Recipe: Crock Pot Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup

I'm back with another recipe for you to start off your week! And, this one is SUPER easy, and tasty!

It's a recipe that I got from A Year of Slow Cooking, one of my go-to websites for crock pot recipes.

This is incredibly simple.

What You Need:

-About 1 pound chicken breasts (frozen or not)

-1 cup frozen corn

-2 cans of black beans

-16 oz jar of salsa

-8 oz package of mushrooms

-4 cups (or 32 oz) of chicken broth

-1 1/2 tsp cumin

-sour cream

-shredded cheese (I used Mexican blend)

What You Do:

1. I used a 6 qt crock pot for this recipe (I've used a 4 quart before but it gets really full). Drain and rinse the cans of beans and add them to the bottom of the crock pot. Add the chicken on top of the beans. Then add the chicken broth, salsa, corn, mushrooms and cumin.

2. Gently stir the mixture but keep the beans on the bottom of the crock pot. It will look something like this when you're done:

3. Turn the crock pot on LOW for 6-8 hours (I did 8 and it turned out great).

4. Use an immersible blender (or a fork) and to shred the chicken and make it a little bit thicker and more soup-like:

4a. Be thankful that you purchased an immersible blender from a Groupon deal.
It's SO awesome and works SO well!

***(Happened to see that this immersion blender is on sale today through Groupon for $20. It's definitely worth it! Go get you one!!)***

It should look like this when you're done blending (or shredding):

5. Spoon/ladle out the soup into bowls. Top with your desired amount of sour cream and cheese. The original website also says you can add avocado but since they're not in season I skipped that part.

As you can tell, I am a cheese fiend! :)

6. Say "MMMMM" the entire time that you eat it!

That's it! Super simple and super delicious. Start it in the morning and come home to dinner already made! This was good for about 5-6 servings (depending how many times you--or your man--go back for seconds!)

Let me know if you try it and how you like it!

Book Review: Defending Jacob

It's been a while since I've posted a book review for you all (mainly because I was reading some of the  Game of Thrones books which took me a LONG time to get through). Since I just recently finished a book that I was reading for my book club, I figured I'd give you my take on it, especially since the weekend is near, and you might need a book recommendation!

The book I read was called Defending Jacob by William Landay

If you can get the book from your library (either hard copy or e-copy for your Kindle/Nook), I'd recommend it since the book is $14 on Amazon e-books. (I'm only saying this to save you money, not as a reflection of the book itself).

The book is about the murder of a teenage boy in a smallish town. The story is told from the perspective of the area's District Attorney, who is first assigned to the case. But when his son is charged with the murder of the classmate, things get interesting. 

I found the book really engaging--seeing the different sides of a legal case, while uncovering important details, wondering whether or not the son really did commit the murder, going back and forth over your feelings about the main character's son, Jacob. It was all very gripping.

It was an easy, interesting read and had some twists and turns that I was not expecting.

If you're looking for a good book, I'd definitely recommend this one. It had me drop my jaw a few times throughout the book with the unexpected events.

Two thumbs up!

It's OK...

It's Thursday and I think I'll do an It's OK post for funzies!

It's OK that.... ....Thanksgiving is next week. How in the heck is it already that time of year??? Are we really in MID-November? I'm not sure how this is even possible. .....Channing Tatum is the "Sexiest Man Alive" for 2012....yeah, I'm TOTALLY ok with this.

Hubba hubba!

(Go ahead, take a second to wipe off the drool that is inevitably on your computer screen/keyboard now)

......Twilight is coming out this weekend (tonight, even) and I didn't realize it until yesterday. Guess it's time to find a buddy to go with!

.....I'm a teeeeensy bit nervous (mixed with excited) about the Thanksgiving plans with my parents, MG's parents and he and I. I'm sure everything will go fine, it's just a little nerve-wracking having the parents meet for the first time. Again, I say EEEEEP!

.....MG and I have 4 different kinds of coffee creamers in our fridge at the moment. We may have gone slightly overboard. 

Just slightly.

.....thanks to my friend, Trish, I'm now hooked on The Sims Free Play on my iPhone. If you play, let me know so we can be neighbors.

.....I felt like a total loser saying the last sentence above.

......I miss the 77 degree weather we had on Monday. And that it reminds me that this time last year I was in sunny San Diego for a conference, contemplating never leaving :) I like seasons, but I also like warmth and sunshine!

That's it for me today. Catch you tomorrow which is, thankfully, FRIDAY!!!! :)

WILW and Oh How Pinteresting

Happy Hump Day!
(Stay tuned at the end of the post for the fun Thanksgiving plans I hinted at last week!)

I'm linking up with Jamie and Michelle for WILW and Oh How Pinteresting:

Let's get to it, shall we?

I'm loving the book Defending Jacob that I read for my book club meeting that's coming up. I'll have a review for you soon, but it definitely got 2 thumbs up from me!

