Pre-requisites

All my life I've judged those kinds of couples that get married and then get a dog right away.  You know- "so we can see what it'd be like to have a baby." 

DOGS ARE NOT PRACTICE BABIES!

Unless your baby can be kept in a kennel all day and prefers to pee outside.

Well, maybe that second thing is true.

But now that we've been "raising" two dogs for over a year, I've come to rethink my stance a bit. 

When I'm scrubbing barf from the carpets, I can't help but think "this translates to a baby." 

When I'm picking that crusty stuff from the corners of their eyes, I can't help but think "this translates to a baby."

When I'm wiping their butts because apparently they have issues pinching it off sometimes, I can't help but think "this translates to a baby." 

Yep, practice baby.

In other baby-prep news, I've been trying to load up on easy cheap recipes to make. It's canned goods city 'round these parts. 

Mexican Chicken Soup with Homemade Tortilla Chips
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 32-oz box low sodium vegetable broth + 1 cup water
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 small can (~6 oz) Mexican corn, rinsed and drained
2 cans diced fire roasted tomatoes
2 cups shredded chicken (*I keep baggies of frozen cheater chicken- see previous recipe.  You could use a rotisserie chicken or even canned)
1 small can diced green chiles
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 whole wheat tortillas
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt

1. In a Dutch oven or large pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Saute onion until soft and translucent.  Turn heat to medium low.  Add all remaining ingredients, stopping at tortillas.  Cover and let simmer.
2. In the meantime, preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Using a scissors, cut up tortillas into 6 "slices."  Brush both sides with olive oil, and add sea salt to one side.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, flipping once.  I let mine go for one minute too long and they got a little too browned.  No surprise that we ate them anyway.
3. Optional: top soup with shredded cheddar and plain Greek yogurt. 

Makes 4 large servings of soup & tortilla chips. Per serving of soup: 375 calories, 44 g carbs, 5 g fat, 35 g protein.  Per 6 chips: 180 calories

 *Two cans of chiles are pictured but I only used one and it was still plenty spicy.

 Oh hey- turns out the button on the side of my phone also takes a picture. 

 Might want to spray some olive oil down on the foil before you bake the chips. 

Yum. Perfect for when you're practicing for a baby, or when you're just hungry.