National Homemade Soup Day on Fox59

This week I made an appearance on Fox59 for National Homemade Soup Day! As I’ve expressed before I’m a huge soup fan. It’s all I crave during the winter.

It kills me that so many people only eat canned soup when homemade soup is actually very inexpensive to make and it’s significantly healthier for you. When you make your own soup you get to decide everything that goes into it so you can cut back on a lot of unnecessary sodium and fat.

Also, making homemade soup is soooo incredibly easy – especially when you use a slow cooker. Most of the time you can just dump all of the ingredients in your crockpot and let it slowly cook to perfection.

Last week I shared one of my favorite homemade soup recipes on this blog – Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup. I chose to make this recipe for my segment because it’s been pretty popular amongst my readers, and I’ve had quite a few people tell me they’ve already made it.

I made the soup in the mini kitchen at the Fox59 station while I was at work overnight. The whole station smelled wonderful, and I had numerous people ask me about it. When I was done with the segment, my co-workers swarmed the crockpots to get a cup of it. I had two slow cookers full of soup, and it was all gone within ten minutes! That just goes to show how much people love fresh soup!

You can find the full post and recipe for the soup here.

Surprisingly Skinny Buffalo Chicken Dip

As I'm sure you already know, the Super Bowl is this Sunday. And since the Colts aren't in it, the only thing I'm concerned about is the food. And one of my favorite party snacks is chips and dip. 

The only problem with this snack is that it's so easy to rack up hundreds and hundreds of calories. I have this problem where I always put way too many chips on my plate and not enough dip, and so then I have to get more dip to balance out the chips, and the next thing I know I've had about 50 chips and enough dip to feed a small village.

But the thing is I don't plan on changing my "chipping and dipping" habits anytime soon. So instead I decided to create a healthy dip recipe. I used reduced fat cream cheese, Greek yogurt, and reduced fat blue cheese to make this buffalo chicken dip surprisingly skinny. 1/3 cup of this dip will only cost you about 100 calories. I found a Buffalo Chicken Dip recipe on Taste of Home, and for the same serving size you'll rack up 800 calories. That's a huge difference!

Another great part about this dip is that it all comes together in a saucepan on the stove - you don't even have to bake it! And you can make the "dipping experience" even healthier by eating it with celery!

What's your favorite Super Bowl party snack?

Surprisingly Skinny Buffalo Chicken Dip

Yield: Makes about 3 1/2 cups

Calories per serving: 105 calories per 1/3 cup serving

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 ounces 1/3 Less Fat Cream Cheese
• 1 cup shredded, part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup hot sauce
• 1/4 cup reduced fat crumbled blue cheese
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken (or about 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts)

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients except chicken in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Constantly stir ingredients until cheeses are completely melted – about 15 minutes. 
2. Fold in shredded chicken.
3. Serve dip warm with celery and tortilla chips.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

I love “set it and forget it” recipes. Love them! First of all, they require the least amount of effort possible. The only tricky part is figuring out how to work the can opener, which can occasionally be a struggle (see below).

This is a real picture from college 

And secondly, I’m always amazed with the finished product. Like wow, I did nothing and this turned out amazing! It’s like magic.

This past week I had a craving for chicken tortilla soup. I’m always in the mood for soup, but this week I was in the mood for something a little bit out of the ordinary and a little bit spicy. I was so excited when I found this tortilla soup recipe!

And I was even more excited when I realized it had only 130 calories per cup. That leaves plenty of room for fun garnishes on top of the soup like homemade tortilla strips (recipe also below), sour cream and avocado!

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Yield: About 6 cups

Calories per serving: 184 calories (calculated calorie content does not include optional ingredients and tortilla strips)

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

For the soup

• 36 ounces (or 4 and 1/2 cups) low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
• 3/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (raw)
• 1 (14.5 ounces) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 and 1/2 cups corn (canned or fresh)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice

For the tortilla strips

• 10 (6-inch) corn tortillas
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Additional garnishes (optional)

• Shredded cheddar cheese, diced avocado, diced roma tomatoes, sour cream

Directions

For the soup

1. Pour these ingredients in a slow cooker: chicken broth, diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, paprika, and a little bit of salt and pepper.
2. Add chicken breasts (thawed or frozen) then cover with lid and cook on LOW heat for 6 hours, or until chicken is cooked through. Add an extra hour if the chicken is still frozen.
3. Remove chicken and shred.
4. Return to slow cooker along with black beans, corn, cilantro and lime juice, and stir. Cook until heated through.
5. Serve warm with tortilla strips and other optional ingredients.

For the homemade tortilla strips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Cut the tortillas into uniform 1/2-inch strips (I used food shears) and add to a large bowl.  Add vegetable oil and toss to coat.
3. Sprinkle with seasonings and toss again.
4. Transfer tortilla strips to baking sheet, trying not to overlap them.
5. Bake in oven for 10 minutes, toss around, and return to oven for an additional 5 minutes.
6. Add generously to soup!

