Books & Soups.

Right now, I'm celebrating that special time of day

 where I can sneak dipping 

Nutter Butter's into my coffee and 

not be caught by Brady. 

Both babies are sound asleep. The days where time works in my favor and I find them both fussy at the same time of afternoon, I know on the horizon, time for myself is waiting...

where I can finally relax. 

By the way, I have no idea how Nutter Butter's are in our pantry,

 I've never bought the things. 

Must have been my husband. Yesterday was one of those days, actually the second day in a row that I had not left my house. Those are the best kind of days. 

If I'm going to call myself a stay-at-home mom,

 I'm going to live up to it.

It hit me yesterday that between two bible studies, a book club, a new devotional, and a wonderful new book from a friend, what the heck am I doing while I should be reading?

So, that's my plan for the week to come. Reading, and lots of it.

I gathered up a bunch of ingredients that (thank the Lord) I had on hand to make dinner. Otherwise it would've been another breakfast-for-dinner meal. This soup was goooood. Perfect for yesterday because, now the norm, our temperature really can't make up it's mind. Since yesterday was pretty cool and fall is finally here, my favorite way to celebrate is to eat. So we did. 

Here's the recipe if you'd like...it's pretty easy and just real good.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

-ingredients-

4 cups chicken stock 

juice of 1 lime (1 1/2 to 2 tbsp)

1 can (14.5 oz diced tomatoes with juice

1/2 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped. (optional, but not really. Yum.)

1 can mild green chiles, undrained (4 oz)

2 tbsp chopped cilantro leaves

2 green onions, chopped (I used about 5)

I also added a little chopped red onion

3/4 cup corn, frozen, fresh or canned (drained)

1 cup cooked chicken (I let mine cook all day on low in the crockpot with chicken stock)

Shredded Monterey Jack or Mexican blend cheese to top off soup

Oh, and a little sour cream on top... We were out, and this soup would've loved that.

You can be real fancy and fry or bake your own tortilla strips. I'll be honest, I used left over tortilla chips we had from a cookout. Still good.

Simmer chicken stock with tomatoes, lime juice, jalapeño, green chiles, cilantro, green onion, and corn for one hour. The recipe I went by said to add chicken 5 minutes before done, but I let it simmer with the chicken for another 30 minutes at least. It'll be fantastic either way.

Don't forget to add a ton of cheese, a little sour cream, and tortilla chips on top!!

(and if you're like me, another couple green onions...)

So there ya have it. ENJOY! 

Maybe build a fire, throw on a comfy sweater and be thankful because this is the best time of year.