Chicken spezzatino ( italian soup-stew)

This is a healthy favorite at our house. It's from Giada Delaurantis's Everyday Italian cookbook.

2 Tbs. olive Oil
2 celery stalks, cut into bite-size pieces
1 carrot, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
1 (14 1/2 oz)can chopped tomatoes with their juices
1 (14 oz)can chicken broth
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
1 Tbs tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
2 chicken breasts with ribs ( about 1 1/2 pounds total)
1 (15 oz)can kidney beans ( I like to use the little white canelinni beans)

In a heavy 5 quart sauce pan, heat the oil over a meduim flame. Add the celery, carrot, and onion, and saute until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes, broth, basil, tomato paste, bay leaf, and thyme. Add the chicken and press to submerge. Bring the liquid to a simmer gently, uncovered , turning the breasts over and stirring occasionally, until the chicken isalmost cooked through, about 20 minutes. add the beans and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the liquid has reduced to a stew consistancy, about 10 minutes. Discard teh bay leaf. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes. Discard the skin and bones and cut the meat into bite size pieces. Return it to the stew and bring to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste if needed. I like to top it with parmesean cheese!

* I just use boneless chicken breasts. I also double the batch while I'm at it and freeze the rest

Sausage Stuffing

Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, thought I would post my favorite stuffing recipe. I rarely get to make it, unless I go home for Thanksgiving, because my mom-in-law takes care of most everything for Thanksgiving. This one is so yummy, I could eat it alone for dinner. Enjoy!

Sausage Stuffing

1lb. sweet Italian sausage, casings removed

1/2c. Butter

3 cups onion, chopped

2cups celery, chopped

1T fresh sage, chopped

2T fresh parsley, chopped

6 cups plain croutons

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

1/4c. real maple syrup (you don't want mrs. butterworth to be spread on this stuff) ;)

2 cups dried cherries or cranberries

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

2 cups chicken stock, plus extra as needed

2 T fresh thyme, chopped

salt and pepper

Saute sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through, crumbling sausage with the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Transfer sausage with a slotted spoon to a large bowl. Discard sausage fat in pan. Add butter, onions, and celery to skillet and saute until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add to sausage, along with herbs and croutons, mix to combine.

In a medium bowl, combine allspice, maple syrup, cherries, and pecans, and chicken stock. Add to crouton mixture. The mixture should be moist, but not soggy. Add more chicken stock, if necessary. Transfer stuffing to a large baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 1 hour. Uncover and bake for another 20 minutes, or until top is golden

Chipotle-Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

 Hey Ladies! We are big fans of soup this time of year at our house. I have been craving pumpkin anything, and decided to try this soup from EveryDay with Rachel Ray Magazine. It was really good! And, super duper easy and quick to throw together. I baked 2 chicken breasts earlier in the day, and shredded them to add to the soup. (Around here, it's not much of a meal unless it has some MEAT.) It was a tad on the spicy side for the kids with a whole chipotle...I think next time I'd use a smidge less of that or at least leave out the seeds. They ate it, I just gave them a bit more  sour cream and tortilla chips to tame it down. I skipped the apple salsa, I'm sure it would've been good, but I just didn't do it. You could also skip the fancy cranberry sour cream and just use a dollop of regular sour cream or plain yogurt. It was good, but an ingredient you don't really have to have. It says it feeds 4, but we had enough for the two of us (we each had two bowls) and the two kids, and we each will have a bowl for lunch tomorrow. Yummy!

• 4 Servings
• Prep 10 min

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped
• 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely chopped, 1 tablespoon sauce reserved
• 1 bottle Mexican beer, such as Negra Modelo
• One 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin (1/2 palmful)
• 2 pinches ground cinnamon
• Salt and pepper
• 3 cups chicken broth (I only used 2 cups, I like my soup a little on the thick side)
  
• One 15-ounce can black beans, drained
• 1 green apple, finely chopped
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeño chile, seeded and finely chopped
• 1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro (a generous handful)
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
• Corn tortilla chips (a couple of generous handfuls), lightly crushed (optional)

Directions:

1. In a soup pot, heat the EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add the yellow onion, garlic and chipotle with its sauce and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the beer and cook until reduced by half, 3 minutes. Stir in the pumpkin, cumin, cinnamon and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the chicken broth and beans and simmer for 10 minutes.
   
2. In a small bowl, combine the apple, red onion, jalapeño, cilantro and lime juice. In another bowl, combine the sour cream and cranberry sauce.
   
3. Serve the soup in bowls and top with the apple salsa, cranberry sour cream and tortilla chips, if using.
   

Tortellini Sausage Soup

I have a new favorite recipe blog, designed by our friend, Shannon....Our Best Bites! Love all the recipes on it. I've made this soup twice in the last week and we all LOVE it!

Click HERE for the recipe!

Easy Chili Pie

If you're not completely sick of beans after last week's rice and beans fast, this recipe is a perfect fall or winter meal. I got it from a Real Simple magazine a few years ago and it's been a favorite in our house ever since!

1 lb. sweet Italian chicken sausage, casings removed
1 T. chili powder
2 15-oz. cans of kidney beans in sauce (I usually use chili beans instead-not canned chili, just chili beans)
1/2 cup hot salsa
1 8-1/2 oz. box of corn bread mix, plus required ingredients (like Jiffy)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1.) Heat oven to 400 degrees.