Soup recipe adapted from Cooking Classy. Tortilla strips recipe adapted from Baked by Rachel.  

Cooking Brown Sugar Teriyaki Salmon and Asian Mixed Vegetables on Fox59

The very first recipe I ever posted on my blog was Brown Sugar Teriyaki Salmon. And this recipe is still one of my favorite and most popular recipes today!

First of all it requires ZERO cleanup. That's because it is cooked in an aluminum foil packet. So when the salmon is ready, you just serve it up and throw away the aluminum foil. You don't need to scrub any baking dishes or pans.

Cooking salmon this way is also great because you get very consistent results. The foil conducts heat well and traps steam for fast, even cooking. The salmon turns out perfectly every single time!

On Wednesday, I got to show off this recipe on Fox59! I also made Asian-mixed vegetables to go with the salmon. Before I put the salmon in the marinade, I reserved some of the marinade in a little bowl for the vegetables. When it was time to make the meal, I made the vegetables the exact same way that I made the salmon. I put a cup of vegetables in the center of the strip of aluminum foil, spooned some of the marinade on top, and folded it up to make an aluminum foil packet. The vegetables steamed to perfection in the foil packet, just like the salmon.

I hope you try this recipe, and thank you for your continued support of Kylee's Kitchen!

Brown Sugar Teriyaki Salmon with Asian-Mixed Vegetables
Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 (6 ounce) salmon filets​
• Vegetable medley (I used 1 large carrot, 1 head of broccoli, 1 sweet onion, and 15 ounces of sugar snap peas)

DIRECTIONS

1. Pour soy sauce, brown sugar, water, olive oil, and garlic powder in a bowl and stir to combine.
2. Pour that mixture into a gallon-size Ziploc bag, reserving one cup in a small bowl to use for your vegetables later.
3. Place the salmon in the bag, seal it, and turn it so the meaty side of the salmon is soaking in the mixture
4. Refrigerate the bag and let the salmon marinate for a minimum of 45 minutes to a maximum of about 4 hours.
5. After marinating, preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
6. Take a big sheet of aluminum foil and fold it so it forms a little packet. Make an aluminum foil packet for each individual salmon filet.
7. Spray the aluminum foil packet with cooking spray
8. Put one filet in one foil packet. Do the same for each filet.
9. Now, take a sheet of aluminum foil and put about a cup of your vegetable medley in the center. 
10. Spoon about 4 spoonfuls of the reserved marinade on top of the vegetables. Fold up the aluminum foil to make another aluminum foil packet. Do that for as many cups of vegetables as you have.
11. Put the foil packets on a baking sheet to give the foil packets a sturdier foundation
12. Bake the salmon and vegetables for about 15 minutes.
13. The salmon is done when it is pale pink and flakes easily

Kylee's Favorite Things Giveaway!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Yesterday on Fox59 I had the opportunity to talk about my favorite gifts for the cook in your life. These were the three products I talked about in the segment:

1. Silpat Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat: A Silpat baking mat is a must-have for anyone who uses their oven. I bake everything on it! Cookies bake evenly; parmesan chicken doesn’t stick, even cheese nachos slide right off. And all you have to do to clean it is wipe it with a damp cloth.
2. EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale: Ingredients are most accurately measured in weight rather than volume. So when you use a scale for baking, you’ll get more consistent results. This scale is my favorite because it has very clear readings, large numbers, and it comes in a variety of fun colors!
3. Crock-Pot® Casserole Crock Slow Cooker: First of all, if you don’t already use a slow cooker this device will change your life. There is nothing more magical than coming home from work to an already-prepared meal. Secondly, the rectangular design of this particular Crock-Pot is a great idea. Why didn’t anyone think of this soon? It is now easier than ever to prepare everyone’s favorite casserole dishes, lasagna, and desserts.

This is a very special post because I am announcing my first giveaway! That's right, you could win 1 of 3 Silpat Silicone Baking Mats so you can start the new year off right with non-stick cooking! In order to enter, all you have to do is follow the instructions below. Good luck and thanks for reading Kylee's Kitchen!

Three People Will Win

• A Silpat Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat (valued at $19.99)

How to Enter

1. Like Kylee’s Kitchen on Facebook
2. Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite recipe on Kylee’s Kitchen and why.
3. This giveaway ends on Wednesday, December 31 at 12 a.m. EST. Winners will be chosen at random using a random number generator on Random.org.
4. Winners will be notified via email and have 48 hours to respond before new winners are chosen. Winners will be listed on this post December 31st. Thank you for entering!

**This contest is now closed. Winners are entrants # (4) (7) (1). They will be notified via email. Thank you for participating in Kylee's Favorite Things Giveaway!***