Yummy Tortilla Soup Recipe

One of my New Years' Resolutions is to get more creative and courageous in the kitchen.  While this recipe isn't hard AT ALL, I am proud because I have made it twice now and I am slowly building my confidence in the kitchen.  I got it out of my Bride & Groom Cookbook from Better Homes that my Mom gave us. They have lots of great recipes! Give it a try if you want a quick, easy and very yummy tortilla soup recipe! Enjoy! Stay tuned for my next recipe...Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice Casserole...can you see a pattern? I love Mexican food!

Tex-Mex Tortilla Soup (Makes 6 main-dish servings)

1 – 1 ¼ pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs or breast halves (I use the breast halves)

3 14-ounce cans reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained

½ cup chopped onion

¼ cup chopped green sweet pepper

1 to 2 teaspoons chili powder

½ teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup frozen whole kernel corn

3 cups tortilla chips, coarsely crushed

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

1 avocado, seeded, peeled and cut into chunks (optional)

Snipped fresh cilantro and/or sliced fresh jalapeno chile pepper

Lime wedges (optional)

1. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces; set aside. In a 4-quart pot combine broth, undrained tomatoes, onion, sweet pepper, chili powder, cumin and black pepper.  Bring to boiling; add chicken.  Return to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.  Add corn. Return to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer covered for 10 minutes more.
   
2. Sprinkle each serving with tortilla chips and cheese.  If desired, serve with avocado chunks, snipped cilantro, sliced jalapenos and lime wedges.  (I usually just do the avocado and cilantro because the jalapenos are too hot for Kylie) 

A White Christmas!

Brace yourselves...this will be a long post! We had a lot of fun over the holidays! (Complete with 5 different Christmases!)  We were so surprised to see snow on Christmas Eve...and then again a few days later.  It really make it feel more like Christmas when there's snow on the ground.  We had a fun holiday this year, but it was very busy.  Unfortunately we didn't have Kylie for Christmas this year, but we used the time to surprise her with a completely new room! We moved rooms, painted, bought furniture and artwork, etc! It was great! She was totally surprised and excited. She said the room makes her feel like a big girl. (Pictures below)

Christmas # 1: We started Christmas early on the 19th celebrating with my Dad, Courtney (lovingly known to Kylie as Popo & Coco), Mikael, Nana & Papa.  We had everyone over to our house and Jeff made his famous chili.  Kylie was so excited to get her first American Girl Doll from Popo and Coco! She named her Rachel.

Kylie with Popo, Coco & Mikael                                                                      Getting her American Girl Doll!So happy!

 

They gave us a platter that says "The Johnsons". We used it several times over the holidays.

I love how Marley wanted to be included in this picture!

Christmas # 2: Next stop was Briarwood for Christmas with Mom's family.  Unfortunately the weather was bad so some of the family couldn't make it, but we had a great time anyway! We always do a gift exchange and have a full blown repeat of Thanksgiving dinner - which is awesome!  It was neat because we spent the night there and for the first time in many years we woke up on Christmas Morning with my Mom & Brother! What a treat! Here's a picture of our house as we left to head to Richardson...

So pretty! I love the way snow makes a house look so cozy and inviting! 

Here are some pictures from our fun on Christmas Eve!

Fun opening presents!

Jeff got an outdoor clock to go by the pool and then Meems gave us a hanging candle that matched perfectly! 

Meems & I sharing a hug after opening her present from us!

Even the dogs got new toys! We thought it was so funny that Mimi had gift bags for each dog (Marley, Muddy & Bailey) They actually knew which toys were theirs too!

                Marley having fun with her new toy!                                     Muddy with his squeaky Christmas light!

Christmas #3: Christmas Day we went to the annual Christmas party at Dad & Courts.  Taylor & Melissa did an awesome shrimp boil and I took the opportunity to show off my new platter with the appetizer we brought. It was great to catch up with family and friends!

Christmas #4:  Trey, Suzanne and Hayden came to Dallas to celebrate with us on the 27th of December. The adults did a gift exchange so that was fun! Hayden and Mikael had fun opening presents! We missed Kylie but she was definitely there in spirit! Here we are with our cousin Hayden who is 5. He's getting so big!

