Cooking tips from Martha and Maxine

Sometimes Martha is a little too intense for me while Maxine is just a tad too relaxed. Sometimes.

	To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.
	Buy Hungry Jack mashed potato mix. Keeps in the pantry for up to a year.
	When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.
	Go to the bakery! Hell, they'll even decorate it for you!
	Cure for headaches: take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.
	Take a lime, mix it with tequila, chill and drink! All your pains go away!
	Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.
	Celery? Never heard of it!
	Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.
	Leftover wine???????HELLO!!!!!!

Now for a serious cooking tip.... If you ever had the Chicken Tortilla Soup at Max and Erma's restaurant and enjoyed it, here is a great knock off recipe from Robbie's Recipes. I had tried two versions from other sources before this, both relying on canned soup combinations as the basis for their recipes. We did not enjoy them at all. Not even a little bit. Don't let the Velveeta in this throw you if you aren't a processed cheese type of cook. There are only three things I can think of that I make with Velveeta, and two of them are soups.

We like this as a main dish with a salad or half of a simple sandwich if we're really hungry. We don't get 8 servings out of it this way.

Chicken Tortilla Soup like Max and Erma’s®

Recipe Created By: Robbie
Serves: 8
Prep. Time: 0:20 or more

1/4 cup butter OR margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
8 oz. Velveeta process cheese food - cubed
10 oz. can Ro*Tel® tomatoes and chilies
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
salt and pepper – to taste
flour tortillas – as needed, about 4 - 6
shredded Colby Jack cheese OR Mexican blend cheese – as needed

-In a pot, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes.
-Slowly whisk in small amounts of chicken broth at a time, then whisk in milk.
-Reduce heat to low and stir in Velveeta cubes; stir until melted.
-Stir in Ro*Tel, chicken, and spices.
-Once soup is heated through, it is ready to serve at this point. However, if you wish to make tortilla strips, it can sit over low heat while they are made. Stir the soup occasionally.
-For tortilla strips, cut tortillas into strips and deep-fry in 350 degree vegetable or peanut oil until golden, then drain on cooling racks.
-Spoon a ladleful of soup into a bowl, add a handful of shredded cheese, then spoon another ladleful of soup over cheese. Sprinkle tortilla strips over top. Repeat for remaining servings.

Notes: If you want to save a lot of time, use crumbled tortilla chips instead of tortilla strips. As a substitute for Ro*Tel, you can use 1 1/2 cups of salsa. Spiciness can be easily adjusted by using spicy Ro*Tel or salsa and/or adding cayenne pepper to the soup.