Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

A throwback recipe to when my oldest kid looked like this:

Here's my little buddy helper. I gave him some more celery to play with and when I looked over later he'd balanced it perfectly on the side of his chair. Weird.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

¼ cup butter
1 finely chopped onion
½ - 1 cup frozen corn
4 stalks of celery, sliced

2 cups carrots, sliced
¼ cup all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken broth (can use bouillon)
2 cups cooked wild rice
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 large)
½ teaspoon curry powder
½ teaspoon mustard powder
½ teaspoon dried parsley
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 cups nonfat half-and-half

Melt butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, celery, and carrots and sauté for 5 minutes. Then add flour and stir well. Add remaining spices and incorporate. Over medium heat, gradually pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly until all has been added. Bring just to a boil and then reduce heat to low and let simmer. Add chicken breasts to the low simmering pot, cook uncovered, stirring occasionally. Don’t let soup come to a real boil at this time to keep the chicken tender.

 

Once chicken is cooked through (160 degrees) remove to a plate. Next, add the rice, and corn, allow to heat through and then pour in the half-and-half. Chop or shred the chicken into bit sized pieces and return to soup pot. Let simmer, covered, for another half an hour or until ready to eat.

*Notes: For those of you out there who may not be curry fans, DON'T leave it out! There isn't a strong curry flavor, but it does add a sweet kick that was amazing! I also don’t measure these veggie amounts, I just load it up! 

*Could be made GF, by taking out flour completely or by subbing in some tapioca startch or rice flour.

Sweet Citrus Kabobs

This marinade was called "Unbelievable Chicken" on allrecipes.com, and it is just that - especially now that I tweaked it to be healthier and turned it into kabobs!

These were so unreal, that now my Hubby is talking about getting a decent grill just so we can eat these more often.

Sweet Citrus Kabobs

For Marinade:

• 2 Tbs cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoons prepared coarse-ground mustard
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbs lime juice
• 1/2 Tbs lemon juice
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2  teaspoons salt
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 Tbs olive oil

For Kabobs: Pictured above are kabobs made of 2 chicken breasts, 1 red pepper, 1 small onion, 1 zucchini (made 3 large). BUT other possibilities could have other meats, whole small tomatoes, mushrooms, whatever you like.

Prep chicken and veggies the night before, run them on the skewers (if using wood skewers, soak them in water for 10 minutes).  Mix the marinade, pour over kabobs and seal them all together in a bag or container. Place in the fridge and let marinade all day, turning the bag or container from time to time to make sure everything gets saturated.  Grill over med flame until done (or broil in your oven).
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Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

This is a dish that I tried way back when my son was new and made cooking difficult. The prep can be done the night before, and the few ingredients come together fast for a busy family chef, but the flavor makes the dish seem like lots of work. It is on our line-up of regular dishes, as well as a fun one to share at pot lucks.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken*

• 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, well trimmed of gristle
• 1 package (reduced sodium) taco seasoning
• 1 c. fresh salsa
• 1 can (reduced fat) cream of mushroom soup

After trimming chicken, place the breast pieces in the bottom of your slow cooker. Sprinkle chicken with taco seasoning (you don’t need to use the whole package, about half will dust the chicken well enough and you can save the rest for something else). Add the salsa and cream of mushroom soup. Cook on low for 6 hours. Before serving, mix all of the ingredients well and shred chicken pieces with a spoon and fork. Serve over rice.

Kim’s Notes:
*This is another recipe that I would absolutely recommend a fresh and flavorful salsa for. The stuff in jars and the fresh salsas that just taste like tomatoes just don’t deliver. It doesn’t have to be spicy, just flavorful.
* This recipe lends well to add-in’s. I will often add a can of black beans (drained and rinsed) with about a half a cup of corn during the last half hour of cooking, and it blends right in with no alterations to the original recipe.
* Even though the recipe says to serve it over rice, Jay and I have found that it also makes an awesome taco salad. Put over a bed of lettuce, rice, chips, beans, and top with cheese, tomatoes, or whatever you like – it’s incredible.

Orange BBQ Pulled Chicken

This recipe can be served over rice or in a bun.  It's not a favorite of mine, but it does add some variety from normal BBQ dishes.

