Chicken Tortilla Soup (Found online by Tiffany Stringham)

I found this recipe online, and it's wonderful. I was having the hardest time finding something that sounded good for dinner and this is what I found. Don't remember where I found it, but my family really enjoyed it, and as I wrote down the recipe, I found the nutrition info as well and thought hey if this is good, we can put it on the blog. One thing that I have to admit that I love love love about this recipe is that you can make it ahead of time and put it in the fridge for up to 2 days! How exciting! I think that is awesome! Just make it as instructed below, only leave out the tortilla crisps until ready to serve! Tada! You gotta like that! So, if you know you are going to have a busy day, plan ahead and on your less busy day prepare this meal and grab it out of the fridge heat and in about 10 min. flat you have a tasty meal! Hope you enjoy it. Quick and yummy! Let me know if you try it what you think.

Makes 4 servings, about 1 1/3 cups each
-4 soft corn tortillas cut in 1-2 inch strips
-1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
-1 pound chicken breast diced
-3 cups bell pepper. (the recipe calls for frozen, I prefer fresh)
-1 pkg onion soup mix
-1TBSP ground cumin
- 2 -14 ounce cans chicken broth. (I use chicken bouillon cubes)
-1 -15 ounce can diced tomatoes
-1/4 tsp ground pepper
-2 TBSP lime juice
-1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I don't use this because I don't like cilantro)
-3/4 cup reduced fat Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese-shredded (I used Cheddar)

Spread tortillas in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 until lightly browned about 10-12 minutes. Heat oil over medium high heat add chicken and cook until starting to brown 3-4 minutes. Take out chicken with slotted spoon to help drain oil. Add peppers, onion mix, and cumin to your oil and cook until pepper are starting to brown about 4 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes, pepper and lime juice, bring to a simmer and cook stirring frequently until veggies are tender about 3 minutes. Add the chicken back in and stir until heated through. Remove from the heat and if desired stir in cilantro. Serve topped with toasted tortilla strips and cheese. Yum!

Here is the part that is exciting to me. I know how much I am consuming with this meal, so I can be sure that I am eating healthy!

Nutrition Info!
-357 Calories/sering
-12 g. fat
-5 g. saturated fat
-4 g. monounsaturated fat
-87 mg cholesterol
-24 g carbohydrate
-37 g protein
-4 g fiber
-603 mg sodium

A little side note, I will try to remember where I got it from next time, so that I can give credit where credit is due. Also, please remember that if you leave out an item or change an item, for example I use bouillon cubes instead of canned chicken broth, it will change the nutrition info just a bit, so take that into account. Also, remember that a serving size is about 1 1/3 cups. So pay attention to how much you eat because that will also change the nutrition info if you eat more or less. We had a fresh spinach salad with carrots and cucumbers as a side and had applesauce as a desert! It really was good!

Food Storage-Thoughts by Julie Hymas (Jesse's Grandma)

I got an email from Jesse's Grandma the other day and it talked about food storage. Something that some of us may be working on, and some of us may not. It had some great thoughts that I wanted to share, and then some that I wanted to add.

She talked about making sure that you could survive if there was a local disaster and you couldn't go outside for 30 days. She talked about having reading material, candles, lanterns, matches, etc to light your way. She also talked about reading materials and making sure that you have activities and such for you and your family to read and do while you are stuck inside. Another thing that she suggested which is something that Jesse and I do, is putting water in your empty juice bottles to keep in your food storage. She had so many wonderful tips and thoughts on how to better prepare yourself and your family. If you are interested in reading the email, please let me know and I will forward it to you. I am grateful to have family that worry about us and want to be sure that we are prepared just in case we ever need it.

My additional thoughts on this subject are that you need to be sure that you have healthy things in your food storage as well. Things such as beans, they are good for protein, powder milk, dried fruit, if possible dried veggies. Try to put things in your food storage that you and your family already enjoy and like to eat so that you have things you are already used. Just be sure that they are able to be stored for a long period of time. Also, on occasion, try to cook with the items from your food storage so that you and your family are used to the things you have and so that your food storage items don't go bad. Do research to make sure you know the shelf life of the items you are putting in food storage, and label the date that you put it in storage and the date that it needs to be out of storage so that it won't go bad and waste your money. There are so many wonderful tips on food storage, I just think it's important to be sure that you can get the most healthy food possible in your food storage and to be sure that you know how to use it when the time comes for you to use it.

Thanks for all the tips from Jesse's Grandma, we are so grateful to her and her constant love and concern. She is a wonderful woman and we don't get to see her and his Grandpa very often, so we miss them a lot!

Guilt Free Milkshake By:Malinda Watts

This is a quick easy treat for your sweet tooth. It has helped me this week, and I am loving having milkshakes a few times a week! Just be careful that you remember that fruit has natural sugars in them and that you need to use fat free milk if possible! This will help cut down on the calories! Enjoy!


Peel and chunk a bananna or other fuit and freeze for 1-2 hours. Put in blender with skim milk or yogurt. Makes a great milkshake without the guilt!

Just a little side note, I put yogurt in a baggie and froze it and then added milk and that was pretty yummy as well! Thanks to Malinda for this yummy treat! Email me with your ideas for some healthy snacks, or meals! Can't wait to hear from you! It may take a while to really get this blog up and running, but with your help we can get it going!

Let's See How This Goes!

All right! Lets kick this blog off right! I am really trying hard to get healthy! I know that I need to lose weight, but my main goal is to get healthy! I want to be able to run and play with my daughter and husband with out them leaving me behind because I am out of breath and tired! I want any input and help with this website that you are willing to give! I am not a health guru, so any ideas, receipies, thoughts, any thing that you have, please feel free to let me know! I will give you full credit for your ideas! My email address for this particular blog is tiffanystringham@yahoo.com. If you have my other email address that is fine as well! I look forward to hearing your ideas and having everyone I know get involved in this! Together we will get healthy!