Chicken Corn Chowder

My favorite website is All Recipes . com. Very good resource for recipes. Well I found one today that was Corn chowder. I had some left over heavy cream from a previous squash soup, so I wanted to use this in a chowder.

5 star recipe! This was very delicious and indistinguishable from the restaurant. When I say restaurant, I mean Cosi which also has very good Corn chowder on Mondays. This is just as good, very easy to make and cheap.

INGREDIENTS

* 2 1/2 cups milk
* 1 (14.75 ounce) can cream-style corn
* 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
* 1 3/4 cups frozen corn
* 1 cup frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
* 1 cup cubed fully cooked ham
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
* 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
* salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.

My changes:
2 pounds of chicken breast and extra corn. I really used 2 cups of fat free milk and half cup of heavy cream. Evens the fat out. Super fantastic, you just plop them all together and put on low for 6 hours or high for 4, but I like low. I didn't even use salt.



http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooked-corn-chowder/Detail.aspx

Black popcorn

This is not a recipe. I love stove top popcorn. 1.5 cup of raw popcorn and 3 tablespoon of oil (olive is OK, Canola better, coconut delicious).

I went to the fancy rich people kitchen store and saw black popcorn!

(You thought I was going to say black people didn't you.)



It was really called Black Jewel. Hull less popcorn, whatever that means. I have always thought that meant no more popcorn stuck between my teeth. No such thing.

First off, it pops white. Black popped popcorn would indicate some sort of vile mold or disease. But popped, they are the tiniest, puniest, saddest popcorns I have ever seen. Because they pop white, but still have a hint of black, they look burnt.

Terrible! Stay away and return it to the store if you receive this for Christmas.

Red Wine Pot Roast with Honey and Thyme

Red Wine Pot Roast with Honey and Thyme

Couldn't find bottom round roast, got something that sounded similar. Sorry I couldn't remember, I want to say "Round rump" roast, but I'm afraid that may not be a real meat and want to deter anyone from asking their butcher and experiencing an awkward moment.

I just got a Le Creuset Dutch oven, ahem, French oven and wanted to try it out. A stew is a perfect combination of stove top and oven cookware that I wanted forever to try.

Conclusion: I haven't found a stew that I liked quite yet. This seems like waste of red wine. Way too many potatoes. Potatoes are so bland and tasteless; I overdid it by half a pound. Maybe I should really salt the whole thing or, use fewer potatoes. I wonder if MSG would really turn this around. Stews are also very unattractive. Nobody wants to eat a brown sludgy substance that resembles wet dirt.


1 bottom round roast, about 4 pounds
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 small onions, medium diced
1 head garlic (about 10 to 12 cloves), lightly smashed
1 pound carrots (about 4 medium), cut roughly into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 cups low-sodium chicken, beef, or vegetable broth
2 cups medium-bodied red wine
2 1/2 tablespoons honey
5 to 6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 to 2-inch cubes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Season roast with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large oven-safe pot or Dutch oven over high heat for a couple minutes. Add the meat and brown well on all sides, about 10 minutes total. Remove and set aside on a plate. Lower heat to medium and saute onions, garlic, and carrots for 5 minutes. Add the broth, wine, honey, and thyme, stir to combine, and then add the roast back to the pot.

Cover pot and transfer to oven. Bake for 2 hours, turning the meat over twice. Add the potatoes to the pot and bake, uncovered, for another 30 to 45 minutes longer until both the potatoes and the meat are fork-tender.

Too many potatoes!


http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_33765,00.html

Pea Soup II

Ok, I love making soup. This pea soup was very little work, but looks like vile. It feels like vile. Watery mashed potatoes. Going back to hand blender and frozen peas kind of soup.

Rosemary bread from Giant is delicious! I am very surprised by its softness and fragrant aroma. Sprinkle with olive oil and bake at 350 for 5-10 minutes or toast twice.

INGREDIENTS
* 1 cup chopped onion
* 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
* 1 pound dried split peas
* 1 pound ham bone
* salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium pot, saute onions in oil or bacon grease. Remove from heat and add split peas, ham bone or chopped ham. Add enough water to cover ingredients, and season with salt and pepper.

2. Cover, and cook until there are no peas left, just a green liquid, 2 hours. While it is cooking, check to see if water has evaporated. You may need to add more water as the soup continues to cook.

3. Once the soup is a green liquid remove from heat, and let stand so it will thicken. Once thickened you may need to heat through to serve.

Picture says it all. Yes, there is a bite taken out of the bread in this picture. I never found the culprit.

Recipe at:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/split-pea-and-ham-soup-i/detail.aspx

Garbanzo Tomato Pasta Soup

After watching Top Chef, I was feeling like experimenting with a tomato or pepper based soup. This is not like the show's soup at all, but I saw it was pretty easy to make and it combined all of my favorite ingredients. I had a plethora of macaroni noodles so I decided to use that instead. I had all sorts of stock left over, half beef and half chicken. I was shy about half a cup, so I filled the remainder of the stock with lobster stock I had sitting in the freezer. Dynamo combo.