Orange BBQ Pulled Chicken (adapted from Sparkrecipes)

• 5 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of gristle and fat
• 1 tsp powdered ginger
• 1 c. Orange Marmalade
• 1 c. favorite BBQ sauce
• 1/4 c. + 1 Tbs low-sodium soy sauce

Put chicken breasts in a bag or tupperware with the powdered ginger and shake until coated.  Put the chicken into your slow cooker.  Mix the remaining ingredients, then pour over chicken. Cook on low 4-6 hours, or until chicken is cooked.  Remove chicken from pot, use a fine strainer to clean sauce if desired. Shred chicken and return to slow cooker, mix with sauce.  Keep on warm setting until ready to serve.

Serve over rice or on buns.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie is an American classic, and one that my husband loves. But, pot pie can be a lot of work, so I threw together this simple way to make it that is wonderful the first and second time eating it.

Kim’s “Easy as Pie” Chicken Pot Pie

• 3-4 chicken breasts, cooked, shredded
• 20 oz frozen mixed veggies
• 1 1/2 cans reduced fat cream of chicken soup
• 1/4 c. milk
• 3/4 Tbs onion powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 box prepared, refrigerated pie crusts (there’s 2 in a box)

If not using leftover chicken, I’d suggest boiling it ahead of time. Boiling is an easy way to cook chicken, make it moist, easily shredable, and doesn’t add fat or calories. Allow the veggies to thaw slightly, then mix all ingredients except crust in a large mixing bowl. Unroll the first pie crust and press it to sides of a pie dish (glass preferred). Add filling mixture until evenly dispersed in the crust. Top with second pie crust and pinch sides inward to close. Cut venting slits. Bake according to package directions (generally that’s around 425 degrees for 60-90 minutes until done).

Special notes: Sometimes I have some of the sauce escape, so to save myself a dirty oven, I put the pie dish on top of a cookie or pizza pan. Also, if you’re out of foil, or just hate to make the tents for crust, you can cover the whole pie with an oven-safe plate, then remove it after a half hour so the top can cook.

Stuffing Casserole

We had a box of stuffing.  Stuffing that didn’t get used at Thanksgiving and that I didn’t know what to do with now.


I’m not roasting another turkey just to make dollar stuffing, I thought.

But Hubby told me that men need stuffing sometimes and that he knew I’d come up with something.
I usually don’t even like stuffing, but I do like experimenting, so I took him up on the challenge.  I looked over all of the recipes on the box, threw together the parts from all of them that I liked, added what I had in my average pantry and ended up with, Stuffing Casserole:

Easy, tasty, flavorful.  Not a bad use of lost, abandoned, forgotten, stuffing mix.

Stuffing Casserole

• 4 Chicken Breasts, cut into bite size pieces or 1.25 pounds lean ground turkey
• 1 medium onion, sliced or chopped depending on your preferences
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 can reduced fat cream of chicken or mushroom soup
• 1/2 c. skim milk
• 1 c. frozen peas and carrots
• 2 celery stalks sliced lengthwise then chopped medium-thin
• 1 package turkey stuffing (I used Stove Top)
• 1 2/3 c. hot water

Saute meat with onions until mostly cooked, then add celery slices for the last few minutes.  Mix stuffing with hot water and let stand, covered for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile drain excess moisture from the chicken and veggies, then mix them with remaining ingredients.  Prepare a 2 quart baking dish with a little cooking spray, put down a thin later of stuffing, top with chicken mixture, then top chicken with remaining stuffing.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Happy Cooking!

Green Chile & Chicken Enchiladas

It seems like just about every family has a recipe for Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas.  They all have chilies, onions, soups, and so forth, and everyone loves them.

I love them too, but don’t make them often since they take a lot of work (I hate shredding chicken), so when I told Hubby that they were on the docket for the week he was pretty pumped.  What I didn’t tell him at the time was that I had a diabolical plan to try a new (and pink) idea for the enchilada sauce.

I’m glad that I did – changing up the sauce to be chili-lime cream was a stroke of pure genius (not that I want to toot my own horn, but seriously, I’m drooling just thinking about it).

Maybe I’ll start making these a bit more often.

Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas with Pink Sauce

• 3-4 c. shredded cooked chicken
• 2 (4 oz) cans green chiles
• 1 can reduced fat cream of chicken soup
• ½ c. non-fat sour cream
• 1 med-large onion, chopped very fine
• 8-10 medium sized flour tortillas (soft taco, fajita, gordita style)
• Grated cheddar cheese

For sauce:

• ½ c. non-fat sour cream
• ¼ c. milk
• ½ Tbs. chili powder
• 1 Tbs lime juice

In a skillet sauté onion and chilies in their own juices until just tender.  In a large bowl combine onion and chili mixture with chicken, soup and sour cream.  Mix until well combined.  Spoon filling mixture onto tortillas and roll them up, placing enchiladas in a sprayed casserole pan.  Once all enchiladas have been rolled and placed, combine the ingredients for the sauce in the same bowl that the filling was in.  Mix until evenly blended then pour over enchiladas, smearing it around with the back of a spoon until every enchilada gets coated.  Top lightly with cheese if desired.  Bake at 350 degrees until heated through and sauce bubbles at edges (about 20-30 minutes).

Kim’s Notes: This serves well with rice and corn.  If you want something a bit more special than plain rice, add 1 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp of chili pepper, and 1 Tbs of fresh chopped cilantro.

Don’t want to make the pink sauce?  Try a green enchilada sauce or simply mix milk with about 1/3 of a can of cream of chicken soup.
Happy Cooking!

Green Chile Coconut Curry

Green Chile Chicken Curry

• 2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 (14 oz) can coconut milk
• 1 (4 oz) can green chiles
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 c onion thinly sliced
• 2 Tbs water
• 1 tsp corn starch
• 2 Tbs chopped cilantro
• 2-3 c cooked rice

Trim chicken and cut into pieces (whatever size you want). Saute chicken and onion together until chicken is no longer pink.  While that’s cooking whisk together coconut milk, green chiles, curry, cumin, water, and corn starch in a bowl. Add this mixture to the chicken and let boil uncovered until sauce reaches desired thickness. Serve over rice with chopped cilantro as garnish.

Kim's notes: Vegetables such as carrots and red potatoes add into this recipe really easily and are delicious!  If you decided to add them in, I suggest pre-steaming the veggies in the microwave so that they are soft enough without having to simmer for a long time.

Green Chile Casserole

The first time I made this recipe was for a Mexican themed pot-luck dinner. After the party I told Hubby that I regretted it, because if I had known how good it was I wouldn’t have shared! This is delicious, pretty easy, filling, and went great with shredded lettuce and sour cream that was on hand at the party.


Green Chile Casserole

• 4 chicken breasts, trimmed of fat and cut to bite size pieces
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 2 c. black beans, drained and rinsed (You could just use 1 can, but I used a little extra since I had them on hand and because I wanted to make this casserole big for the party)
• 1 can reduced fat cream of chicken soup
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 – 4 oz cans diced green chiles
• 1 c. minute rice
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/3 c. corn
• 1/3 c. chopped onion
• 3 Tbs. salsa
• 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Sprinkle chicken with cumin then saute with onion until cooked through. Scrape into a 13×9 in baking dish. Combine all other ingredients except cheese in the frying pan (can be divided if everything doesn’t fit), stir until well blended and bring to a boil. Carefully add sauce mixture to baking dish and stir until blended with chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Top with shredded cheese, allowing cheese to melt before serving.

Is a meal in itself, but goes great with shredded lettuce, sour cream, and tortilla chips too.

Chicken Ranch BLAT

Moving to Texas has introduced me to a whole slew of new things. Davy Crockett, H-E-B, strange German and Spanish pronunciations of names, and the BLAT.

Step aside BLT, there’s a vowel in town and this A stands for AVACADO.  Yum!

But what I’ve never understood is why BLTs are so popular when they are so flat and slim.  I like sandwiches with some girth to them.  I like to pick my sandwich up and think, “Crud, how am I going to fit that into my mouth?”

So a combo of this and a combo of that and I give you; the Chicken Ranch BLAT.

What else is awesome about this sandwich?  Besides the taste, it’s the fact that you can make this as fatty or as light as you would prefer.  I went light and used turkey bacon, low-cal sour dough bread, and fat-free ranch dip, and still I wanted to do flips for the flavors of this sandwich.  Here’s the idea:

Chicken Ranch BLAT

• Chicken breasts, cut to bite size pieces (2 breasts = about 3 sandwiches)
• 3 slices of bacon, halved to fit sandwich size
• Ranch sauce (I used fat free sour cream mixed with a ranch flavor packet with great results)
• lettuce
• tomato, sliced
• avocado, sliced
• bread – rolls, slices, hoagie style, whatever you like.
• other condiments that you may prefer – Hubby liked a little mayo, I liked cucumbers

Cook bacon until crisp, set aside.  In same pan cook chicken pieces until no longer pink.  In a bowl combine cooked chicken with ranch sauce until coated.  Toast bread, then layer all ingredients as you like.
Happy Cooking!

