The theme for December was small, flat and light: we requested that all gifts from family members fit those three characteristics.

The theme for January has to do with meal preparation: fast, family-pleasing and nutritious. (Don’t tell anyone, but I might let the last one slide.)

Last Tuesday, I packed half the day and accomplished quite a bit:

• eliminated summer clothing that won’t fit, is no longer suitable or wouldn’t pass down because it’s just too worn
• cleared a staging area for our bins (we use light plastic bins because they’re lighter and easier to pack than actual suitcases)
• sorted through homeschool books to decide what we’d actually use in the next one or two years and what should be filed away for the next cycle through the trivium
• removed CDs and DVDs from their cases and stored them in a media folder and organized the DVDs we’ll want for homeschool (like Math-U-See) into a separate, smaller media case

I also made several important phone calls and sent a number of emails to follow up on items that need to be accomplished before we leave.

At the end of all that, I looked up and realized I hadn’t done anything about the dinner I’d planned. Oh dear.

Enter the internet. I found this great, very quick recipe for Tortilla Soup that used just the amount of leftover chicken I had in the fridge. It was a total hit! (I made some adjustments, as always.)

2 T. Vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 c. shredded leftover chicken
1.25 oz. package taco seasoning mix (preferably chipotle)
4 15oz cans chicken broth
1 can tomatoes (When not pressed for time, I used fresh tomatoes. Canned are awful in comparison.)
Toppings:  Shredded Monterey Jack cheese, chopped cilantro leaves, tortilla chips, lime wedges.

Saute onion in oil until soft. Add remaining ingredients. Stir well and simmer for at least 10 minutes. Garnish and serve.

Note: I had no chipotle-flavored taco seasoning mix, so I used the seasoning mix plus a small piece of chipotle in adobo, Delicious!

Bon appetit!