Chicken Tortilla Soup

Last night I made Chicken Tortilla Soup and it was amazing!!

By far one of my favorite soup's ever!! So, naturally, I wanted to share the recipe with the world... or whoever reads my blog!

1 cup Pace® Picante Sauce

2 cans (10 3/4 ounces each) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 cups frozen whole kernel corn

1 can (about 15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 soup can water

1 teaspoon ground cumin

4 corn tortillas (6-inch), cut into strips

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (about 4 ounces)

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

• Stir the picante sauce, soup, chicken, corn, beans, water and cumin in a 4-quart slow cooker.
• Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours or until the chicken is cooked through.
• Stir the tortillas, cheese and cilantro into the cooker. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Serve with additional cheese, if desired.

You can also find this recipe at the Campbell's Kitchen Website.

http://origin.www.campbellskitchen.com/RecipeDetail.aspx?recipeId=50414&fbid=ECxnqW_cNpZ

Once I got everything in the Crockpot it didn't seem like very much soup... and I wanted leftovers! So I added 2 extra cans of water, and some tomato juice (1-2 cups)... this gave me a larger mass of food and it also made it more soup like... the recipe called it "creamy", but mine was just plain thick, which isn't a bad thing, just not what I was going for! Also, instead of using corn tortilla's I used flour and instead of using pace picante sauce, I used salsa ... again, just a preference/what I had on hand thing. The family loved it, even the kids! It's really good by itself or as a chip dip if you're not into soups!

25 Degrees

It was 25 degrees out yesterday so the kids and I bundled up and headed out to have some fun in the snow! It's not very often I get all 3 kids together in one picture so these pics are super special! We made some fun memories!

Mischievous Little Girl

This is what becomes of cereal when a 20 month old gets a hold of it... 2 boxes all over the living room, she was so proud!!

Goodbye Tank

This last weekend our family was out of town and we came home to find that our beloved pit bull Tank had died.

Death is never easy, even when it's a family pet... we are all doing well though. We've had a couple days now to soak it all in, and it seems to almost get harder... him not greeting us when we come home is sad. Bennett is 20 months old and really loved him, but she cannot understand that she won't see him again... she's been asking "where's Tank?" whenever we go past his house outside. We explained everything to the boys and let them see him one last time for closure/finality... They are doing good, and excited to get another dog someday.

Tank had 6 great years with us (and Ted & Lori) and we have lots of fun memories with him!... He will be missed...

Life is Crazy!

It's been too long since I've blogged!! Life is Crazy right now!

Here is a taste of what we've been up to and blogs to come...

• Bennett's Eye Surgery
• Conrad's 3rd Birthday/Party
• Rhythm Church's first month
• Kick Off of Rhythm Community Groups
• Conrad's first day of Preschool/3yr checkup/the potty training continues!
• Bennett is 17 months old!
• The leaves are falling and I have 3 eager helpers!
• We are going to a Pumpkin Patch!
• Our car troubles continue!
• God's blessing on us overflows!

So there is the list... lots going on and so much to be thankful for!!

Bennett Eye Update

Yesterday Bennett had her pre-op appointment in Iowa City. Her doctor was concerned that her vision is not quite where it needs to be in order for him to preform the surgery. Basically, when her vision is not the same in both eyes, it means she is preferring one eye to the other... in other words her brain is not using both eyes all the time.

So, we still have the surgery scheduled (2 weeks from today) but we now have to go back next Monday for another check on her vision. Her doctor has asked that I patch full time/anytime she is awake. He also gave me a prescription for eye drops that blur the vision in her good eye, leaving her vision impaired so she has to use the bad eye to see. I asked for the drops because she has a tendency to take her patch off (that's why we are in this situation)... so whenever she does pull it off at least her bad eye is still having to work. We've been through 8 patches today already, but I am committed to doing all that I can in order to make this surgery happen in 2 weeks.

I am totally to blame for the situation we are in... I hate fighting with Bennett to keep the patch on and over the last 4 weeks I probably was patching 2 hrs a day (i was supposed to patch 2-4hrs) I have restraints, but I hate seeing her cry and fuss because she can't do anything.

Please pray for me, that I would have perseverance to see this through and that I would have though love for Bennett and not give up with the patch. And pray for Bennett that progress would occur in her bad eye and that the eye drops would not bother her mood too much.

Thank you all for your support!

Birthday Cake Help!!

I'm in need of some input, so all you followers out there leave a comment and give me some ideas!!

Conrad's 3rd birthday is in 2 weeks and I am having a hard time deciding what kind of birthday cake to make for him. He loves just about any character, we have cable so we watch a large variety of cartoons... he also likes animals, mainly ones that roar! I want to make a cake using fondant, so I think that's why I'm having such a hard time deciding... it's much more complicated using fondant, but I love how they turn out!

So, I'm going to leave it up to my commentors... you decide for me! Throw out your ideas and I'll pick the easiest/one that fits Conrad best!!

Here are the cakes I have already made for previous birthdays, so these are off limits!