Easy Summertime Mexican Soup

I know, I know.  After reading the title of this page you are probably thinking, "soup? In the summertime?  Is she crazy?"  Maybe.  I eat soup year round regardless of whether it is 30 degrees or 100 degrees outside.  This soup is one of my favorites because it is EASY and always yummy!!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Easy Mexican Soup

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 medium zucchini, sliced
6 cups chicken broth
2 (14.5 oz) cans stewed tomatoes (Mexican flavor)
1 (14.5 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (14.5 oz) can corn
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. pepper
Tortilla chips
Shredded Monterery Jack cheese
*2 chicken breasts

Directions:
Cook onion, olive oil, and garlic in large soup pot over medium heat until onions are clear.  Add zucchini and the rest of ingredients except chips and cheese.  Bring soup to boil.  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes until zucchini are tender.  Spoon soup into bowl and add chips and cheese to your liking.

Yield: About 10-12 servings

*If you want to add chicken to this recipe, go for it.  I would recommend boiling the chicken breasts for about 30 minutes in a separate pot of water, cube the chicken, and add it when you add the zucchini and other ingredients.

Note: Everyone in my family likes to assemble their soup differently.  I like just cheese on top.  Some put the chips on the bottom, soup on top of chips, then cheese on the very top.  It is all up to you!!

Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole...Without the Hash Browns?!

Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole Without the Potatoes!!

I love a good challenge.  Even more, I love potatoes...so it was definitely hard for me for awhile to go low-carb.  Now that I've been eating low carb for awhile I still have small cravings here and there for a potato or dessert, but nothing like what I had before.  One of my favorite potato dishes is Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole, which is a staple at most Midwest barbecues.  So I took a favorite recipe and found a way to make it healthier.  I knew I couldn't use hash browns so I thought about a vegetable that would give me about the same texture....spaghetti squash!!! Ok, now before you say, "eww," just know that you will not know the difference between the squash and hash browns.  This recipe was such a big hit that I had seconds and my husband had thirds.  I know now that we will be making this a lot.  Just to give you an idea, if you were to have a helping of regular hash brown casserole, you would be eating 22 carbs.  Yikes.  My casserole only has 7 carbs a serving! Enjoy!!

Ingredients

3 medium sized spaghetti squash

stick of butter for cooking

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of celery soup

16 oz. sour cream

2 cups cheddar cheese + extra for topping

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 medium onion

Directions

1.  Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Wash each squash and cut each squash in half.  Place halves on a cookie sheet and scoop out seeds.  Throw seeds away.  Place a skinny pat of butter on each half with 2 Tbsp of water.  Place in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.

2.  Remove halves.  They should appear cooked and might be slightly brown around edges. Take temperature in oven down to 350 degrees.  You should see small pools of the butter and water.

3.  Pour any excess butter and water out of halves.  Using a fork, scrape insides of squash.  It should look like noodles or strings when you scrape it.  If it is not, you need to cook the squash longer.

 

4.  Place shredded squash in a bowl and set aside.

5.  In a separate bowl, combine the soups, sour cream, cheese, garlic salt, pepper,  and cheddar cheese.

6.  Chop onion and add chopped onion and sour cream mixture to the squash.

7.  Mix thoroughly and then pour the entire mixture into a greased 9x13 pan.

8.  Top with any extra cheddar cheese.

9.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes until casserole is bubbly and cheese is melted.

10. Let casserole sit for about 10-15 minutes.  Serve warm.  Note: will be creamy, but isn't that the best part? : )  Enjoy!!