Chicken Chowder

Chicken Corn Chowder.  Comfort food for a cool evening.  Well... it's not cool here in Florida, but when I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I had to try it.  I made it.  I ate it.  I love it.  Here it is.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
8 to 12 ounces diced chicken apple sausage
1 cup apple cider
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup diced carrot
2 cups diced potato
1 cup diced cooked chicken
1 cup corn kernels
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley, or 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven; add chopped onion, celery, and diced sausage. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until onion and celery are wilted and sausage is lightly browned. Add the juice, chicken broth, carrots, and potatoes. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover; simmer for 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Add the corn and chicken.

In a medium bowl, whisk 1 cup of the milk with the 1/2 cup of flour. Stir into the pot with the remaining 1 1/2 cups of milk. Cook, stirring, until thickened. Stir in cheese until melted and the chowder is hot. Add parsley and salt and pepper, to taste. 


Outstanding.  I served it with some baguette bread for dunking.  If you do not have apple cider, I used 3/4 cup apple juice with a quarter cup of apple cider vinegar.  the apple juice/apple cider gives it a slight tangy depth that sets this chowder apart from other chicken chowders.  I used an entire can of corn.

This makes a lot of soup. I have leftovers for several more meals.

Holiday Traditions

When living at home - or maybe I should say, when living in Michigan and having holiday celebrations with my family, there were a few food traditions to look forward to every Christmas.

One tradition is my mom's "Michigan" salad made with dried cherries, mandarin oranges, romaine and a sweet/sour dressing.  Christmas Eve was always prime rib cooked to perfection and usually some sort of potato dish.  And, of course, the Christmas Lunch Chocolate Almond cake.

Now that I am here in Florida, with none of my family around, I keep some of the food traditions alive.  Prime rib for dinner and the salad.  I have also added a few of my own dishes.  Potatoes with a gorgonzola cheese sauce to name one.

What are some of the holiday dishes you look forward to every year?  What dishes have you carried away from your mother's table and now present on your own?

Merry Christmas everyone.

Autumn Meal

So last night it was Trick o Treat night.  In my neighborhood, we get less than 10 every year.  It rained much of the day and then the clouds cleared out and a cool, October breeze started to blow.  Perfect weather for some warm, healthy comfort food.

Wait a minute.  Healthy comfort food?  Comfort food is all about stick to your ribs, fill your belly and make you sleepy.

Not so.

The dish I made last night replaced potatoes with butternut squash, had chicken, tomato paste and onions.  Delicious.

Brown 1.5 pounds of chicken in a dutch oven.  Remove from pan.  Add chopped onion (1 whole onion), 4 cloves of sliced - not chopped or minced - garlic and then saute until onions are translucent.  Add 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and then 2 cups of chunked up butternut squash.  Stir to coat.  Add 1 cup of chicken broth, half cup of apple juice, salt, pepper, and 1 tsp of sage.  Let simmer 7 minutes.  Add the chicken back in and stir.  Cover and simmer 15 minutes or until the squash is tender.

The tomato paste adds a richness to this dish and the flavors blend so well together.  I serve if with a 5-grain baguette and store the leftovers for another cool day.

Enjoy.

Travel to India... without leaving your house

Intimidated by Indian cuisine?  Don't be.  Think all Indian curry is spicy hot?  Not always.  Think you can't cook with spices?  Yes, you can.

Last night I made a curry that was sweet, savory and delicious.  It was something I have always been interested in, yet too cautious to try.  Sure, I have tried to make those curries with the hot curry paste and once tasted, bowed to never make that recipe again.  The Moughlai chicken has become a recipe that I will use over and over again.

I recommend looking for Cardamom pods in an Indian grocer (if you have one) or trying Whole Foods.  I have found that Whole Foods carries many unusual spices and other items that are not available at the local grocer.  If you have a good food processor - which I do - you can use slivered almonds in place of the ground almonds.  I used slivered, added to the food processor along with the other ingredients called for and had the same result if I had used ground almonds.

All other ingredients were kept the same.  If you keep the spices lined up and ready to use, you will not have a problem getting them all in the pan when called for.

Definitely try this recipe.  It will change your mind about Indian cooking and cuisine.

Bring on the veggies

If you are like me and have trouble finding a way to add more vegetables to your day, I found a solution that has been working well for me and my family.

Meatless Mondays.

That's right. Every Monday, I serve only vegetarian meals. At first I thought there was no way I could manage an entire day with nothing but veggies, but believe me, it's not that hard.

For the past 2 months, we have been meatless on Monday.

My menu for this past Monday included vegetable calzones for lunch and a butternut squash risotto. Yum

For the calzones, I suggest purchasing pre-made pizza dough. I use the 5-grain pizza dough already prepared in the Publiz deli. Here are the other ingredient

1 zucchini sliced thin

5 mushrooms

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Tbsp of Mrs. Dash table blend spice mixture

2 tbsp onion chopped

any other veggies you may like - chopped

mozarella cheese

jarred pizza sauce

Heat olive oil in a pan and saute the veggies. Near the end, add the table blend spice.

Half the dough and roll out each half. To one side, add enough mixture to cover end to end. Drizzle a little pizza sauce and add cheese. Fold other end over and pinch the edges together.

350 degree over for about 30 minutes. In the last 5 minutes, beat an egg and brush over the calzone and bake another 5 minutes until golden. Enjoy.

I also use the above for pizzas; except I do not saute the veggies first.

Once a week I will add additional veggie recipes for those that are struggling with ideas.

What is the benefit? Maybe none at all. But it does show me that I do not have to have meat to enjoy a meal.

Making it German night in October

Like German food? Don't know what German food is? Don't think you can make it? Oh yes you can.

The other night, I made a delicious meal of Pork Schnitzel, braised cabbage and German potato salad. All of these menu recipes can be found at Publix Apron's in their recipe box. Now I admit, I did not follow the recipe for the braised cabbage. Something about jarred red cabbage did not sit well with me. But I will tell you how you can make your own and it is delicious.

For the pork schnitzel, I pretty much followed the recipe to the T. Well. Almost. Instead of flour, I used cornstarch. The secret here is to NOT overcook this. Just a few minutes on each side until the sides are golden brown. It was tender and tasty. Over cooked would have meant tough and tasteless. Who wants that? Certainly not me.

For the German potato salad, I followed their recipe.

Braised cabbage. Chop head a head of red cabbage and place in a stock pot. Add half a sliced sweet onion - I used a Patagonia onion. Rough chop a sweet apple. I used a gala apple. Add all ingredients to the pot. Add half a cup of apple cider vinegar and a quarter cup of sugar and a quarter cup of chicken stock. Simmer away for over an hour until the cabbage is tender.

This is a great meal for those cool October nights.

Been a While

Yah. Life. What can I say?