Easy Curry

I’ve had two roommates in my life that have been missionaries to Japan.  Though they didn’t serve in the same place, they both came home with one unifying passion: Curry!  Sporadically throughout the school year we would host curry parties at our apt.  We’d break out the HUGE rice cooker, the biggest stew pot that we could find, and dish this up for anyone who wanted some with the specially set aside “Curry Spoon” (it used to be white, but with all the curry scooping the ladle part changed to a lovely shade of yellow, thus dictating its status as the Curry Spoon so that no other utensils would have to go through its same fate).

Anyway this meal is filling, delicious, a step away from ordinary, and EASY!  It’s so easy that I’m having Jay make it for us this week while I’m laid up.  The ticket for success, the key ingredient, is this stuff:

It can be found in any grocery store in the Asian food section, usually on or near the top shelf.  I always recommend getting the medium-hot.  Jay has no tolerance for spice, but he eats this with no problems.  We tried the mild once, but it had no flavor.  As my Grandpa would say, “It was like sticking your tongue out the window.” Trust me on this, medium-hot, the green label.

Easy Curry

• 4 chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces (can use steak or seafood also, check box for recommendations and amounts)
• 1 med onion, sliced
• 4 red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into small cubes (don’t peel)
• 2 c. baby carrots, chunked
• water
• Golden Curry sauce mix, med-hot

Cut up potatoes and carrots first.  Put them in a microwave safe bowl with about ¼ c. water, cover loosely with saran wrap, then microwave them until just starting to soften – about 10  minutes, then test them and add more time as needed.  By softening the veggies first you cut down your simmering time by a TON! It’s really worth it.

While the veggies are steaming, sauté the onion and chicken in a little cooking spray in the bottom of a large stew pot.  Once the onions have softened and the chicken is cooked through, add the potatoes and carrots.  Now fill the stew pot with water until everything is just about covered.  Chunk up the curry block and add to water.  Bring to a boil and stir, helping the curry to dissolve.  Reduce heat, but continue to boil the curry until it reaches the consistency that you want and the veggies are as soft as you want.  Serve over rice.

Happy Cooking!

Chicken Peanut Molé

When I found this recipe I thought it had great potential.  I told Hubby that I’d make a special Peanut Molé for him this week and he said, “Peanut Butter Mexican food? Yuck, those flavors don’t go together.”


But that didn’t stop me.  With a couple of small tweaks here and there I took this recipe that was originally fried and turned it into a tender crock pot meal.  In the end I wouldn’t call it Mexican – it was much more like an Indian or Thai food.  Jay admitted that he was wrong about the flavors, and was even more shocked when I told him that the secret ingredient to this dish is chocolate!  We all agreed it was delicious, especially with  Cilantro-Citrus rice.

Chicken Peanut Molé

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 med onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/3 c. low sodium broth
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chiles
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• ¼ c. peanut butter
• 1 Tbs baking cocoa
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro

Trim chicken breasts of excess fat and gristle, place in bottom of crock pot.  Combine all other ingredients (except cilantro) in a large mixing bowl.  Stir until ingredients are evenly distributed then pour over chicken.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Shred chicken and stir into sauce.  Stir in cilantro and allow to warm with lid off for about 5 minutes before serving.  Serve over rice (is a-mazing with Cilantro-Citrus rice).

Chicken Fajita Pizza

This is one recipe that I’d recommend to anyone, even if you don’t like peppers, it’s incredible.

Make it pizza style, or just use the meat mixture for amazing burritos, tacos, or taco salads and it is sure to please.

Chicken Fajita Pizza

• 2 chicken breasts, trimmed of fat and cut to bite-size pieces
• 1/2 large onion sliced
• 1 c. sliced yellow pepper (yellow is my preference, but you could use others)
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbs chili powder
• 1 Tbs fresh cilantro (I use a bit more because we love it)
• 1 pizza crust (prepared or that you make yourself)
• 1 can refried beans (non-fat)

Saute chicken until outsides are cooked. Add all vegetables and garlic to chicken and cook until the onions and peppers are softened. Add cilantro and chili powder, mix well and let simmer a few minutes. Meanwhile prepare pizza crust by spreading a layer of refried beans over it as a “sauce.” Top beans with the meat and veggie mixture, then bake according to crust directions.

