Chicken Enchilada Soup

It is one of my favorite times of the year! I love fall for all of the fresh fruits and veggies. Harvest is one of my favorites. It allows me to reap the benefits of my hard work in gardening all summer. (Or this year, the lack of hard work). We did get quite a few tomatoes, beans, peaches, peppers, apples and squash from our own garden, so I guess it wasn't that bad, just very over grown with weeds this years.

So with fall comes all of the yummy soups that I love to make. Soup is one of those comfort foods that just warm you at the end of a cold day. Am I right?!

I asked my hubby the other day for some suggestions of what to make for dinner this week. I said I had some green chili endchilada sauce in the fridge that I really needed to use, but I made chicken enchiladas last week and didn't want to make them yet again, since it is one of my go to meals for something quick and easy that we love. He suggested taco soup with the green enchilada sauce. so then my mind starts working.

I searched on Pinterest for a chicken enchilada soup recipe and found a few that looked really yummy, but they were all crockpot recipes that I didn't have time for. But I was able to make this recipe in about a half hour to 45 minutes and it turned out so yummy.

Let me add though, if you like spice in your chicken enchiladas, I would add a teaspoon or so of cumin and chili powder, I just have a son that is allergic to chili powder currently and can't handle the spice, so I left it out this time and it was still very good, just not spicy. So here it is:

Chicken Enchilada Soup

3 cups chicken, cut in chunks
1 TBS oil
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup green chilis or one small can
1 can corn, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
8 cups water with 8 tsp. chicken bouillon or 8 cups chicken stock, reserve 1 cup or more to mix with cornmeal
1 cup green enchilada sauce or 1 small can
1 - 1 1/2 cups cornmeal

Heat oil in large pot. Add chicken, with some salt and pepper and stir fry for a couple minutes. Add salsa and green chilies and cook for a few minutes longer. Add water and chicken boillon or chicken stock, corn, black beans, and enchilada sauce. Bring to a boil and cook until chicken is done, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add cornmeal to 1 cup of water and stir to break up all clumps. Add to soup pot and stir. Cornmeal will gradually thicken the soup some. Let cook until thickened to liking. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, corn chips, etc. Sour cream gives a little bit of a creamy flavor like chicken enchiladas.

The cornmeal gives a flavor like you have corn tortillas in it. This size recipe serves about 10-12 people. I make big meals for family of 7. My kids even loved this soup, even the picky one that doesn't eat hardly anything I cook. This will definitely go into my regular winter rotation of soups! I hope you enjoy it as much as my family did!

I'm a Triathlete!!

So here it is Wednesday already and I have not yet posted about the triathlon I did on Saturday! So here is the run down:

It was so much fun!! We were there to check in at 7:20 a.m. We started out in the swimming pool at 8. We did shifts in the pool, since there was only 6 lanes that we had to double up on. Since I don't freestyle without swallowing the whole pool, I figured out that a side stoke works really well for me. It still gives me the work out too, especially with my arms. Swimming a side stroke when you are sharing the lanes so closely with many others, doesn't leave you a whole of room to move, so I kicking people, I felt so bad.

After the swimming, we jumped on our bikes, which was my mountain bike, with my hubby's street tires put on for the speed. I thought the bike would go pretty smooth, but little did I know on the other side of the nice cruise down hill was quite the steep incline. I struggled up the hill and many times just wanted to get off and walk, but I pushed through it and was able to stay on my bike, just going a very slow pace.

Then for the final part, running. We ran the same route we biked and about half way up the incline, I did have to walk a little ways, but I made it, and I finished the race. I am very proud of myself and my dear friend!

So I don't know exactly how the scored everything or timed everything, it is quite confusing to me, but I finished the whole race in 87 minutes! Not bad at all for a first timer!! This, we realized later, was not even a half tri. They called it a taste of a tri, which for your first time, I just perfect. I would love to try a full triathlon, just to say I can do it, but that would require me to train a lot more and a lot harder. And definitely to get on a bike more than just at the gym a couple times. But I loved every minute of it and I look forward to another one and to keep training.

Now our next training is for my friend to run the Ogden half marathon in May. I didn't put in for the lottery because I was afraid I would get drawn out, but my friend did and I promised her I would help her train, and I will definitely be there when she runs the whole thing!

Everyone should try something that is out of their comfort zome! I have found that these races are so much fun, and I love being in the pool, even though I don't swim all that well. You always learn things about yourself that you never knew before when you do something that is hard for you to do. Keep training, and loving life!