Chicken Tortilla Soup @MaddieDayAuthor #Giveaway

MADDIE DAY here, with a toasty California-inspired soup for you, plus a California-based giveaway!

The California theme is by design, because I am currently at the Left Coast Crime fan convention in San Francisco. If you're there, please come to our Mystery Lovers' Kitchen panel tomorrow morning!

As a native southern Californian, the taste of corn tortillas and hominy, aka posole, topped with ripe avocado slices, is the flavor of my home state and the Southwest in general. And as a long-time resident of the opposite coast in northeastern Massachusetts, I often crave those tastes.

This soup is quite easy and brings a warm comfort meal in a chilly winter. My protagonist in the Cece Barton Mysteries doesn't eat chicken, so she might make a fish-based or purely vegetarian version.

Chicken Tortilla Soup 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, minced

1 green pepper, diced

1 yellow, gold, or red pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 chicken breast or 2 thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 quart chicken stock

1 can hominy/posole, drained

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 whole habanero or jalapeno pepper

10 corn tortillas, cut into slivers (flour tortillas won't work in this dish)

1 avocado, peeled and sliced

Sour cream

Directions

Saute the onion in oil until tender. Add peppers and saute until wilted. 

Add chicken and saute for a few minutes. Add garlic and saute one minute. Add stock, hominy, and spices. Enclose pepper in a tea ball and float in the soup. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover, and simmer about an hour. 

Add tortilla slivers and heat a few more minutes. 

Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream and slices of avocado on each bowl. Enjoy!

Readers: What's your favorite Southwestern or Mexican food? I'll send one of you an advance copy of A Poisonous Pour, my third Cece Barton mystery.

🌮🌶🐔

Murder at Cape Costumers is out and available wherever book are sold!

Next up is A Poisonous Pour! This third Cece Barton mystery releases April 28.

My most recent releases are Scone Cold Dead, #13 in the Country Store Mysteries,

 Deadly Crush, 

and A Case for the Ladies.

Check out all my writing.

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

Day of the Dead Soup @MaddieDayAuthor #giveaway #Halloween

MADDIE DAY here. It's our Halloween season here at the Kitchen, but I thought I'd shake it up a little and bring you a Day of the Dead soup recipe, instead! And I have an ARC of Four Leaf Cleaver - a Country Store Mystery celebrating a different ethnic holiday - to give away to a commenter.

Dia dos Mortos, or Day of the Dead, is celebrated on November first in many primarily Catholic countries, especially in Latin America. I first experienced it as a seventeen-year-old exchange student in Brazil, when I went with my host family to the cemetery to leave flowers and food on the graves of their loved ones. For them it was a somber day.

Later I learned of the more festive atmosphere of Dia de los Muertos in places like Mexico, where families picnic with food and drink and music near their dearly departeds. The icons and artwork of colorful skeletons doing all kinds of daily life activities is delightful. (My favorite was the figure of a skeleton sitting at a laptop, but I gave it to a writer friend long ago and now wish I'd bought myself one!)

Wedged between Halloween and my birthday, the idea of an annual food-based party with the souls of those who went on before has always appealed to me. It's not part of my personal cultural heritage, but I grew up in southern California and love Mexican food of all kinds. So I went hunting for Day of the Dead recipes and found this one to share with you.

Sopa Azteca for Dia de los Muertos

You can change up the ingredients as you wish, making it spicier or less spicy, and even vegetarian if you omit the chicken, add its seasoning to the soup, and use vegetable broth.

Ingredients

I neglected to include a lime, a bottle of hot sauce, and the vegetable oil in the photo.

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 small can chopped green chilis

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium white or yellow onion, peeled and diced

4 large cloves garlic, minced

1 3/4 pounds Roma tomatoes, diced (or 28 ounces canned diced tomatoes*, with their juices)

8 cups good-quality vegetable or chicken stock

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Juice of ½ lime

Vegetable oil

Ten corn tortillas cut into ½ inch strips 

1 cup grated jalapeno jack cheese

1 avocado, diced

Sour cream

 

Directions

Toss the chicken with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes until softened, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute, stirring frequently.

Add the tomatoes and green chilis and cook until warm. Add broth and oregano. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. 

