Some people have menu plans for their entire weeks. Some even write the down, create a grocery list, go the the store, have everything on hand for every day. Some people even do a lot of the prep work days ahead!! I am not one of those people. In my defense, I go grocery shopping every other day - because I go through a lot of stuff that doesn't store for long periods of time. Mini-cucumbers, tomatoes, packs of "super greens", packs of prewashed salad green mixes, baby bella mushrooms... I do have a pretty decently stocked pantry and freezer that I work with. Since the Angie has been gone though, I end up having 'extra bits' either I end up cooking too much and we have to have leftover days, or I have to make dinner of leftover bits that need to be used or wasted. The other day was one of those nights.
I made a one skillet, one oven dish chicken and bits dinner. First I turned the oven to 350 (it seems like a good default temperature) I tossed about 3/4 of a pound of baby yukon gold potatoes in olive oil, herbs de provence , dill and a pinch of coarse sea salt.
In the skillet first I browned 2 links of chorizo broken up out of the casing with a handful of quartered baby bella mushrooms. I started on very low heat so the oil for the chorizo was enough to brown the mushrooms when I added them.
After adding them to the potaotes, I sweated out 1/2 an orange and yellow pepper, and a whole cubanelle pepper cut in large chunks.
After adding the peppers to the oven dish, I small diced a poblano pepper, 1/4 of a sweet onion, 3 garlic cloves and the stems of 1/2 a bunch of rainbow chard.
After these started to soften I added the chopped leaves of the chard to the pan and to speed up wilting added a splash of stock after a few minutes.
Finally I browned 2 small chicken breasts cut into chunks sprinkled with poultry seasoning.
Once everything was added to the baking dish (chicken and sausage were still not cooked all the way through) I covered it with foil and baked it for 30 minutes.
It came out delicious and Curt took the leftovers for lunch 2 days after.
I realized, when sitting down to write this post, that I never took a picture of my finished dish. And, it came out pretty good - because there's not much left in the fridge. This came about, because I had some leftover stuff in the fridge, I keep a pretty decent pantry of staples, and I was feeling lazy about cooking dinner. It's pretty much me not following the directions on the back of the Campbell's Creamy Poblano and Queso soup can.
In a heavy large pot - I melted about a tablespoon of butter and a swirl of olive oil, then I added in 1 1/4 cup of mushrooms until they started to caramelize, then added 1/2 cup of onions, 3/4 cup of peppers and one diced serrano(not pictured) and sweat them out. Once they were in the pot - I put 1/2 a box of pasta in a pot of water to boil. The directions on the pasta called for 14 minutes - I did 10 minutes, since they would finish cooking in the sauce.
To the veggies in the pot I added 1 1/2 cups of cut up pre-cooked chicken, 3 chopped garlic cloves, 1/2 an andouille sausage (not pictured), a can of Rotel tomatoes - not sure why I own the mild version?? I also added about 1/3 palmful of both cumin and chipotle pepper, and fresh ground pepper.
I added the can of soup, half a can of milk and brought to a boil. As soon as it stopped boiling, I added a cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Once the cheese melted, I stirred in the partially cooked pasta and poured the whole mixture into a pyrex casserole dish that I had sprayed with PAM. I put it in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, sprinkled another 1/2 cup of cheese on top and put it back in for about 10 minutes until the top cheese layer started to brown. Let it stop bubbling (about 10 minutes) after coming out of the ovenand then let the vultures have at it.
1 tbs butter
3 tbs olive oil
1 1/4 cup diced baby bella mushrooms
1/2 cup onions
3/4 cup peppers
1 diced serrano
1/2 pound pasta
1 1/2 cup pre cooked chicken
3 garlic cloves
1/2 andouille sausage
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1/3 palmful each cumin & chipotle pepper
fresh ground pepper
1 can Creamy Poblano & Queso soup
1/2 soup can of milk
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar divided
Wow! Totally get why they are both super star chefs! Above is a picture of the chicken and dumplings I made from Mario Batali's new cookbook Farm to Table. As a good southern girl, I have made a lot of different versions of this. Usually it involves baked chicken, poached chicken, or picking the meat off of a rotisserie chicken. When this recipe starts with a whole chicken cut into 10 pieces (bone in skin on) discard the backbone, I was kind of intrigued, but still unsure. ( I did end up making excellent stock with the back, neck, heart, wings, extra leeks carrots and celery ) The dumplings are made with whole wheat flour, which is perfect for me - I didn't have to figure out how to adapt it to use the ww. There is fresh tarragon in the dumplings - more like drop biscuits and some sprinkled on top as garnish. Leeks are used instead of onions and I really love thyme. Another touch that you know I would LOVE, the addition of bacon with the veggies into the roux!! This is now my go to chicken and dumplings recipe!!!
I made Michael Symon's venison sloppy joes also. (from his book Carnivore - I've had it awhile, haven't had a recipe not be a win yet!) I ended up using the Guinness instead of the red wine- the only reason I even have wine is to cook with, but I made the last minute decision to swap in the Guinness instead ( you can see I had both ready) Not all the Guinness went in the pot, some when in the chef! Came out really, really, really yummy! Served it with fried pickle chips because I like some vinegar action when I have venison!
I wanted to make a Moroccan inspired chicken in the slow cooker. Just as a warning - I don't usually add salt in most of my cooking, this requires me to bump up the spices to get the same flavor experience. If you add salt you may need to adjust the spices. I did two takes on this recipe- the first time I added 4 cloves of garlic... I usually am pretty vampyre proof with all the garlic I eat. It didn't work in this dish - so the second time I eliminated it. The recipe makes about 3 servings, it's just Curt and I now, I'm not big on leftovers I can't remake somehow, but Curt will take them for lunch.
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (obviously other parts will work)
- 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 sweet onion (sliced)
- 4 tbsp Moroccan seasoning ( I used McCormick) divided in half
- 3 small sweet potatoes diced
- about 1" of ginger root grated
- small handful of baking raisins
- 3/4 cup chicken stock
- 2 servings of whole wheat pearl couscous
I cut each breast in about 5 large chunks, dredged it in the flour/allspice mixture and lightly browned them (centers were still raw) I put the chicken in the bottom of the crockpot, sprinkled with 2 tbsp of the Moroccan seasoning, and put the sliced onion on top.( ignore the garlic in the photo -it was from the first try)
I buy the bag of microwave sweet potatoes because they are smaller than the ones sold loose, and then I open the bag to release the moisture and use them to cook with. I put the diced sweet potatoes in a layer over the top.
I added a handful of baking raisins, grated the fresh ginger and sprinkled with the rest of the seasoning, poured the chicken stock around the edges so as not to wash the seasoning away. I set the crock pot on low for 8 hours.
I cooked the whole wheat couscous ( the bigger pearl couscous actually does need to simmer for about 20 minutes as opposed to regular couscous that you just pour the boiling liquid over and cover) with chicken stock, cinnamon and more grated fresh ginger to go under the chicken.
I will be tweaking this a little, but overall a good base recipe.
