Chocolate Mint Marvels

My friend Becca posted this recipe a couple years ago and it quickly became one of our favorite cookie recipes.  I keep going back to her blog to get it so I decided to finally post it here.  I haven't made them in a long time but decided to make them today for a "goodbye to chocolate" party for myself.  My nursing babies don't like it when I eat chocolate and it's the one time I have a good excuse not to eat it.  So here I go.  But YOU don't have to miss out on the yumminess!  I just made half the recipe today and it made 24 very good sized cookies.  It probably would have made more but there was some snitching going on in the kitchen with my two little helpers.  This is the regular recipe amounts (not halved.)

Chocolate Mint Marvels

¾ cup butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar
2 cups chocolate chips
2 ½ cups flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
3 or 4 packages of Andes mints

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt butter and brown sugar in saucepan over low heat.  Add chocolate chips and stir to melt; put mixture into a bowl and let cool.  Add eggs, and then mix in flour and baking soda.  Chill dough for 1 hour.  Roll into balls and place on baking sheet.  Bake for 9 minutes.  Remove cookies from oven and place an Andes mint on each one.  As the candy melts, spread it across the top of the cookie with a butter knife.  Makes 3 dozen.

The chocolate on top does set up nice and hard if you leave them long enough! :)

Enchilada Soup

OK.  I finally have another soup recipe.  You know we love soup around here.  This one tastes a lot like enchiladas and has some good vegetables in there as well.  Serve with a nice green salad and you're set!  You can add chicken if you want, too.  This soup comes together very fast!

Enchilada Soup

1 (10 oz.) can enchilada sauce + 1 can milk (more if desired), I used almond milk
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5 oz.) can tomatoes, I used roasted garlic and onion flavored
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 red (or green) pepper, diced
1 yellow squash, diced
1 cup frozen corn
Canned or shredded chicken, if desired
Sour cream, shredded cheese, chopped black olives, crushed tortilla chips, optional

In a large pot saute onion, pepper, and squash until soft.  Add enchilada sauce, milk, black beans, tomatoes, soup, and chicken, if desired.  Heat until warm and bubbly.  Serve with your choice of toppings.