Recipe – Page 3 – Hoots of a Night Al

Simple Chicken Tortilla Soup

September 29, 2015 4 Comments

You know those recipes that remind you of home? The ones in cookbooks full of notes, scribbles, and handwritten additions? This soup is one of those recipes for me. It was always one of my favorite things my mom made during the fall and winter when I was growing up. When I got married, she passed her recipe on to me, so I could have a piece of home whenever I wanted. It’s relatively simple and super delicious, so I wanted to share it with all of you!

The “hardest” part of this recipe is all of the chopping. Seriously, everything has to be cut, sliced, diced, minced, chopped….you get it. Once everything is properly chopped, it’s simply a matter of combining it!

The fresh produce you need to cut includes: 2 large carrots, 1 large onion, 6 ribs of celery, 1 jalapeño (seeded…be careful! Don’t get the juice anywhere near your eyes!), and 4 garlic cloves. You also need to slice one pound of chicken into bite size pieces. Any of these ingredients can be adjusted to your liking.

It’s definitely easiest to measure out all of your ingredients before you start cooking the soup because it makes the process much smoother. Plus, if everything is prepared, you can pretend you’re on a cooking show where everything is neatly laid out just waiting to be grabbed and poured in the pot. I’m sorry though, this recipe doesn’t include a pre-made batch of soup sitting just offscreen. Or a hilarious onscreen persona.

First, heat 1/4 cup of oil and 3 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat. Add your chicken and cook until it is no longer pink. Once the chicken is almost fully cooked, add your carrots, onion, celery, jalapeño, and garlic, and sauté for around 5 minutes.

It should already be smelling pretty delicious at this point, but it’s time to add in some spices to take it over the top. Pour in (from your pre-measured bowl!) 1 teaspoon of each of the following: Lemon pepper, chili powder, salt, and cumin. (If you’re still pretending you’re on a cooking show, feel free to grab the spices with your fingers and toss them into the pot with a little flourish. No pressure, though.) Add 1/2 cup of flour as well. This will help thicken up the soup a little. Give everything a good stir to make sure the spices are distributed evenly.

Finally, stir in 42 ounces of chicken broth and 1 14.5 ounce can of petite diced tomatoes. Bring everything to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 1 hour.

After that hour, the scrumptious tortilla soup scent will have filled your house. Well…it fills up our 1-bedroom apartment, but at least the areas surrounding your kitchen should smell like soup? Regardless, get your preferred toppings ready. I love lots of shredded cheese with an abundance of tortilla chips to dip in my soup. My family fills their bowl with chips and pours the soup right on top. Feel free to make it your own! Live your life, you know? This recipe makes 6 to 8 servings depending on how ~~much of a pig~~ hungry you are.

Whip up a batch next time you’re craving some delicious, simple, homemade tortilla soup, and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!

Food, Recipe

Crock-Pot BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

February 5, 2015 3 Comments

Who’s ready for a delicious, easy dinner recipe? If you’re not…um…quit reading? 🙂 I found these Crock-Pot BBQ Chicken Sandwiches months ago, and I have since made them my own with a few modifications. They have quickly become one of my go-to dinner options. Read on for the recipe!

There are only a few ingredients in this recipe: chicken breasts, garlic powder, vinegar, brown sugar, and BBQ sauce. I always use Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce because I can find it anywhere, it’s inexpensive, and most importantly, it’s DELICIOUS. They have several varieties, but the original is definitely the best.

Another “ingredient” I use is a Reynolds Slow Cooker liner. These can be found by the Ziploc bags at the grocery store, and they make cleaning up the Crock-Pot a cinch! No more scrubbing and scraping and taking up half of your dishwasher after each Crock-Pot meal! They’re awesome, and I would totally add them to your routine when using your slow cooker.

Once you’ve assembled your ingredients, toss everything but the chicken in your lined slow cooker. Mix the ingredients together well, add in your chicken breasts, and coat them with the sauce.

Cook the chicken on low for 4-6 hours until it is thoroughly cooked and can be easily shredded with a fork.

Once your chicken is shredded, you can serve it a number of different ways. My favorite is to spoon it onto some lightly toasted buns and serve it with my simple homemade baked fries.

I know this meal is a hit because Louis always asks for seconds when I make it! Three chicken breasts usually make enough meat for about six to eight sandwiches, depending on how much chicken you put on each one. It’s great because it is so easy to make, and it typically lasts us for two meals!

I hope you enjoy these sandwiches as much as we do! Feel free to pin or print the recipe below, and let me know if you give it a try!

