I am so excited to offer up this yummy recipe AND an awesome giveaway to our loyal readers.
Out of the blue we were contacted by Random House (that they even knew our little blog existed was a thrill in and of itself) and were offered the opportunity to review a new cookbook called Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook by the American Heart Association.
And when the cookbooks came in the mail I was so excited to crack my copy open and get to reading. I LOVE LOVE LOVE cookbooks and read them like they were the latest novel. And this one looked good!
Eating healthy is important and the fact of the matter is, I could stand to eat a little bit healthier and lose some weight. So I was excited to explore some new slow cooker recipes that would help me make some more healthier dishes for my family.
There were several good recipes in this cookbook that are now on my “I am going to try this” list.
- Smoky Red Bell Pepper Hummus
- Pistachio and Pumpkin Seed Snack Mix
- Bean Florentine Soup
- Chicken with Black Beans and Sweet Potatoes
- Coffee Kettle Pot Roast
- Nutty Breakfast Grits with Pears
Just to name a few. I was really thrilled that there were a lot of fish and vegetarian recipes as those are areas I would like to explore more with my crock-pot cooking.
The book is easy to read and one feature that I really liked was that at the beginning of each chapter there was a list of all the recipes. So you could easily skim through the recipes to see what you wanted to cook.
I went through the entire cookbook and noted down a few possibilities on which recipe I would like to cook to include in this review. But then I had the entire family vote on the recipes I picked out as contenders and we narrowed it down to this YUMMY Chicken & Tortilla Soup recipe (page 51). This is the recipe featured on the cover of the book as well. And when I say that it is yummy, I mean it was delicious! I loaded my bowl up with lots of cilantro and sprinkled on the avocado and red bell pepper and it was a feast for the eyes and taste buds!
The whole family got involved too in prepping. Hubby cut the chicken (because he knows I have a “thing” about touching raw chicken…gag) and my 15 year old daughter was in charge of the tortilla strips, cutting and baking (tip – use a pizza cutter to make quick work of cutting the corn tortillas into strips).
And the little kids helped me gather the rest of the ingredients and dump them in the crock-pot.
Here is the recipe….
A delicious and healthy recipe from the American Heart Associations Health Slow Cooker Cookbook.
Ingredients
Instructions
- In the slow cooker, stir together the chicken, corn, broth, tomatoes with liquid, onion, sugar, chili powder, garlic and salt.
- Cook, covered, on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Arrange the tortilla stips in a single layer on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until crisp.
- Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack.
- Let the strips stand for about 15 minutes, or until cool.
- Transfer to an airtight container and set aside.
- When the soup is ready, transfer 1 cup to a food processor or blender.
- Stir in the tortilla pieced (not the strips you baked but the 1 tortilla that was just torn into pieces).
- Let the mixture stand for 1 minute so the tortilla pieces soften.
- Process until smooth.
- Stir the mixture into the soup.
- Stir in the cilantro.
- Ladle the soup into bowls.
- Sprinkle with the avocado, bell pepper and reserved baked tortilla strips.
Notes
Cook’s Tip: Adding the processed soup and tortilla mixture to the rest of the soup gives the finished product more body and distributes the tortilla flavor.
And now for the giveaway!
Disclosure: I was given a copy of this cookbook to review plus one copy to giveaway. No other compensation received. All words, thoughts and opinions are my own.
Our family (2 adults & 1 teen) loved this recipe. We will probably double it or look for a filling side for next time as we ate it all and were looking for a little more as well!