This is a lactose-free recipe, but if desired you can top the finished pizza with sour cream and/or cheese.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

This is an absolute favorite in our house.  Yesterday the hubster told me that it is up there right with the pizza he gets at his favorite pizza place - that is quite an honor since this throw together pizza is something that I just thought of one day, and is crazy easy.

I love to impress my man.

This recipe, is really just more of an idea, that you can change up according to your tastes:

BBQ Chicken Pizza

• 1-3 cooked and shredded chicken breasts (amount really depends on the size of your pizza and your own taste preferences)
• 1-2 c grated mozzarella cheese
• fresh cilantro, chopped
• thinly sliced onions (white or red)
• Your favorite BBQ sauce
• pizza crust (my naan recipe works great, or you can buy pre-made crusts)

Cook and shred chicken early. I generally boil mine since the sauce gives it plenty of moisture. Put the shredded chicken in a ziplock bag with lots of cilantro (use lots here because it sticks to the side of the bag and you lose some) and lightly drizzle it with BBQ sauce. Shake bag until the chicken is coated. Just use a little, so that it gets on the chicken, but not so that it is sopping. Refrigerate until ready to cook pizza.

When you're ready, either make the crust from scratch, buy a Boboli or those packet crusts. I've used all of these options and they all turn out fine so do whatever works best for you.

Once crust is prepared, spread the BBQ sauce over it. This doesn't have to be a heavy layer since BBQ sauce can be quite strong and salty. Cover crust with cheese, then add the thin onion slices and chicken. Add more fresh cilantro over the top and lightly sprinkle with additional cheese if you wish.
Bake according to crust directions.

*Kim's notes: To cut back on fat and calories, I will often load my pizza with toppings, then sprinkle a little cheese over everything (the pictured pizza was made that way).

Just like with all pizza, toppings are up to you. Some fresh pineapple goes great on this, mushrooms, or some peppers if your family likes them.  For yesterday's pizza I caramelized the onions ahead of time, and added spinach too.  It was heavenly.

Chicken Caesar Pizza

HoLEE COW!

I've been seeing a lot of recipes lately for pizzas with lettuce toppings.  Not wanting to be left out of the loop, I thought I'd give Chicken Caesar Pizza a go.

I did it begrudgingly.  I blame food blog peer pressure.

However, despite my reservations going into this project, this pizza is a new favorite of mine.  My hubby was late coming home from work and he's lucky that I saved him some it was so good.

Like most of my recipes, you can make this as health conscious or as fatty as you want - I took it the healthier route and used my Naan Recipe for the crust and my Caesar Dressing for the sauce.  I recommend those since that's the taste I had last night that knocked my socks off, but if you don't have the time for all that, then any prepared pizza crust or dressing will do the trick.

Let's take a look at what you're going for without the lettuce barrier:

Beautiful, huh?  Okay, here's the idea...

Chicken Caesar Pizza

• Pizza crust (prepared or homemade, I used my Naan recipe)
• Caesar dressing (mine was incredible for this and can be found HERE)
• Shredded chicken (amount depends on preference, the pizza pictured has about 1 1/2 breasts worth of meat)
• Tomato, sliced very thin (light should shine through thin - this will make it become a part of the sauce, if you want more tomatoes you can chunk them and add them later)
• Spinach, shredded (about 1/4 cup or more according to taste)
• Onion, thinly sliced
• Mozzerella Cheese
• Parmesan Cheese
• Romaine lettuce, torn

Beforehand, shred the chicken and seal it in an air tight bag with enough dressing to coat the chicken.  Let chill in the fridge until it's time to cook.  Prepare crust according to its directions.  Smear crust with Caesar dressing, then lay the thin tomato slices on top of the sauce.  Next lay down the spinach and onion slices.  Top veggies with the prepared chicken, then cover everything with the two cheeses (if you're trying to save on calories, use a fine shredded cheese and keep it light).

Bake according to the directions for your pizza crust (mine baked at 350 for about 12 minutes).

Remove pizza from oven, top with torn lettuce and additional dressing if desired.