Food, Married Life, Recipe, San Antonio, Travel

Night Al Migrations: Black’s Barbecue

September 16, 2014 3 Comments

Hi y’all! Sorry I’ve been MIA for a bit! I started a new job, so that has definitely taken away my blogging time! I’m back today to talk about a mini road trip Louis and I took last week to Black’s Barbecue in Lockhart, Texas. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, so we hopped in my Sunfire and drove up, get this, PICKLE PARKWAY. That was the name of the toll road we took! How cute is that? It has the fastest posted speed limit in the United States…85 miles per hour!

We enjoyed the quick drive and wound up in quaint, downtown Lockhart. If we ever make another trip out, I’d love to spend an entire day there. They have antique shops, gift shops, and three other popular barbecue joints. Maybe we can make it back one day to do a “barbecue crawl?” Sort of like a pub crawl, but more our style, since we don’t drink? I’ll add it to our “To Do” list. 😉

When we drove up, there was a line extending at least 20 people out the door! We were starving, but we figured the long line was a good sign. We only waited about 30 minutes, and it was SO worth it.

Once you get inside, the sides are served up cafeteria style and the meats are sliced as you request them. They had all sorts of sides including pinto beans, mac ‘n cheese, deviled eggs, and more, but I just couldn’t resist the green beans. I mean seriously, look at my plate. Our cashier looked at me like I was crazy, but they’re my fave veggie! Get off my back, man.

After waiting in line for so long, we didn’t want to miss out on trying anything, so we got a sliced turkey sandwich, an original sausage link, and a half pound of lean brisket. Oh, and a million green beans (but still not enough for me. Never enough.). The brisket was FOR SURE the best thing we tried. It was so moist and juicy that it didn’t even need barbecue sauce! I loved the sliced turkey sandwich, and (obvi) the green beans were probably my fave part of the meal. Who drives an hour for barbecue and fills up on green beans?? This girl. The sausage was just meh.

Overall, our meal was completely delicious, and we agreed it was totally worth the trip and the wait outside in the Texas heat! If you still need more proof that this is a quality establishment, check out this picture below of the owners…

They’re Aggies! No wonder the food is so delicious!! 🙂 The entire restaurant was filled with memorabilia gathered over the years including countless family memories. Black’s Barbecue is the oldest continuously family-owned barbecue joint in Texas (since 1932!), so it was great to see their family history represented throughout the establishment. It’s nothing fancy, but it serves its purpose by providing tons of checkered tablecloth covered tables for people to sit together and enjoy some delicious Texas barbecue (and green beans, of course).

We loved our mini trip our to Lockhart, and we can’t wait for our next trip out to Black’s Barbecue! Let me know if you’ve ever tried it, or if you know of any other Texas barbecue spots we need to try!

Food, Recipe

Homemade Pizza in Less Than 1 Hour!

July 15, 2014 7 Comments

Hey y’all! This easy homemade pizza has quickly become a favorite in our home. A few weeks ago, Louis and I got ingredients to make a pizza together, and it turned out so tasty we’ve made one once a week since then!

Here are the ingredients we use:

1 pack Weisenberger Pizza Crust Mix

1 jar Mezzetta Authentic Pizza Sauce

HEB Cheese – Pizza Blend

Hormel Original Uncured Pepperonis

Feel free to add any other toppings you enjoy on your pizza! Duh. The Weisenberger Pizza Crust Mix is awesome because it gives you a homemade pizza taste without having to make it totally from scratch and wait around all day for the dough to rise. You simply add hot water and let it rise for at least five minutes (we usually give it around 30 minutes). The Mezzetta pizza sauce was recommended by my parents, and it is YUM-O. One jar lasts for about three pizzas, and I even dip my pizza in it because I love the taste so much! I think these two ingredients are really what make this pizza so delicious. Feel free to branch out on the cheese and toppings as your little heart desires, but don’t say I didn’t warn you if you stray from Weisenberger and Mezzetta and your pizza tastes like Italian turds.

Another optional ingredient is a handsome sous chef. (To help in the kitchen obvi…not to chop up for your ‘za.)

Follow the ingredients on the Weisenberger pizza crust mix by adding 1/2 cup of hot water to your mix and stirring it up. Then, cover it in a little oil and form it into a ball. I cover my mixing bowl with a kitchen towel and set it outside to let it rise in the miserable Texas heat.

Once your dough has risen, spread it out into a circle (or a different shape if you’re feeling jazzy) on your greased pizza pan and add your selected ingredients. I also usually add some melted butter and garlic powder to the crust because we are oh-so fancy. Set your oven to 500 degrees, and bake your pizza for 10 minutes.

