Birds

 Winter painting. Keep working at it. Waiting for Spring.

Soup

Take the chill off of winter with soup! We are soup lovers. This soup base is also a life saving "zero point" food when following Weight Watchers. Healthy, low in calories and delicious! I start all broth based soup with the following:

5 to 6 cups water

5 to 6 tsp Better than Boullion Base

3 carrots sliced

3 stalks of celery chopped

1 medium to large onion chopped

1 Tbsp minced garlic

2 bay leaves (I break them up and put them in a tea ball so I can find them after cooking)

This base can become many different kinds of soup. The Better Than Boullion comes in several flavors. You can learn about Better Than Boullion here.  For soup I use the chicken or beef flavor. 

I use my crockpot for soup. I can get it started in the morning (I am definitely a morning person) and it makes the house smell wonderful all day! 

For a Southwest Soup

Ingredients 

1-2 lbs of chicken breast cut in bite size pieces

      I prefer breast tenderloin

Prepare broth recipe above using Chicken Boullion 

Add:

Any color pepper chopped 1 inch pieces  1 cup

2 cans petite diced tomatoes

1 can pinto beans drained and rinsed

1 can navy beans drained and rinsed

1 can hot rotel tomatoes 

1.5 to 2 cups frozen corn

1.5 to 2 cups frozen chopped spinach (added at the end to get warm)

The corn and spinach are optional. They add fiber and nutrients. 

1 pkg Taco seasoning mix

2 pkg sayzon goya mix

2 tbsp adobo seasoning with lemon pepper 

2tbsp cumin or more to taste

2 tbsp corriander

Black pepper

I start my crockpot on high for an hour then low for 6 to 8 hours. Or low for 8 to 10 hours. 

Add all ingredients except the spinach, stir well and start the crockpot.  Add the spinach during the last 15 minutes of cooking. 

Enjoy!