recipes for happiness: Mexico Soup

Today my beloved friends, I am going to share with you the recipe for my Mexican Soup, also known as the Soup that Keeps On Giving, but only if you get crazy with the rice. I am definitely not an authority on how things should be cooked, in fact I think Martha Stuart would cry if she saw me in the kitchen, but you know, we are all climbing different ladders. My Grandma got me a wall hanging for my cottage that says, "I kiss better than I cook." Amen.

I walked to Mega Mart this morning and got all of the ingredients.

Ok so you need:

2 chicken breasts. Today was the first time I have bought any kind of meat in Ukraine. If you lived here you would know why.
1 can of corn
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of black beans
1 can of tomatoes
1 cup of brown rice
cilantro
chives
lime
a red hot chili pepper, some chili powder, or a packet that is red and has a pepper on it with some Cyrillic gibberish,
some garlic, and some salt
sour cream
a diet coke

Now stuff all this in your backpack and walk home in the freezing cold. Yeah. That is how we do here.

How you do it:
Cook the chicken. Boil it, cook it in a pan, I dont care, but don't give anyone you love salmonella. Then put in in a bowl and pull it apart with forks. And then dump the beans and the corn into the pot, don't drain the juices. Add 4 or 5 cups of water. Turn the oven on and warm it up, and then put your beautifully torn chicken in there too. Start adding all of your seasonings, and then bring it to a boil. Dump in rice . Let it boil for about 3 min and then put it on low so that the rice will cook. You should probably taste it and make sure it is spicy enough. Get crazy with your chili powder. But not the rice. It will take over your soup. Let it sit on low for about 1o min.

And now the fun part. Put some in a bowl, sprinkle some cilantro and fresh green onion on top, and then a dollop of sour cream. And then slice open a juicy lime and squeeze it all over your soup masterpiece. Open your icy cold diet coke and enjoy your life. And don't blame me if it doesn't turn out delicious like mine does, I tried.