I love quick and easy recipes that are tasty and relatively nutritious. This is one of those recipes and is great for school nights and a good way to use up leftover chicken. The recipe comes from the Super Quick Tortilla Soup recipe that appeared in a Trader Joe’s flyer several months ago. Here I give measurements and further ideas.

4 cups low sodium chicken broth (1 aseptic container)
2 cups or 1 can diced tomato
2 cups or 1 can corn
2 cups or 1 can black beans
1-2 cups chopped cooked chicken (or 1 can of chicken)
12 oz jar salsa
Tortilla chips

Bring broth to a boil. Add in next 5 ingredients (tomato through salsa). Reduce heat to medium and cook until heated through. Serve hot topped with tortilla chips.

You could also add a bit of rice or cilantro for additional flavor and perhaps serve with a dollop of sour cream.

I remember going to grandma G’s house and she would always have boiled cookies in the cookie jar and we kids would gobble them up in short order. The next day, we’d help grandma make another batch. I’ve since discovered that most people call these Preacher Cookies. Apparently they were given that name because they could be made and ready in short order if the preacher came callin’ to your house. Whatever you call them, they are delicious.

Boiled Cookies

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1-4 Tbsp. cocoa powder
2-1/2 to 3-1/2 cups uncooked oats
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter

Measure all ingredients first, as this recipe moves quickly.

Cook sugar, milk, butter and cocoa powder in a large saucepan over moderate heat. Bring to a full boil for 1-2 minutes.

Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Stir until well blended.

Drop by teaspoonfuls on wax paper or aluminum foil and allow to cool.

*Note: For ranges of ingredients/times above, grandma used the lower numbers, but I prefer more oats and cocoa and I get better results by letting the cocoa mixture boil for 2 minutes.

*Note: If the cookies do not harden, it may be too humid. Your options at that point are to freeze the cookies on a tray (and then store them in a bag in the freezer). They won’t be too hard to bite. The other option is you’ll have to curl up on the couch with the pot and eat it all with a spoon.