Just like that you’ve got a fresh, yummy homemade pizza! This pizza is the perfect size for Louis and I to split. If you’re cooking for more than two, then um…buy more ingredients, obviously.

From prep to plate this pizza takes less than an hour to make, so it’s perfect when you’re craving homemade pizza but don’t have all day to wait for the dough to rise! Hope you enjoy this simple, homemade pizza soon!

Food, Recipe, San Antonio, Travel

Night Al Migrations: Texas Pride BBQ

July 7, 2014 8 Comments

Summer in Texas means BBQ! Scratch that…Texas means BBQ. In our new quest to explore more, Louis and I remembered hearing about Texas Pride BBQ awhile ago. One morning, we woke up craving BBQ (like every other day), so we made the 40-minute drive from West San Antonio out to Texas Pride BBQ on a beautiful, sunny Saturday.

As soon as we pulled up, I knew I was going to love this place. The entrance is covered with amazing antiques (I almost typed “old antiques”…redundant much? Hah.) mostly centering around a Texan gas station theme (MUCH cooler than it sounds). We strolled past the rusty gas pumps and vintage Coca Cola bottles, through the screen door, and up the wooden ramp.

At the end of the ramp is a signed photo of Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. His show is actually how we first heard about Texas Pride BBQ, so shout out to you for that one, Guy. The rustic, vintage decor continued inside with all sorts of Texas artifacts but more exciting at that point was the smell of delicious BBQ.

We were greeted by a friendly worker who walked us through the menu and gave us his recommendations. We decided on sliced brisket and ribs for our meats, but they also have sausage (so dumb that we didn’t try this!), chopped brisket, pork tenderloin, and turkey. Everything looked and smelled amazing!

Louis ordered fresh cut fries for his side, and they don’t fry them until you order them, so they were fresh and delicious when they came out! I went with mac n’ cheese and green beans, which were both super yummy. We carried our tray of food to the indoor seating area, where they have tons of delicious BBQ sauce (original or spicy), pickles, onions, and all the fixin’s for a delicious meal. Below is a little snapshot of what we enjoyed.

If you’re not stuffed after your meal, they also have hand-scooped Bluebell, Pecan Cobbler, and a delicious looking Peach Cobbler I was begging my stomach to find room for somewhere…next time for sure. After we enjoyed our DELICIOUS BBQ, we strolled out the back of the restaurant to the amazing outdoor area.

We climbed up to the huge rooftop deck that would be so perfect to sit on during a crisp October night enjoying some BBQ and live music. That’s definitely on my To Do List! I bet it is so fun at night with all of the colored lights lit. From the upstairs patio there is a great view of the seating, game room, and stage below.

Texas Pride BBQ is really the gift that keeps on giving. Outside they have a stage where they have live concerts, a precious antique store, a game room full of arcade games, a playground for the kids, tons of unique photo ops, and plenty of seating for your entire group.

We loved wandering around in the antique store. We spent a long time talking with the owner, who told us about several of the pieces she acquired, and her love for seeking out Texas specific antiques. She was so kind, and we had a blast exploring all of the neat stuff she had for sale!

One funny find was a Texas vs. Rice football program from October 1948 with an ad for Camel Cigarettes on the back! Can you imagine seeing a cigarette ad in a college football program today?? I guess a lot’s changed in 65 years.

My personal favorite find was this cute Dr. Pepper wood crate. If I thought we had a spot for it in our apartment, it definitely would have come home with us. Dr. Pepper is my fave! Can’t you picture it full of some bud vases and baby’s-breath?? Love. Also, baby’s-breath…what a creepy name.

We went on Saturday afternoon, but it would be fun to plan a trip out to Texas Pride when they’re having one of their weekly events going on. Thursday is Bike Night, and apparently tons of motorcyclists come and park their bikes under the awning to enjoy BBQ. On Friday, they have a big Fish Fry at their back bar and live music on stage. Saturday evenings also have live music, and on Sundays, they have Classic Car Night. Apparently several of the car owners come dressed to match the decades of their cars…so fun! I’d love to go back one Sunday and see that!

Texas Pride BBQ totally has something for everyone! ….Except for vegetarians maybe? Sorry, y’all. We spent a couple of hours just enjoying the atmosphere and admiring all of the neat items they’ve gathered. It is a really unique place, and it reminded me how much I love Texas. 🙂 If you’re heading to San Antonio anytime soon or you live close by, I’d definitely recommend a trip to Texas Pride! It’s going to be our new spot to take visitors!

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