I'm loving that it got up to 77 degrees on Monday. In November. The MIDDLE of November. Not the typical weather we get in DC and I was MORE than ecstatic to rock some warm weather clothes!

I'm loving that MG and I took advantage of the nice weather this past weekend and visited a winery, and also decided to try to get into tennis together. It was a little ugly (the tennis part), but we had a good time together.

I'm loving that on MG's day off for Veteran's Day, he let me take his new car to work and got my oil changed on my car for me. I have a good one, I tell ya!

I'm loving the delish meal that I made in my crock pot last night. Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup.

More to come on that, soon, as well!

And, as always, I'm loving Pinterest!

This week I've been pinning....

Would LOVE to have this in my master bathroom!

Looks like the perfect dress to wear to Thanksgiving dinner!

Truth!

Chicken Parmesan Bake--No frying!

After a forest fire -these two (fawn and baby bobcat)
 snuggled up together in an office.
Heart. Melting.

bahahahaha

And, my fun Thanksgiving plans....

MG, his parents, myself and my parents are all going to have Thanksgiving together at MG's parents' house in PA. It's the first time that our parents will be meeting. It's also the first relationship that I've had where families spent a holiday together. It's kind of a big deal. And I'm kinda excited-nervous about it. Eeeeep!

How's that for a WILW?? :)

New Cardi

Hey hey!

I have a jam-packed, meeting-filled day today (boo!) so I'm doing a quick post today so that you don't miss me too much :)

I stopped by Target on my way home from work yesterday (side note: Can I tell you how nice it is to have that so conveniently along the way home?? LOVE!) and I forgot that everyone and their mother had the day off. Everyone except for me. Wah.

Anyway, I braved the crowds and perused for a bit, still on my mission to find a mustard colored cardigan, and I stumbled across this gem and had to purchase it:

And, based on the picture, you know what I'm wearing to work today! :)

I love the cute "ruffles" that make it feel extra girly, and the material is SO soft! (It feels like I'm wearing a super soft and cozy light blanket.) I couldn't think of anything more comfy to be wearing while I'm stuck in meetings all day!

Even better? It was only $24.99. SOLD....to me!

You can find it here online, if you want one, too. (I'm a sharer.)

And on that note, I'm headed into the dreaded day of meetings. Blah.

But at least I'm doing it cute and comfy....just the way I like it!

P.S. thank you to all of you who wrote sweet messages about my grandma yesterday. It meant a lot to me!

Heaven has another Angel

It is with a heavy heart that I'm sharing with you that my grandmother passed away yesterday.

She had had dementia (Alzheimers) for over 10 years, so this was not a surprise, but it is still sad. She was my last living grandparent.

My grandmother was the sweetest woman you would ever meet. She was an active member in her church and even played the organ during church services. She was the mother of 5, and a grandmother to 4. I remember my mom saying that when she was growing up and needed help with something, my grandmother was never afraid to say that she didn't know the answer, but would always do her best to help find what the answer was. She was a fabulous cook--I still remember picking apples in my grandparents' backyard and helping her make apple crisp (my mouth still waters thinking about that pie). She always had my room ready for when we visited, and was always willing to stop what she was doing to play with me. She was just one of those people who had that aura of "good" around her at all times. 

Even though she's gone, I take comfort in knowing that she is no longer suffering with Alzheimers, a horrible disease that steals your family member away from you, even before they are physically gone. I'm also comforted to know that my grandpa and my Aunt and Uncle are with her and were there to greet her.

Heaven definitely received another angel, a fantastically kind, warm and caring angel. 

Rest in peace, Grandma. I love you.

Friday's Letters

Man oh man, I can't believe it took Friday so long to get here! After a semi-busy week, you'd think it would have gone a bit faster but it surely did not for me!

Needless to say, I'm happy for the weekend. And I'm a little bummed that MG has off on Monday and we don't. Boo.
Time for some letters!

Dear Cough, please go away. You're really annoying, affecting my sleep, and you make people look at me like I'm gross. Go away! Dear iPhone, I love you, but I'm having a hard time figuring some things out. And I'm missing a couple of things from my Droid. Hoping it's just the transition phase! Dear MG, try not to brag too much from the warmth of the bed on Monday when I have to get up for work and you don't. I get it, it's payback for me having the summer off. (Maybe you can get my oil changed for me while you're off??? haha) Dear Thanksgiving, how the heck are you almost here already?? I hope my tentative plans end up working out (hang in there, I'll share with you guys soon!)  Dear Cooper, you need a haircut, but I love when you're a fluffy puff-ball. Decisions, decisions.... Dear Weekend, thanks for getting the temps back into the 60's for the weekend! It will make it that much better if MG and I decide to venture out to some wineries this weekend! Woohooo!

Hope you have a great, fun-filled weekend. And if you have a long-weekend.....

I'm jealous.
:)