Chicken Tortilla Soup

This one is Frankenstiened together from the top three in a recent google search:

1. Danny Boome's recipe at Food Network
2. Ree Drummond's recipe via her The Pioneer Woman blog
3. Valerie Marie's Amazing Chicken Tortilla Soup! at Genius Kitchen

 INGREDIENTS

• Whole rotisserie chicken
• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1 medium red onion, diced - reserve half for serving
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 jalapenos, finely diced
• 32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Stock
• One 8-ounce can tomato paste
• One 14.5-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• One 14.5-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained 
• One 14.5-ounce can yellow corn, rinsed and drained
• 2-3 limes, juiced plus wedges for serving
• 1 cup roughly chopped cilantro, leaves only
• 1-1/2 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne 
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• One tablespoon masa or cornmeal

      GARNISH SUGGESTIONS

• Corn tortilla strips, cut into uniform narrow strips (or tortilla chips)
• Red onion diced (reserved from soup ingredients)
• 1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 avocado, pitted, sliced
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese 
• Salsa Or Pico De Gallo
• Sour cream

 DIRECTIONS     

1. Sauté onion, garlic and jalapeño with olive oil in a large pot over medium heat until soft (about two minutes)
2. Pour chicken broth, all canned ingredients and salt and pepper into the pot and bring to a boil (may also add chili powder to taste)
3. Once ingredients are well combined, add masa and stir well
4. Over low heat, simmer for 45 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally
5. While soup base simmers, shred chicken in a large bowl and mix with lime juice, cilantro and spices then set aside
6. Once soup has simmered for 45 minutes, add chicken mixture to the pot and simmer for another 15 minutes, then serve and garnish as desired

The best damn Beef Stew I've put in my mouth

*disclaimer: hasty post is hasty. No lifeguard on duty.

Seriously. This one borrows heavily from Damn Delicious' slow cooker method and tips its hat to kitchn's advice on searing the beef.

ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil, more as needed
3 pounds stew meat (beef chuck), cut into 1-inch cubes
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 pounds baby red potatoes, cut into 1/2"(ish) thick cubes(ish)
6 carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2" thick slices
3 stalks celery, cut diagonally into 1/2" thick slices
small bag frozen green peas
1 medium/large white onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced (more is always okay)
4c beef broth
6 oz tomato paste
3T Worcestershire sauce plus more, to taste
1t dried thyme
1t dried rosemary
1t smoked paprika
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup all purpose flour
red wine, optional, for delglazing
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves, optional, for serving

______________________________________________

 prep 

In a medium sized shallow bowl, roll beef in a mixture of flour, salt and pepper.

Add olive oil to a large preheated frying pan, followed by a single layer of prepared cubed meat. (This step may be done in batches in order to prevent overcrowding. A friendly deglazing swish of a decent red wine between batches is a great move- just be sure to scrape those tasty crusty bits right onto the growing pile of seared meat.) Let cook over medium/medium-high heat for five minutes before turning. As meat browns, add garlic and half the white onion. Continue to cook until the meat is evenly seared on all sides.

In a large pot, over medium heat, add beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire, thyme, rosemary, paprika, bay leaves and vegetables* until well combined. Stir in beef, garlic and onions and season with additional salt and pepper to taste, if desired.Or, you know, more Worcestershire.

Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook on low heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

May be garnished with parsley and served with crusty bread or egg noodles.

*add them ALL now,  add them all at the hour point, or add half now/half then- it simply depends on your crisp-to-mush veggie texture preference.