Chicken Pot Pie Stew

I forgot to take a picture of this before I ate it, so this is a picture of the leftovers! This soup is so warm and cozy. The broth is drinkable, rich and delicious. What gave me the idea for this soup was a chicken pot pie. I'm eating low carb right now so I didn't want to make a real chicken pot pie, but I was wanting those flavors. As I was making the "pot pie insides" I spontaneously decided to make it a soup, by adding a lot more liquid. I'm so glad I did, this was terrific! I used a lot of seasonings, but use any combination of the ones I list according to your preferences. I was going to add fresh parsley at the end, but I forgot to add it! I'll add some in for the leftovers, parsley is full of great vitamins!
-Amanda

Chicken Pot Pie Stew

2 chicken breasts, previously cooked
4 tbsp butter or ghee, split
1.5 cups of chopped mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup heavy cream
4 cups chicken stock (I use homemade)
salt, pepper
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
pinch of tarragon (this is a strong spice)
pinch of dill

In a large soup pot, melt two tablespoons of ghee or butter. Add diced carrot, onion and celery. Cook on a low heat until carrots begin to get soft. Add in garlic and mushrooms. Continue to cook on med-low until mushrooms are cooked through. Add all the spices. Add two more tablespoons of butter or ghee and stir until melted. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and stir until the flour is wet from the butter and coats the vegetables. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the heavy cream. Right before serving, add the chicken and peas, cooking long enough to defrost the peas. Enjoy!

Cabbage Egg Rolls

This is an old Weight Watchers recipe that is so good that you don't have to be on Weight Watchers to enjoy them. I took them to a pot luck dinner last night because they are fine at room temperature. I only made about 30 of them, but they all disappeared, I should have made more!
-Amanda

Baked Cabbage Eggrolls

1 small head of cabbage, shredded
3-4 carrots, shredded
4 scallions, sliced thin
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp sesame seed oil
1 tsp (or more if you like it hot) Asian Chili Garlic Sauce
3 tsp grated fresh ginger
3 tbsp corn starch
25-30 wonton wrappers 
cooking spray

Put shredded cabbage in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave 8-10 minutes until cabbage is wilted. Drain any excess water and return to bowl. Add shredded carrots and scallions. In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame seed oil, chili sauce and ginger. Add cornstarch and mix until the cornstarch has dissolved. Drizzle over cabbage mixture and stir until well mixed. Taste your cabbage at this point to make sure it has enough flavor. You may need to mix up a bit more of the sauce an add it, depending on how much cabbage you have and how strong you want your eggrolls to be.


Take one wonton wrapper, and place about 2 tbsp of cabbage mixture in the lower bottom corner. Roll the bottom corner up towards the middle of the wrapper. Fold the left side in and then the right side. Continue rolling, wetting the top corner with a bit of water to make wonton stick. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Continue with all of your wrappers. Keep about 2 inches space between each eggrolll so they will get crispy. Spray each eggroll with cooking spray and bake at 350degrees for about 25 minutes or until golden and crispy on the edges. For an easy dipping sauce I make another batch of the soy sauce mixture leaving out the cornstarch. Float a few sesame seeds & cut scallions on top for a nice finish. Makes about 25-30 rolls depending on the size of your cabbage. 

If I'm making these for myself at home, once they are completely cool, I store them in the refridgerator in a large ziplock back with a papertowel to catch moisture. I either eat them cold or toast them in my toaster oven for a minute or two.

Taco Mini Mufins

I loved the response from my homemade chicken nuggets! Many of my friends told me they were going to try out the recipe. Please let me know how yours turn out if you do!

Today's recipe is another very toddler friendly meal idea. Although I'm going to serve this for dinner for the adults too, paired with a salad. These Taco Mini Muffins can also be made in bulk and frozen. Reheat in the toaster oven or microwave. This isn't an exact science, you can change the recipe to your preferences. Oh and I actually doubled the meat and veggies so I could have easy taco salads later this week.
-Amanda

Taco Mini Muffins

Cornbread Mix
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup cornmeal
4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup applesauce
2 eggs
approx 2 cups of milk, start with slightly less and add until you get a "pancake" batter consistency.

Taco Mix
1/2 lb lean ground beef
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 small onion
1/4 cup frozen or fresh corn
1/4 cup drained black beans
1/2 red bell pepper
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
3 tsp chili powder
2 tbsp tomato paste or ketchup (I used homemade)
salt & pepper to taste

Dice onion into small bits. Place oil in a skillet (I used cast iron.) When it gets hot, add onion. While the onion is cooking, dice red bell pepper. Add it to the onion, stir occasionally. When onion and bell pepper are soft, add corn and beans, heat until the corn is thawed. Remove vegetables from skillet (Or if pressed for time, cook them at the same time as the meat in a separate skillet.)

