Kitchen Sink Mexican Soup

There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Summer zucchini is plentiful and wasting food is not an option. Several sandwich bags full of diced tomatoes have been frozen, couple dozen have been given to friends, and lots have been turned into summer smoothies. Still, there are zucchini in the fridge and more in the garden. So even though is full on sweltering summer heat, a Kitchen Sink Mexican Soup was made for dinner because zucchini and Mexican soup go hand in hand.

Ingredients:

4 large carrots, sliced

3 ribs celery with leaves, sliced

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 T butter

32 oz broth

28 oz tomato juice (leftover from whole tomatoes used to make salsa)

2 cubes pollo de Tomate

1 T taco seasoning

1 T chili powder

1 T comino

1 T minced garlic

1 large handful cilantro, chopped

28oz white hominy with juice

2 cups zucchini, diced

3 small potatoes, diced

Salt & Pepper

Instructions:

Sauté carrots, celery, onions in one tablespoon butter. Add remaining ingredients and cook until veggies are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Scaled for Likability: Great

Kitchen sink meals are so good. They combine all your favorite flavors into one dish and are a great way to use up leftover odds and ends from the fridge. To this pot of soup spanish rice was served on the side (or in if you were me and not the kid counterpart) along with warmed flour tortillas. Cheese could have been added or tortilla chips instead of flour tortillas but those toppings are too close to Tortilla Soup. Leftover chicken, finely diced pieces of pork, or taco meat itself would have been good, too.

The key to this meal is fresh ingredients. Frozen corn would be an exception but all other veggies need to be fresh. Hominy juice can be omitted if the flavor of the juice is too strong. White hominy was used but yellow would have been equally as good. Its soup, play with it, love it, eat it.

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add po...

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Sour Cream & Chive Scalloped Potatoes

Can't believe the Month of the Potato is over. There are so many more potato recipes saved. Guess I will have to work them into another month. Last week's scalloped potatoes were one of the best new recipes during the month of potatoes. With today being the last day in the Month of Potatoes, I decided to go out with a bang by cooking another batch of scalloped potatoes but this time sour cream and chive. The Best Scalloped Potatoes , or so they said. Modifications Made: Recipe was reduced by half. Mayo was omitted and one entire package of chives were chopped and added to sauce before pouring onto layers. Scaled for Likability: Good Betty Crocker Sour Cream and Chive Box Scalloped Potatoes were the standard for this recipe. These were a family favorite for years but have long since been discounted. Bummer. Trying to replicate this seemed easy enough. Alas, it was not. These had a nice texture but were too oily from the cheese ...

Eating Waffles

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