Another rainy, chilly day yesterday. I happened to turn on CBC to find they were showing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – the Gene Wilder version. Did you have movies as a kid that you’d watch over and over til the vhs tape broke? In my family, we watched Willy Wonka so many time that I can still recite the lyrics to the Oompa Loompa songs.

The best part is that Tyler knew the movie inside out too as a child (which is weird considering it came out 10 years before we were born), so we immediately stopped what we were doing to watch. Tyler’s favourite part is Wonka singing nicely to the kids and then yoinking a hair out of Mike Teevee’s head. Classic!! I love Gene Wilder.

I still have a cold. I HATE summer colds. At least in the winter, something’s always going around and lots of people are not feeling well, and it’s cold out and staying at home in bed isn’t so bad. But in the summer!? When it’s actually sunny and warm outside? It sucks! Anyways, so for an easy dinner last night I took out some soup that’s been in the freezer for awhile – Salsa Chicken Soup that I found on the Crockpot Lady’s site. It’s really, really good, super easy to make (hello crockpot!) and freezes well. We topped it with some sour cream, cheese and crushed nachos, but it’s great on its own, too. The full recipe is here – try it, it’d be great for fall!

Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup
(copied from A Year of Slow Cooking)

4 chicken breast pieces (mine were frozen)
2 cans black beans
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup frozen corn
1 jar medium salsa
1 1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sour cream (to stir in at the end)

Put all ingredients into the Crockpot (I used a 4 quart) and stir. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. After cooking, I scooped a few cups out, whizzed it in the blender, and poured back into the pot (makes it a bit thicker and chops up the chicken). Stir in sour cream.

Yum!