I swear not all my leftovers recipes are soup. But after a heavy holiday meal like Thanksgiving, all I want is something light. Light, yet filling and hot because it is still cold out there!  Anytime we have chicken on the menu we plan ahead for leftovers so we can make this soup another night.

Cheryl at 5 second rule also reminded me that leftover turkey was not pre-destined to be a pot pie or a casserole. It could also be turned into a hearty soup. Duh! We make tortilla soup down here pretty often and the turkey and turkey stock I had leftover made this a great fast meal.

I wanted to try a new recipe for tortilla soup: this one posted by Krysta aka evil chef mom originally posted by Melissa of Alosha’s Kitchen. Two of my favorite bloggers: I knew they wouldn’t steer me wrong. I made a few changes of my own and I loved it! mrChaos complained that it wasn’t his mom’s recipe but decided to tell me he liked it anyway in the end.

Tortilla Soup

• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 10 oz can diced tomatoes and green peppers (Rotel)
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 1 serano pepper, minced, seeds removed
• 2 soft corn tortillas, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 4 cups chopped cooked chicken (or turkey)

1. In oil, saute onion and garlic until soft.
2. Add tomatoes, broth, and spices. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 min.
3. Add pepper, tortillas, and chicken. Continue simmering about 10 more minutes.
4. Add chopped cilantro, salt and pepper.

To serve have any of the following: shredded cheese, sour cream, sliced avocado, fresh cilantro, crushed tortilla chips or fried corn tortilla strips.

To make tortilla strips: heat about 1 inch of oil in a skillet or pot. Stack about 6 corn tortillas on the cutting board and slice them into long thin (1/2 in) strips. Cut these in half. Drop into hot oil by the handful, quickly stirring to separate. Fry for a couple of minutes or until crisp and lightly golden. Remove strip from oil and dry on a paper towel. If you want to sprinkle them with salt or spices do so while they are still shiny from the oil.

Here are some more ideas for using leftover cooked chicken.

Don’t worry, the chocolate pie is coming but first I wanted to talk about the pie that really impressed me this year.  Dare I say that it may have even been my favorite?  Considering I sat on the couch in my pajamas with the pie plate in my lap and finished it off with a fork, I’ll go ahead and say it.

The blueberry pie tradition started because the kids believed all homemade pies to be blueberry.  They don’t even like blueberries and yet the first year I spent about $30 on fresh blueberries at Thanksgiving because we must make blueberry pie, Mommy.  What about cherry pie? No Mommy, blueberry pie.  How about chocolate pie, you like chocolate.  Blue-berry! Blue-berry! Blue-berry!  So we made a blueberry pie.  Only, after all that money spent on fresh blueberries, we had what resembled blueberry soup.  Blueberry soup that no one ate. Don’t you want some blueberry soup pie? I asked No Mommy, I don’t like blueberry pie.  I think I threw the whole pie away that year.

So of course this year, again, the requests started coming in: Lemon Meringue, Apple pie, Pumpkin pie, Chocolate pie, and of course-Blueberry pie! Mommy we have to make the blueberry pie!  Fine we will make blueberry pie but I will never buy fresh blueberries in November again.  I did a quick food blog search for “blueberry pie” and singled in on the first one using frozen blueberries.

Blueberry Pie

• pie dough for two layer pie
• 2 10 oz bags frozen blueberries
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• cream
• sugar for sprinkling

1. Thaw blueberries and drain well.  I actually drained mine overnight just to get them as well drained as possible.
2. Preheat oven to 400°F.
3. In a bowl combine blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, flour and cinnamon.
4. Place pie dough in a pie plate then pour in blueberries.
5. Top with second layer of pie dough, trim edges if necessary and crimp.
6. Cut slits in the top for vents and bake for 30 minutes.
7. Remove pie and brush crust with cream all over and sprinkle with sugar, I used the big raw sugar crystals.
8. Bake pie for about 15 minutes more or until crust is golden brown.

The icing on the cake er, pie?  Of all my pie crusts (the failure of which I will discuss after I give you the recipes) this one was the tenderest.  It never got soggy and was soft and golden.  The pie filling turned out wonderfully as well.  It was sweet and perfectly thick and the crust had little sugary bites to offset any tartness.  The blueberry pie will definitely continue to be part of the tradition thanks to this recipe.  Of course the kids still didn’t eat any.  Even after they insisted I cut them each a piece with a star on it.