Add chicken. Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

While the soup simmers, layer paper towels on a dinner plate. Add vegetable oil to cover the bottom of a heavy skillet by a quarter inch. Heat until oil shimmers. Carefully add enough strips to form only one layer and fry 1-2 minutes until crispy and golden. 

Remove with a slotted spoon to drain on paper towel, layering another towel on top. Repeat until all are fried. Salt while warm if desired. Don’t let hot oil drop on your toe (ouch even through a sock!).

Add lime juice and parsley to soup and adjust seasoning, adding a few drops of hot sauce if desired.

Ladle the hot broth into each serving bowl. Top with tortilla strips, avocado, and cheese, finishing with a dollop of sour cream. Enjoy!

Readers: What's your favorite Halloween or Day of the Dead food? I'll send one of you an advance copy of Four Leaf Cleaver, so please include your email address.

My most recent release is Murder in a Cape Cottage, the fourth Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery, which came out in September.

"Scarfed Down," my Country Store novella in the collection Christmas Scarf Murder released the same day.

My next release is Four Leaf Cleaver, out in late January.

Check out all my writing!

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

Please Welcome Guest Lynn Cahoon #Recipe #Giveaway

Lynn Cahoon is joining us today!  She's sharing a recipe for chicken tortilla soup and also doing a giveaway!

Hi, I’m Lynn Cahoon, author of the Tourist Trap, Farm to Fork, Cat Latimer, and Kitchen Witch cozy mysteries. And I’m a lover of food. Seriously.

I think I get it from my mom. She believed that a good Sunday dinner could solve problems and bring people together. So dinner at our house growing up was cast iron pan Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, frozen corn (we’d put up that summer) and a salad with home made ranch dressing. And of course, there had to be a dessert. Usually a one-layer cake. Not fancy, but oh so good. Especially when it was chocolate with homemade chocolate frosting.

Growing up with good food has made me picky about what I make for my own family. It’s just the two of us now, and we enjoy different things. Dinner is often different meats, sides, but always cooked with love. My husband likes his beef vegetable stew with a little kick from jalapenos. I like homemade chili and Chicken Tortilla soup without the beans. 

I never was a bean fan. Maybe because I didn’t like the idea of it being a ‘musical fruit’. Even now, I avoid eating dried beans. So when I was looking for a new soup to try, I decided to adjust this recipe. I’ve also replaced the fried tortillas with stale or broken tortilla chips. Another habit passed down from my mom, don’t waste anything. With the salt already on the chips, you may want to taste before you add your normal amount of salt.

It’s an easy cook for a chilly Saturday lunch.

Anyway, here’s my recipe. I hope you enjoy it. And if you want, you can add back the can of black beans.

 

Dump into a large sauce pan the following and cook for 30 minutes

 

·       1 can of whole corn

·       2 cans of diced tomatoes with green chilis

·       1 chicken breast cut into bite size pieces (you can also use leftover shredded chicken here.)

·       1 tbsp dried oregano

·       1 tsp chili powder

·       1 tsp cumin

·       3 cups of chicken broth (or a 32 oz carton)

Add a handful of crushed tortilla chips about 1 cup to the soup, let simmer for another 10 minutes. 

 

Serve topped with shredded cheese and a few additional chips.  

 

 

This also freezes well for lunches or soup and sandwich dinners.

I’m giving away a signed print copy of ONE POISON PIE (US only. If a non-US person wins, you’ll get an ebook of KILLER COMFORT FOOD.) Comment below with your favorite comfort soup to be considered to win.

 

 

 

In the first in New York Times bestselling author Lynn Cahoon’s Kitchen Witch mystery series, Mia Malone is starting over in Magic Springs, Idaho—where murder is on the menu . . .

 

What’s a kitchen witch to do when her almost-fiancé leaves her suddenly single and unemployed? For Mia Malone, the answer’s simple: move to her grandmother’s quirky Idaho hometown, where magic is an open secret and witches and warlocks are (mostly) welcome. With a new gourmet dinner delivery business—and a touch of magic in her recipes—Mia’s hopes are high. Even when her ex’s little sister, Christina, arrives looking for a place to stay, Mia takes it in stride.

