Tried and Tested - Pinterest Recipe Successes: A 3 Part Series. Part 1.

Most of you know that I'm not much of a cook.... Sam would argue that I can physically cook...I just don't enjoy it and pass it off as not being good at it. But in the past two weeks I've been scouring Pinterest, because of course, and I have a few tried and tested, successes that I think are worth sharing. If I can do it, you can do it too. Promise.

The first and most recent is taken from HERE. But here is my rendition of it.

Photo taken from Tastefoodblog.com

The original recipe calls for leftover roasted chicken...and the homemade chicken stock that came from that...but in real life, I've never cooked a whole chicken, therefore no homemade chicken stock was used in this recipe.

You will need:

A splash of olive oil.

1 yellow onion – diced.

1 pepper – I used half a jalapeño – seeded and diced finely.

1 bell pepper – I used yellow, green or red would be good too – diced.

2 cloves of garlic – pressed

1 zucchini – diced

4 cups of chicken stock – I used reduced sodium

1 can of diced fire roasted tomatoes

¼ cup tomato paste – I used tomato sauce cause I forgot to buy paste, turned out fine.  

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander – I used dill (coriander is too expensive)

¼ tsp cloves

¾ lb shredded chicken

1 cup frozen corn (didn’t have this and turned out fine)

1 cup cooked and drained black beans – I used canned reduced sodium and used a little more than ½ the can, probably could use the whole thing though.

Salt/Pepper to taste

¼ cup cilantro

Tortilla chips.

If you're a busy working person like me, I would start your chicken in the crock pot before work. When you come home, shred it up and set it aside. (Until just a few months ago, I didn't even know this was a possibility...I guess I thought shredded meat came from a restaurant. For real.)

Then, in a soup pot, add your olive oil, onions, and bell pepper – sauté 2 min. Add your jalapeño, zucchini, and garlic – sauté another 2 min. Add your chicken stock, fire roasted tomatoes, tomato paste, cumin, coriander, and cloves. Bring to boil, then simmer for 15 min. Add corn, chicken, beans, and ½ of the cilantro – simmer until all is hot. Serve with some shredded cheese, cilantro as garnish, and tortilla chips.