Christmas #5: Finally, the biggest Christmas of them all was our celebration with Kylie! We got her on the 28th of December so we were on day 9 of opening presents. We were so excited for her to arrive that we felt like kids on Christmas ourselves! We couldn't wait to surprise her with her new room! She had acquired quite a few presents from all the different family so she was excited to open everything.  First things first though, we had to surprise her with her new "Big Girl" room....

Giving Dad big hugs after her surprise... 

She literally had tears in her eyes because she was so happy

A room isn't complete without a new big girl dresser!

She loves her purple and pink Paradise! 

After the big room surprise, we headed downstairs to open gifts and Mimi got to come join in on the fun.  Kylie was so excited about her presents from all her family!

Our beautiful Christmas tree and mantle with stockings & presents!

Can you see the excitement in her face? She loved her Fashion Studio from Grandma & Grandpa!!

New robe from Mimi  - and she got one for her American Girl doll - so now they are twins! 

We had an amazing Christmas this year. We ate and drank like Romans (and are paying for that now! The gym is about to be our 2nd home!), enjoyed great friends and fun.  We love all of our family and friends and you are the ones who make the holidays special for us.  We all put so much time and effort into shopping, presents, events, etc. but when it all comes down to it - the most important thing is the people (and animals) we surround ourselves with.  We hope each of you had a wonderful holiday season and we wish you a bright and prosperous 2010!

One last photo to end with...this is how we felt when it was all over...Marley shows it best! ;-)

Love and hugs to all!

-The J Crew

Thanksgiving in Tucson!

Things have been a bit busy with t he holiday season just behind us so I'm finally getting around to posting about our fun trip to Tucson to visit Jeff's family for Thanksgiving.  We were there for a week and it was a great trip! Jeff's brother Tom and his fiancee Stacy joined us as well so it was great to catch up and great to let Kylie spend some good quality time with her Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle & future Aunt!

The week was filled with lots of baking and cooking, fun dinners, games, etc. We also met up with some of Jeff's friends from high school who he recently reconnected with. It was cool to meet people who have known Jeff for so long.  See below for a few pictures to recap the week!

Here Kylie and Grandma are licking the beater after making the homemade whipped cream we ate with our homemade pumpkin and apple pies!

The whole fam! Grandma, Grandpa, Tom, Stacy and the "J Crew" coming down on Mt. Lemmon

Daddy & Kylie with Emma...J was showing his U of A pride!

Kylie loves her Grandpa!

A night out with Troy & Jen Hoch - Jeff's friends from High School!

We are so thankful for our family and friends. Thanksgiving was a great time to reflect on the many blessings we have as a family! I promise to not get so behind on posting next time!

I leave you with a shot of a beautiful Tucson Sunset...

Happy Anniversary to Us! (A little late!)

10.18.08

It's hard to believe that (over) a year has gone by since our wedding day.
It really seems like just yesterday that we were getting ready to say "I Do"
and experience one of the best days of our lives.

We were so excited to see each other! The anticipation was killing us! :-)

What an amazing year it has been! I've heard people say that the first year of marriage is the hardest and others say it's the best time of your life. I'd have to agree with both points of view. It's been a great journey so far but it's come with it's fair share of bumps along the way. Our relationship is rock solid but it's the outside factors that have been tough! (Can we say economy?!?) We've made it out in one piece tough and it gives me so much hope because I feel like Jeff and I have been through so much in our four years together that we can endure anything God has in store for us!

So, now for the fun part! The Anniversary weekend! Jeff sent me an email a few days before and said to "be ready by 11am on Sunday dressed cute and casual, bring a nice outfit for dinner and pack an overnight bag." I didn't know anything else but just those few details! I was so excited. Well, to my surprise, he had booked an amazing spa treatment for the 2 of us at ZaSpa at Hotel Zaza in Downtown Dallas. We had an 80-minute hot stone couples massage followed by a relaxing and very romantic aromatherapy bath with champagne. After that we walked to get an appetizer because we hadn't eaten all day. We came back to our hotel room, took a nap and then got ready for dinner. Jeff then took me to Morton's Steakhouse where we had a yummy steak dinner followed by dessert with the top of our wedding cake. (Successfully frozen for the year thanks to Mom!) We also drank a bottle of "J" Pinot Noir that my Aunt Suz & Uncle Trey gave us last year - we had been saving it the whole year!