2.) Cook sausage over medium heat in an oven-safe skillet (such as cast iron), breaking up the meat until it's no longer pink. Drain the fat.

3.) Add chili powder and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Add beans and salsa. Heat to boiling.

4.) Meanwhile, prepare corn-bread mix according to the label directions. Stir in cheddar cheese.

5.) Remove chili from heat and spread corn-bread mixture over the chili.

6.) Place skillet in the oven and bake 15-20 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

If you don't have a cast iron or oven-safe skillet, you can also transfer the chili to a casserole dish before it goes into the oven.

Enjoy!

Lentils and Brown Rice

I thought this one looked good too!

http://www.recipezaar.com/Mujadrah-Lentils-and-Rice-141796

Week of Rice and Beans

Hey girls...thought I'd copy and paste the recipes listed on the church website for this week's Rice and Beans fast. It will be interesting feeding kids for the week, I'm doing my best to find some recipes to keep in interesting for my family. I would love to hear some other tips and ideas you all have!

Here's the recipes Summit View posted (I will definitely be trying the sticky rice pancakes for breakfast!

Week of Rice, Beans & Water Recipes

Tips:
Make beans and rice following directions on item
Spice using one of the following: Tumeric (makes yellow rice), Cumin, Curry, Ceyenne Pepper, Red Pepper Flakes
Black Beans & Rice
1 medium onion
1 TB oil
1 c long grain rice, uncooked
2 c water
Favorite seasonings
1 can black beans
1. Sauté' onion in oil. Add water and rice. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is cooked.
2. Add seasoning mix & beans and cook until heated through. Mix well.
Red Beans & Curried Rice
1/2 c. dried onions
1 lg. can kidney beans
1 c. water
Red pepper flakes optional
Salt and black pepper
Simmer all ingredients for 15 minutes on very low heat. Serve over curried rice (see below).

Curried Rice
Prepare rice according to package directions. To boiling water add 1-2 tablespoon curry powder, 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup dried onions.

Congri (Rice & Black Beans)
1 T Olive oil
½ Cup Dried Onions
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 bay leaf
1 (16 oz.) can black beans, including liquid
1 1/2 c. long grain rice, uncooked
2 1/4 c. water
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vinegar

Mix olive oil, onion, oregano, cumin and bay leaf in pan; sauté for five minutes. Add black beans, including liquid; simmer for three minutes. Add water, salt, vinegar and rice; reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
Makes about 8 cups.

Cuban Black Beans and Rice

1 lb. dry black beans
8 c. water
½ Cup Chopped Onion
2 T Chopped Garlic
1/2 c. olive oil
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp. salt
1/2 c. vinegar

Wash beans thoroughly and soak in four cups of water overnight. Keep the water for cooking and add 4 more cups of water.

Combine all ingredients except vinegar. Cook on stove with low heat until beans are tender and the liquid has thickened. Takes 3-5 hours. Serve over rice with vinegar.

Sticky Rice Pancakes
Make sticky rice by increasing water amount by one-third (cook otherwise according to package directions).
Refrigerate overnight. In the morning form into patties or cakes. Pan-fry in oil.


Some of my own thoughts:

I was chatting with Lisa at church this morning. She said her kids love to munch on Chickpeas (aka Garbanzo beans) right out of the can for a snack. I have also seen this recipe that I want to try this week for munchies (I think I will try cinnamon instead of "spicy" for the kids):

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

After making a few batches, I want to stress how important it is to pat dry the chickpeas after draining and rinsing them; the goal is to get a good crunch to the chickpeas, and they will not achieve it if they are damp.

1 15-ounce can chickpeas

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1/2 teaspoon spice of your choice (I am keen on curry powder, chipotle chile powder or garam masala)

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Transfer to a large dry dish towel and pat dry.

In a medium bowl toss the chickpeas with the olive oil, salt and spices of your choice. Toss to coat, then spread in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.

Roast for 34-38 minutes, checking them frequently in the last 10 minutes (you want them crunchy, not burnt :)). Makes about 1 and 1/2 cups.

Here's another that I found that I'm going to try: (I will substitute black beans or some the cashews and maybe skip the raisins/currants.)


Indian Rice Pilaf
Brown Rice Pilaf with Indian Spices & Cashews


If you think you don;t like brown rice, my guess is that you haven't tried long-grain brown rice. It's light and fluffy, takes less time to cook than the short-grain varieties, and, because it is relatively pale in color once cooked, you can serve it to small children and significant others without notice or complaint. The rice here turns a brilliant shade of yellow thanks to the addition of the turmeric.

2 tablespoons canola oil, divided use
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 and 1/4 cups brown long grain rice
2 and 1/2 cups vegetable broth or water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
3/4 cup cashews
1/2 cup currants or chopped raisins

Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a medium saucepan or covered skillet. Add the spices and sauté for 15-30 seconds until fragrant. Add the rice; cook and stir 1 minute. Stir in the water or broth, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until liquid is completely absorbed, about 35-40 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and sauté for 10-12 minutes until browned.

Remove covered pan with the rice from heat and let sit 10 minutes; uncover and fluff with fork. Transfer to a large bowl, add the currants, cashews and onions and toss to combine. Season to taste with salt & pepper. Makes 6 servings.