I loved this, like minestrone soup without the beans. Next time I would add beans. Also I shredded some Colby cheese on top. Perfect

INGREDIENTS

3 (14.5 ounce) cans vegetable broth
3/4 cup small seashell pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped, juice reserved
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Bring vegetable broth to a boil in a large pot. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente.Meanwhile, heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Saute onions and garlic until translucent.
Stir into pasta and add garbanzo beans, tomatoes, basil, thyme, salt and pepper. Heat through and serve

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/garbanzo-tomato-pasta-soup/detail.aspx

Black bean couscous salad

After visiting Kim's aunt in Pittsburgh, I was obsessed with this delicous couscous salad with chicken that she made. This recipe is not the same, but similar. Primary spice is cumin and not curry and has no almonds or raisins to speak of. But, still delicious and light. Very easy to make vegetarian - just use veggie broth and don't add chicken.

The changes from the recipe include:
one black and one chickpea beans
1 pound chicken breast (boiled in water for 15 minutes)
substituted pepper for yellow pepper

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 cup uncooked couscous
* 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
* 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
* 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
* 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 8 green onions, chopped
* 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
* 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
* 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained
* salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring chicken broth to a boil in a 2 quart or larger sauce pan and stir in the couscous. Cover the pot and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, vinegar and cumin. Add green onions, red pepper, cilantro, corn and beans and toss to coat.
3. Fluff the couscous well, breaking up any chunks. Add to the bowl with the vegetables and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve at once or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Source: http://salad.allrecipes.com/az/BlckBnndCscsSld.asp

Pea soup

I wanted to try out the new hand blender. Conclusion: olive oil bread with salt transformed the Safeway brand "french" bagette into deliciousness. Pea soup should not just be chicken broth, there needs to be some hint of pork. Next time I'll try to add bacon to the mix. I also did not add sour cream. I am not trying to grow a second butt.

Soup:
2 pounds frozen green peas
4 tablespoons butter
2 (14.5-ounce) cans reduced sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup sour cream, for garnish

Bread:
1 demi-baguette (or 1/2 of 1 French baguette), cut into 8 (1/2-inch) thick slices
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
In a medium pot, combine peas, butter, broth, and onions. If the peas are not submerged in liquid, add just enough water to cover them. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for about 7 to 10 minutes, or until the onions are soft enough to puree and the peas are still bright green.

While the peas are cooking, grill the bread. Heat a grill pan over high heat for 3 minutes. Pour some olive oil onto a large plate. Sprinkle oil with salt then dip pieces of bread quickly on both sides into the oil. Grill bread until slightly charred and hot, about 3 minutes per side.

Using an immersion blender, standing blender*, or food processor, puree the soup until smooth and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Serve each bowl with a dollop of sour cream on top and grilled bread on the side.

Source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_34215,00.html

Spicy Polynesian Wrap

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch strips
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
• 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic salt
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 limes
• 10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions

---

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the chicken and coconut milk in a bowl, and marinate in the refrigerator 1 hour.
2. In a pot, bring the rice and water to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes.
3. In a small bowl, mix the flour, curry powder, and garlic salt. Drain the chicken, and discard marinade. Dredge chicken in the flour mixture to coat.
4. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the coated chicken strips 5 minutes per side, or until golden brown and juices run clear. Squeeze lime juice over chicken, and discard limes.
5. On each tortilla, place equal amounts of rice, chicken, coconut, and green onions. Wrap burrito style.

There needs to be a sauce. It's too dry by itself. If you can't think up of some sort of yogart sauce, then use slices of pineapple to insert into the tortilla. Juice is key.

This is the first time I experimented with Curry. Curry is good. I am glad I have grown spice-wise.

By the way, that's not Charles Shaw. It is just a bottle that looks like it.




Source: http://chicken.allrecipes.com/az/73331.asp

Tlalpeno style soup

Tlalpeno style soup 

6 cups of chicken stock

½ chipotle chile, seeded

2 skinless chicken breast

1 avocado

4 scallions

1 can of chickpeas

¾ cups shredded cheddar

1. Pour stock into saucepan and add chile, bring to boil, and add chicken breasts. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes until cooked. Remove chicken from heat, shread with fork and knife
   

2. Blend stock and chile into blender
   

3. Cut avocado into bite size pieces. Add to stock, with scallions and chick peas. Season with salt and pepper.
   

4. Spoon into bowls and sprinkle cheeses on top of each portion

If you love avocados you would love this dish. I would totally salt this up more or use stronger non-pansy and non-organic chicken broth. Load up the MSG! Double the chick peas. Broth is filler.

Changes: Double chicken breast quantity. Double canned beans. Use non organic broth or dump some salt.

Source: Mexican by Jane Milton