 

But her first catering job takes a distasteful turn when her client’s body is found, stabbed and stuffed under the head table. Mia’s shocked to learn that she’s a suspect—and even more so when she realizes she’s next on a killer’s list. With Christina, along with Mia’s meddling grandma, in the mix, she’ll have to find out which of the town’s eccentric residents has an appetite for murder…before this fresh start comes to a sticky end. . . .

 

Buy links

Amazon 

BN 

KOBO

Apple 

 

NYT and USA Today bestselling author, Lynn Cahoon, writes the Tourist Trap, Cat Latimer and Farm-to-Fork mystery series. The Kitchen Witch cozy mystery series will release in 2021. No matter where the mystery is set, readers can expect a fun ride Sign up for her newsletter at www.lynncahoon.com

 

#Tex-Mex Tortilla Soup from guest author S.C. Perkins with a #giveaway

Please welcome guest author S.C. Perkins to the kitchen today!
                                     ***
If there’s one thing that’s true about Texans, it’s that we love our Tex-Mex. From the simplest offerings like a bean-and-cheese breakfast taco to a sizzling platter of fajitas or a plate of bubbling enchiladas, you go into a Tex-Mex restaurant and you can practically hear a collective sigh as people happily dig in. 

As a fifth-generation Texan with Spanish and Mexican heritage stemming from my paternal great-grandmother, I have many favorites when it comes to my beloved Tex-Mex, and, I’ll admit, I most often get my fix by going out to a Mexican restaurant. 

But there’s one Tex-Mex staple I always make, and that’s Tortilla Soup. It’s delicious, it’s warming, it can be frozen and reheated for when you want comfort soup on a whim, and it’s one of my all-time favorites. It’s also easy make, which is a huge bonus!

And another confession:  The person who makes it best is my mother (who doesn’t have a drop of Latin blood in her). Hers is the recipe I always make, hands down, and no restaurant version comes close. Luckily, my mom is the best, and she’s willing to give up her famous recipe for comforting Tortilla Soup. We both hope you’ll enjoy it!

Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

 1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast tenders, cubed or sliced in desired way

7-8 oz. chopped white onion

7-8 oz. chopped red and green bell peppers

1 clove garlic, chopped fine

1 regular size can chopped tomatoes (14.5 oz )

1 regular size can of Original Ro-tel diced tomatoes with green chilies (10 oz.)

4 cans of Campbell’s regular chicken broth—do not dilute (about 42 oz. total)

1 teaspoon chili powder (Mexican style, if possible—I round mine up a bit)

1 teaspoon cumin (I keep this level or tastes too “smokey”)

1 teaspoon lemon pepper (I use McCormick’s)

¼ stick butter plus ¼ cup olive oil for cooking the chicken

Pepper to taste

Notes:

1. If using Campbell’s chicken broth, you should not need any extra salt. However, if you’re concerned about salt intake to begin with, consider using 42 ounces of low-salt chicken broth, but add four chicken bouillon cubes to the broth before mixing in with the cooked chicken and vegetables. The bouillon cubes will add an extra depth of flavor. (Herb-Ox bouillon cubes work very well.) 

2. This soup also tastes wonderful with extra vegetables such as sliced zucchini, yellow squash, and/or corn.

Directions:

Heat butter and olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven.  

Brown chicken for 5 minutes or so. Add spices and cook for another minute or two.

Add veggies, garlic, and onions and cook until soft, 3-5 minutes or so.

Add chopped tomatoes, Ro-tel tomatoes with green chilies, and chicken broth. Stir.

Bring to boil, cover, then reduce and cook, covered, for 1½  hrs.  

Serve with strips of fried corn tortillas (fried in any kind of oil) or tortilla chips, shredded cheese, cubes of avocado, sour cream (if you must!), and a spritz of lime. Enjoy!

This soup freezes like a dream. You can also easily double or triple this recipe. Like all soups, it tastes even better the next day.

S.C. Perkins writes the Ancestry Detective mysteries featuring Austin-based genealogist Lucy Lancaster. Her debut, Murder Once Removed, is now available everywhere in paperback. Book two in the series, Lineage Most Lethal, comes out July 28, 2020, and is available for preorder.

S.C. Perkins is giving away a paperback copy of Murder Once Removed. To enter, leave your email and comment with your favorite Tex-Mex. 

Welcome our guest, Connie Archer!

