Chicken Alfredo Soup

It's the time of year where I make soup at least 3 times a week! So if you're not a soup lover, my apologies. Check back in May. Personally there is nothing I love to eat more on a cold winter night then a hot bowl of soup. And some bread. Can't forget the carbs. People (usually of the male species) often complain that soup is not filling enough for them. I like this recipe because it is very hearty with tons of vegetables and chicken... one bowl always leaves me full! Best of all it is super easy to throw together, which has led to its weekly appearance in this house.

I love the Pampered Chef Recipes. They are all quick, easy, and multi-palate friendly. I gave this one a bit of a makeover, because there's just something about pouring an entire jar of alfredo into dinner that makes me feel like my pants size just went up one. So I changed it up a bit by bulking up the veggies, increasing the broth to alfredo ratio, and swapping out Classic Alfredo with Light Alfredo.

This recipe was actually made entirely for the Deep Covered Baker in the microwave, but this time I did it in a soup pot. If you have a Baker, check the bottom of this post for the microwave adaptations.

Chicken Alfredo Soup

1-2 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
1 cup of chopped broccoli
1 cup of chopped carrots
1 red pepper
2 handfuls of spinach
Couple cloves garlic
32 oz Chicken Broth (1 box)
1 Jar of Light Alfredo
Salt and Pep
Fresh basil and freshly grated parm for a topper





Superman's face when he asked what was for dinner and I showed him all the veggies on the counter

Heat a bit of olive oil in a soup pan and add some garlic

Oops burned the garlic.

I blame these three.

Got some broccoli florets and some really pitiful looking carrots

Chopped them to smithereens

Add to soup pan

Add in the chopped red pepper, but take off the sticker first :)

Add the whole box of chicken broth (less if you want this to be more creamy. I wanted to stretch the calories so I was ok with a thinner, alfredo flavor)

Add the jar of light alfredo.

Stir it up

Add the handfuls of spinach

Add your chicken - I did mine in the baker, chopped it, and threw it in. You can saute chicken in the pan before adding the veggies, or prebake it, or poach and shred it, or grab a rotisserie chicken from the store, whatever works for you!

Top with some S and P to taste, then bring to a slow boil, reduce heat to low, partially cover and let simmer until ready to serve.

I didn't have any basil to top with, but wouldnt it have been pretty??

For the baker: First microwave the 2 chicken breasts for 6-10 minutes per pound. Chop and remove. Throw the chopped broccoli, carrots, onion, bell pepper, pressed garlic, broth and alfredo sauce all in the baker. Cover and microwave for 15 minutes. Add the chicken back in, stir, and top with basil and shredded parm.

Game Day Yummies

I love everything about football season but football. I love dressing the kids up in Redskins gear. I love the crisp smell of the fall air when I head out for runs. I love hearing whistles and commentaries coming from the TV on Sundays (perfect for naps if you ask me). And most of all I love game day food. As for actual football? I might care more about that as the boys grow older and adorn some pads of their own. But for now, I really don't care or even know what I'm watching. I'm just happy there's food involved.

These little sliders are EASY as can be and quite tasty. Kudos to Elina on teaching me about the magic of Red Hot (a fat free, butterless hot sauce, to which I promptly added butter) and for enlightening me about the wonders of substituting Greek Yogurt for Sour Cream in almost every recipe. Cuts WAY down on the fat and you can't taste the difference.


Buffalo Sliders with Blue Cheese Spread

2 to 3 chicken breasts, shredded (I did mine in the Deep Covered Baker in the microwave which attributed to this recipe being easy as can be)
1/2 cups Red Hot
4 tablespoons honey
1 tbl butter
1 tbl vinegar
slider buns

Spread:
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
bout 2 green onions chopped
1 tbl vinegar
salt and pep




So first get your chicken ready. Whisk hot sauce, butter, vinegar and honey (if you don't add honey, the sauce will just be HOT with no flavor. This will balance it out). Pour directly over the chicken (if raw). Bake or microwave in DCB until chicken is cooked through. Mine took 8 minutes in the microwave in the Deep Covered Baker. If you add the sauce to a rotisserie chicken, just make sure to heat the sauce on the stove first to meld flavors!


Meanwhile mix greek yogurt, blue cheese, finely chopped celery, green onion, vinegar, salt and pep in a bowl.


Fridge it til ready.


Shred your chicken and put on a slider roll with Blue Cheese Spread. All I had on hand was dinner rolls so I went with it. This is a bite size morsel of heaven!

P.S. Reader Question: Can these be done in the crock pot?

I can't see why not but I'm no crock pot pro. My only insight would be to use chicken thighs as opposed to breasts because they have more fat and therefore won't dry up in the crock pot.

A Recipe On the Run

Just a quick recipe to add to your arsenal. I made this tonight and found it to be pretty easy thanks to my new PC toys. If you're on the run to another Mexican themed get together with your friends and looking for something tasty to bring, try this Southwestern Pizza.

What I like about it is that you can make a big batch of salsa and use half for the pizza and the other half as an extra app. Now look at you, bringing TWO appetizers to the party :)

Southwestern Salsa Pizza/Classic Salsa

1 package of crescent rolls
2 pints of grape tomatoes
half a red onion
half a jalapeno
2 ears of corn (or a can of corn), blanched and kernels removed
a couple cloves of garlic
8 oz cream cheese
(Great tip from Elina, for a lower cal option, do 4 oz greek yogurt, 4 oz cream cheese!)
1 lime
1 red pepper, chopped
1 or 2 pieces of chicken, shredded





I got to use the Deep Covered Baker for this recipe. Its amazing. I put this frozen piece of chicken in here, added some mexican seasonings, and then stuck it in the microwave for 5 minutes. It comes out perfect in this thing. In she goes...

Bake the crescent rolls laid out flat according to package direction.

While the chicken was in the microwave and the crescent rolls in the oven, I got started on the salsa. Again I had a new toy to play with!! Salad Choppers. Just throw the onion, jalapeno, cilantro in whole and chop chop with the salad choppers.

Like so!

Added in the cherry tomatoes, lime juice, crushed garlic, and salt and chop chop some more with the wonder scissors that are quickly replacing my knife.

Chicken is done! See... its perfect.

Chop chop it up!

Remove the kernels from the corn

Throw in your salsa!

In a separate bowl mix cream cheese, some cilantro and some pressed garlic in a bowl

Stir it up!

Once your crust cools, top with cream cheese mixture, some dollops of salsa,

Some chopped red or green pepper

And finally the chicken! Then dig in...