Dinner at Morton's one year later...I think we've held up pretty well! So happy & in love!

We woke up the next day and had a few mimosas, great breakfast & most importantly celebrated Jeff's 41st Birthday!! What a great weekend it was! Happy Birthday Honey! Thank you for an amazing weekend - and more importantly, for being such a loving, thoughtful and romantic husband! I couldn't ask for anything more!

Here's to many, many more anniversaries!

Love you!

Yay for Four!

Four has multiple meanings in this post!

First of all, Kylie's First day of FOURTH grade!

Time flies when you're having fun! It's hard to believe that the school year is already upon us. Kylie is excited to be a big fourth grader now and we are excited about the year ahead. Her teachers are wonderful (she has 2 this year) and have been very open and easy to talk to so far. We can't wait to see all the wonder and challenge that 4th grade brings!

Proud Daddy

Couldn't have a post without a recent picture of Marley!

The second "four" in our lives is Jeff and I's FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY!
Which is also a four - Friday, September 4th!
Yes, I know it's just the anniversary of when we started dating, but despite the wedding anniversary next month, this one is still so dear to my heart. It's wild to look back on the past four years at all we've been through and accomplished. I am more in love with my husband today than any day before and I feel like our relationship gets stronger and richer all the time. Ironically we're going through a series at church about marriage so it's been fun to have a little refresher course as we approach the First anniversary of our wedding. We're taking some time off this week to relax and enjoy time with each other...we are so excited!

So, thank you to all of our friends and family who have been there over the last four years! We appreciate your love and support!

Happy Labor Day everyone!!

Summer 2009

Hi all! I know it's been quite a while - hopefully the school year will be better for my blogging habits! We've had a great summer so far and can't believe the 1st day of school is just around the corner. Just to re-cap, we've been swimming a LOT, eating some great food, grilling a lot thanks to our new grill in the backyard, playing with Marley, having friends over, etc. We were so happy to have Kylie for 4th of July this year - that was very special. Last week Kylie and I had some "girl time" and went to get pedicures and new school clothes. It's amazing how fast she is growing up - we get closer every day.

Also, we've recently had fun with the Gibbons Family, below you'll find pics of the sweet kiddos - they get along so well!! We are so grateful for our wonderful friends...we are so blessed at the great friends we have who are always there for us and Kylie!!

Ava & Kylie - cute goggles Miss Ava!

Baby Joe & Sweet Neel - Joe was trying to figure out how to use Aunt Kasey's cell phone!

Kylie's going to be a great big sister one day! She loves these kids!

Well, that's it for now! Congrats to all our friends who've had babies this summer! The list is getting quite long!

Kate Elizabeth & Hailey Claire Collins - our good friends & neighbors' twin girls born May 29th

Isley Reese Batson - a friend at work had a sweet baby girl on July 8th

Jake Colton Graham - my cousin Amber had her baby on July 11th

Mayson Scott Hayward - a friend from DFF had her baby boy on July 20th

Jillian Katie Shurts - another friend at work had a sweet baby girl on July 27th

Bryce Laney Booher - my friend Laney from high school had her sweet baby girl YESTERDAY!

Whew! That's a ton of babies! Guess there's something in the water around here. More to come soon! Let the countdown to cooler weather and more importantly...FOOTBALL SEASON BEGIN! We can't wait!

Love,

Kasey (& Jeff, Kylie & Marley)

3rd Grade Field Day!

Today was Kylie's Field Day at Smith Elementary! Jeff was able to stop by and say hi and get in on the fun! He said Kylie was having a blast!

Kylie with her friend Natalie at Field Day
Balancing Act! Way to go girl!

She has a full day of fun because after school she's going to a friend's slumber party where they're going to see the Hannah Montana Movie & have fun girl time!

This weekend will be full of excitement with a wedding tomorrow night and then Sunday my Mom and I are hosting an Engagement Brunch for Ashley! (Pics to follow!) Next weekend we are headed to Austin for Taylor's graduation from UT! We are so proud of him and can't wait to celebrate with the whole family.

Well, that's it for now! Have a great weekend and hopefully we'll be better at posting more often over the summer!