So, I am the luckiest girl in the world. My dear friend Kelly came over and cooked this wonderful dinner for me and mrChaos while my children terrorized her children in the background. It is such an easy quick meal that mrChaos and I were pleasantly surprised by how flavorful and delicious it turned out to be.

A lot of my Fast Food recipes are seafood, because fish and seafood take hardly any time to cook. This recipe is a perfect example, pairing quick cooking scallops with equally quick cooking fresh spinach. Add a little bacon and balsamic vinegar and you’ve got a seriously flavorful one skillet meal.

Scallops with Spinach and Bacon

• 5 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 lb scallops
• 2 tbsp flour, seasoned with salt and pepper (or 1-2 tsp seasoning blend)
• oil to make 2 tbsp
• 10 oz fresh baby spinach
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp butter, cut into small bits

1. Saute bacon in a large skillet with a lid until crispy. Remove bacon crumbles and reserve fat.
2. In a large Ziploc bag or bowl toss scallops with seasoned flour until lightly coated.
3. Add oil to bacon fat to make 2 tbsp (if necessary) and heat on high. Add scallops in a single layer.
4. Sear scallops quickly over high heat, about 6 minutes, then reserve with bacon crumbles.
5. De-glaze the pan with the balsamic vinegar, scraping up the browned bits.
6. Lower the heat to medium and add spinach to the pan. Cover to wilt spinach, about 2 min.
7. Stir in butter, scallops, and bacon and serve.

Kelly served this over corn bread and I think a corn pudding or puree would also be really nice, as would couscous or rice pilaf. You really just want something alongside to soak up the delicious sauce that forms. Both mrChaos and I embarrassed ourselves by having seconds and then finishing off the leftovers.

If this looks good you might also like:

I love making birthday cakes. I know I have quoted her before but this is singularly my favorite quote about birthday cakes:

“I think the very least someone deserves for hitting such a fine age with style is a friend, elbows-deep in flour, frosting and devotion.”

My friend Kelly loves raspberries. When her birthday rolled around and I asked her what type of cake she’d like her response: chocolate. With some chocolate and maybe a little chocolate on the side. Oh and maybe some raspberries. With that combination in mind I knew I would be making this cake and following Deb’s suggestion for a raspberry filling.

The recipe is actually for a three layer cake, but I knew that would be far too much cake for four of us so I only made two layers. It is a deliciously chocolately and delicately crumbed cake. The frosting is a simple melted dark chocolate ganache and the raspberry filling is a welcome respite from all of that chocolate. This was not the easiest cake I’ve ever made but no cake is actually hard per se. My six year old-the one who doesn’t listen-and I made it together after school so it is certainly not a difficult cake. I had trouble with the frosting because I tried to spread it while it was quite firm-tearing the cake quite a bit in the process. Microwaving it for a few seconds, however, had a profound effect on it’s spreadablity. I also forgot to buy two bags of raspberries, but there was plenty of filling from the one bag.

All in all, the cake-shared by friends after a wonderful evening-was delicious. While I don’t think I have found THE chocolate cake recipe yet, if you are looking for a huge, very chocolately cake recipe this is a good one to try.

Double Chocolate Layer Cake

• 3 oz semisweet chocolate
• 1 1/2 cup hot brewed coffee
• 3 cups of sugar
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 3/4 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Grease three cake pans and line bottoms with rounds of wax paper and then grease paper.
2. Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
3. Combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
4. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs. Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well.
5. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.
6. Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean. This only took 45 min in my oven but the recipe says 1 hour so check it frequently at about 40 minutes.
7. Cool layers completely in pans on racks.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting (For Two Layer Cake)

• 1/2 pound semisweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp light corn syrup
• 2 tbsp butter, chopped

1. Finely chop chocolate.
2. In a saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved.
3. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Add butter to frosting, whisking until smooth.
4. Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable.
5. If frosting hardens, microwave for a few seconds and stir then again if necessary until easily spreadable.

Raspberry Filling

• 1 10 oz bag frozen raspberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp corn starch

1. Thaw raspberries and puree in a blender.
2. Strain the puree through a fine screen to remove the seeds.
3. Heat puree, sugar, and cornstarch to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil until thick.
4. Cool completely before spreading over cake layer.