Corn & Salmon Chowder

This recipe is from Williams-Sonoma Cooking for Baby. I googled salmon chowder and this recipe honestly looked to be the best recipe that I found so I decided to give it a try. I slightly changed the amounts of some of the ingredients so I made those notes. It was really delicious soup! Even tho it's from a baby cook book. :-)

Corn & Salmon Chowder
1/2 lb red potatoes (I used 3)
1/4 cup diced onion
1 celery rib (I used 4)
1 medium carrot, peeled (I used half of a small bag of baby carrots)
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 bay leaf (omitted)
1 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (I used 1 can and a carton of V8 Southwestern Corn liquid soup mix)
3/4 lb skinless salmon fillet
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen (I used canned corn - only one can since I added the V8 liquid)
salt and pepper
Peel and dice potatoes and set aside. Dice onion, celery, and carrot. Mince garlic.
In a soup pot over medium heat, heat oil. Add onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and bay leaf and saute until vegetables turn golden, 5-7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add broth and potatoes, increase heat to high, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 12 minutes.
Cut salmon into 1-inch pieces.
Puree milk and 1 cup corn in a blender. Add corn puree, 1/2 cup corn kernels, and salmon pieces to pot. Return to medium heat and simmer, uncovered, until salmon is cooked through and soup is hot, 5-7 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Note: If you are making this for baby, the recipe says that if the soup is too chunky to use a food mill or food processor for baby's portion.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This was very yummy! It reminds me of a Mexican Chili but with chicken and more flavors infused. Next time I may substitute ground turkey and see how that tastes. Friends ate almost all of it. It was a hit!

Chicken Tortilla Soup
From Good Thymes and Good Food

INGREDIENTS
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tsp. cumin
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed chicken broth
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup whole corn kernels, cooked
1 cup white hominy (I don't like hominy so I used chickpeas)
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (omitted as I did not want to purchase a huge package of it)
2 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces (I roasted them at 425 for about 22 minutes.)
crushed tortilla chips
sliced avocado
shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I had cheddar/jack and just used that.)c
hopped green onions
chopped red onion
lime juice
sour cream

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 425.
Drizzle chicken with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and a little chili powder.
2. Roast chicken for 22-25 minutes. When cooked, shred with two forks.
3. In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat.
4. Saute onion, carrot and celery in oil until soft.
5. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.
6. Stir in chili powder, oregano and cumin. Coat vegetables.
7. Add tomatoes, broth, and water.
8. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.
9. Stir in corn, hominy, chiles, beans, cilantro, and chicken.
10. Simmer for 10 minutes.
11. Ladle soup into individual serving bowls, and top/garnish with crushed tortilla chips, avocado slices, cheese, chopped green onion, red onion, lime juice and/or sour cream.