Cheesy mexican chicken & zucchini soup

Last night we had homemade soup, salad, Hawaiian sweet rolls and cherry dump cake for dinner. It was yummo!! The soup was a minor tweak to a recipe on allrecipes.com (click on the link below to go to the original recipe). The only thing I added to the original recipe was 2 cans of cooked chicken (drained) and some salt. After you drain the chicken, pour it into a bowl and use a fork to break up the chunks. Last night, I forgot to add the cilantro and the soup still tasted awesome, so don't fret if you forget that step. I've made the soup before and added paprika to it and that was yummy, too. I also like to cut the stewed tomatoes into smaller pieces, just a personal preference - it makes the tomatoes go further. The Hawaiian rolls had a nice, sweet contrast to the soup, very complimentary to each other, in my humble opinion. Jakob said his favorite part of the meal was the dessert, which I have to admit, is also one of my faves. He had seconds. My family has been making dump cake for F-O-R-E-V-E-R. We used to have it every Sunday at my Grandma's house. The recipe is SO unbelievably easy, you will start using it as your emergency go-to dessert! Here's the goods on both the soup and the dump cake:

Mexican Zucchini Cheese Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
• 2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut in 1/4 inch slices
• 2 medium yellow squash, halved lengthwise and cut in 1/4 inch slices
• 1 (8.75 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 (4.5 ounce) can diced green chile peppers
• 12 ounces processed cheese food, cubed
• 2 large cans cooked chicken, drained
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1.  Heat the olive oil in a large pot, and saute the onion and garlic until tender. Season with oregano.

2.  Mix in the chicken broth and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Mix in the zucchini, yellow squash, corn, and chile peppers. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes, or until the squash is tender.

3.  Mix in the chicken and cubed processed cheese into the soup. Continue to cook and stir until cheese is melted. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in the cilantro just before serving.


Dump Cake

Ingredients

• 1 can of fruit pie filling, whatever flavor you like (cherry, apple, peach, etc and using the light or no sugar added variety doesn't change the yumminess of the dish)
• 1 small can of crushed pineapple
• 1 tablespoon of water
• 1/2 package of Pilsbury White Cake mix, dry (very important to use Pilsbury, it tastes waaaaaay better, I promise)
• 1 stick of butter

Directions
1.  Pour the fruit pie filling, crushed pineapple and water into an 8x8 baking dish and mix well.

2.  In a separate bowl, cut the butter into the cake mix with a pastry cutter until the butter is in small chunks and is well mixed with the cake.

3.  Pour the cake-butter mix over the fruit and spread it out evenly.

4.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour until bubbly and the top is golden brown.



See? Wasn't that the easiest recipe ever? And since it only calls for 1/2 a package of cake mix, you can make two of them in different flavors to please everyone in your family! :)