A couple weeks back I put some leftover roasted chicken in the freezer to use for a rich chicken based stock.  I have totally been into making stock for a couple months now and boy, has it come in  handy for some tasty meals.  So, yesterday, while we home trying to keep warm from the damp cold weather that seems to be settling in, I made a big batch of stock.  I freeze half of it strained and the other half with pieces of tender chicken in it.  I love having it handy for risottos, sauces and soups.

While I was searching through my weekly blog reads for ideas of this weeks menu planning, I stumbled upon a Tortilla Soup, that Rachael, from Coconut & Lime, recently made.  I do not use a slow cooker, but I did cook it slowly (for about an hour & a half) on the stove top.  The only other adjustment I made was that I baked the tortilla strips, when one works in a 20 sq. ft. kitchen, one does not have tons of room, for pots of simmering stock and frying tortilla strips.  The soup has a very rich broth made of tomatoes (regular & fire roasted), chilies and chicken stock.  I used some frozen white corn which was very sweet and tender.  I love the crunchiness of the tortillas, the creamiest of the avocado and the tart but zesty freshness of the lime, it all came together and cooled down the spicy chilies.  This is a fantastic winter time meal, definitely warms your bones up!  As well the recipe made enough for us to have for dinner tonight, lunch for Lenny tomorrow and some for the freezer for one of those lazy nights at home.  Thanks Rachael, for a fantastic recipe!

Recipe.

Big news … well, we think it is pretty big!  We were approached by some folks from Intel a couple months ago, to tell “our” Chez Us story.  We did not want to share with anyone until we knew our story would get picked – it got picked!  YIPPY!  Check it out HERE ….