medium saucepan and cook onions until golden.  Add chicken and cook until edges start to turn a golden brown.  Add the drained black beans, the chicken broth and salsa.  Simmer together for 20 minutes.  Add the juice of the lime just before serving and just heat through.  Serve with a side salad and tortilla chips or warmed corn tortillas. 

Chili Cups

This has been a standbye for our family for many years.  They are simple to make and are something that the girls even helped with when they were young and liked to help in the kitchen.

Chili Cups
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1-3 teaspoons chili pepper (depending on how spicy you want it)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2-1 teaspoon Cajun spice (depending on how spicy you want it)
1/2 cup water
2 cans biscuit dough
Brown ground beef.  Add salt, pepper, chili pepper, garlic powder, and Cajun spice.  Cook until you smell the spices bloom.  Add the tomato sauce and water and simmer for 10 minutes. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray and line each cup with a biscuit.  Half fill each biscuit lined muffin cup with the chili mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Sprinke with shredded cheese and bake until cheese just melts.  Serve. 

Note: These freeze really well and pop in the microwave to warm up for a really quick snack or lunch.  By adding Italian seasoning, you can change the flavors if you want.