Connie Archer is the author of A Soup Lover's Mystery. Connie grew up in New England, ice skating on neighborhood ponds, clamming on the beach at Cape Cod, and skiing in Vermont. As a girl, she spent several years wading through Caesar’s Gallic War journals and the twelve books of the Aeneid. After majoring in biology in college, she did an about face and earned a degree in English literature. Since then she’s worked at many different jobs — laboratory technician, cocktail waitress, medical secretary, and dinner theatre actress, to name just a few. Connie lives in Los Angeles with her family and a cat named Basil.

* * *

From Connie: A very special thank you to the authors of Mystery Lovers Kitchen for inviting me over today and giving me a chance to talk about my favorite soup.  Well . . . I have a lot of favorites, but frankly, there is one that has become an obsession – a holy grail of soup, if you will. 

There’s a small lunch place that I go to occasionally, mostly because they have great soups.  They rotate their choices on a daily basis, but one soup has become so popular, that it’s now offered every day of the week. 

That soup is my favorite and it’s become an obsession because I’ve been trying to re-create it at home for the past few years.  Have I come close?  Yes.  Close.  But not exactly the same.  Granted, I’ve come up with some soups that are almost the same, but not quite.  What is this fabulous soup, you may ask? 

Well, it’s called “Chicken Tortilla.”  I’ve ordered tortilla soup in other restaurants and discovered there are great differences.  And this one wouldn’t be considered an authentic Mexican tortilla soup, at least from what I’ve read, but I’m not overly concerned with authentic. 

This holy grail of soups, is a thick tomato-based soup with small bits of chicken, carrot and corn.  You’d think it would be easy to whip it up in the kitchen, wouldn’t you?  Here’s a picture of it. 

I get hungry just looking at it.  My lunch place serves it with cheddar cheese on top and a bag of little crunchy tortilla strips.  (I try to be good and forego the cheese --- ooops, sorry, Avery!) 

Recently, in complete frustration, I broke down and asked begged Albert at the counter for the recipe.  He and Arnold know me pretty well by now.  In fact, as soon as I walk in, they don’t even ask for my order.  My soup is waiting for me at the cash register. 

Albert shook his head. “No dice.” 

“Why?” I asked.

He leaned over the counter.  “I’ll tell you a secret.  It’s my favorite soup, too.” Sheepishly, he admitted he had asked the cook for the recipe and the cook refused him. 

“No!” I exclaimed. 

Albert nodded sadly.  “I told him I work for the company.  I don’t understand why he won’t share the recipe.” 

(See . . . I wasn’t crazy.  This IS a great soup!) 

So – here’s my latest attempt to re-create Chicken Tortilla Soup. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 tbl. butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 onion, chopped fine

2 cups chicken broth or chicken bouillon

1 chicken breast, cut into small cubes

1/2 tsp. cumin

2 carrots, chopped very fine

1/2 cup corn (frozen or canned)

1-28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 tbl. maple syrup or brown sugar

dash of cayenne pepper

3 tbls. cornstarch dissolved in small amount of water

Saute the garlic and onion in butter, add chicken broth to the pot.  Add chicken cubes, cumin, chopped carrots and corn and simmer for 5 minutes or so until the carrots are soft.  

Add crushed tomatoes, maple syrup (or brown sugar), cilantro, and dash of cayenne.  Simmer for another 10 minutes.  Then mix the cornstarch and water together until dissolved and add to the pot, turn up the heat and stir until the broth is thick. 

Serve with grated cheddar cheese and tortilla strips. 

Serves 4

If you’re inclined to try it yourself, I’d love to hear about it!  Enjoy!

Connie Archer is the author of A Spoonful of Murder (http://amzn.to/1jrwKO5), A Broth of Betrayal (http://amzn.to/1kxb83c) and just released, A Roux of Revenge (http://amzn.to/1ek6vRK). 

When a band of travelers arrives in the village of Snowflake, Vermont and a dead stranger is found by the side of the road, the past returns with a vengeance.  Long kept secrets will be revealed, lost loves will be found and the lives of many in the village will be irrevocably altered. 

You can visit Connie at www.conniearchermysteries.com

Facebook.com/ConnieArcherMysteries

Twitter:  @SnowflakeVT