Once vegetables have been removed from the skillet, add the meat. Add the cumin, chili powder, oregano, tomato paste or ketchup, salt and pepper. Cook on medium-high heat until meat is cooked all the way through.

Add meat to the vegetables and stir.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients for the cornbread mix, except the milk. Add 1 1/2 cups of milk and stir. Add enough milk until you have a loose "pancake" like batter. Stir in the meat/vegetable mixture. Dish about 2 tbsp in mini muffin tins. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes. If you do larger muffins, adjust your cooking time. A toothpick should come out clean and the tops of the muffins should start to brown.

Kuru Fasülye and Cacik

This Turkish bean stew is a staple of casual home cooking.  Kuru Fasülye is usually served with rice pilaf and sometimes accompanied by cacik.  I LOVE cacik!  It is watered down salted yogurt with chopped up cucumbers.  I like to spoon it over my pilaf, then have a bite of Kuru Fasülye.  You can also just eat it with a spoon as a side.  Something about the warm beans, soft pilaf and cool yogurt is just fantastic.

-Jules

Kuru Fasülye

2 cups of cooked white beans --I use dried beans.  I think it tastes better that way.
Pour a good swirl of olive oil in the pan.  at least 4 or 5 tablespoons. 
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 chopped onions
2 chopped red peppers (bell or sweet)
3 chopped tomatoes
2-3 cups of water
1 teaspoons of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon of black pepper
2 teaspoons of salt

Treat your beans normally. If you used dried beans, soak beans them in water over night and then the next day, boil them until they are soft.
If you use canned beans, drain and rinse them.
In a pan, add the oil and the onions and peppers and sauté until onions are translucent and the peppers are soft. Add the tomato paste (about 10 minutes.)
Drain the beans whether they were dried or canned, pour into the pot with the onions and peppers.  Add the tomatoes and then the water.  Make sure the water covers the beans.
Add the peppers and salt.  Simmer for 30 minutes or until the stew has thicken.

Serve with rice pilaf

Cacik

1-2 cucumbers shredded
2 cups of yogurt
1 cup of water
salt to taste (about a teaspoon)

Combine ingredients and mix well.
Serve chilled

Simple Chicken Orzo Salad

I forgot to take a picture of this before it was devoured by myself, my husband, a friend and four toddlers! I apparently should have doubled the recipe. I just made this with ingredients on hand, but it came out really tasty.
-Amanda

Simple Chicken Orzo Salad

1/2 lb orzo noodles, cooked according to package directions
1/2 cucumber, peeled and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup pecans, toasted in a dry skillet
1 cup diced cooked chicken breast
3/4 cup of spinach (if frozen, heat it and drain off all liquid)
Balsamic Vinaigrette (as much as you like)

In a big bowl mix the orzo, chicken, spinach and dressing. This part can be made ahead. Right before serving add the diced cucumber and pecans. Taste and add more dressing if needed. Serve cold. Serves about 4.

Chili Casserole

Finished casserole.


Spoon chili into baking dishes.

This recipe is perfectly adaptable to campfire cooking. As a matter of fact that's how I had it the first time, prepared in a huge castiron dutch oven. It was so good I didn't want to wait until the next campout to have it again, so it can be done in your home oven. Substitute ingredients as you see fit, the main idea is to make a yummy chili and top it with a yummy cornbread.

My playgroup has decided to do a meal swap. I picked this meal to make for our first swap for a couple of reasons. It's easy to make in bulk (I needed enough for 3 families), it is perfect cold weather food, and I had all the ingredients on hand! You can scale it down to suit one family meal or make it in bulk and freeze the extra casseroles!
-Amanda

Chili Casserole

Chili:
1 onion
2-3 pieces of bacon
2.5 lbs of lean ground beef
2 cans of black beans, drained
1 can of tomato paste
1 can of fire roasted tomatoes
1 can of diced green chilies
4 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
salt & pepper

Cornbread: (You can also use a Cornbread Kit)
2 1/2 cups of cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup shredded mexican cheese
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk (give or take)

Dice bacon into tiny bits. Saute the bacon with diced onion and garlic. Add ground beef. Break up the beef with the end of your spoon and add seasonings: chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Add tomato paste and mix it into the ground beef. Add drained beans and fire roasted diced tomatoes. Last, add the diced green chilies. Continue cooking over medium high heat until meat is fully cooked. Transfer over to baking dishes. I made 3, 9"x9" casseroles.

Preheat oven to 350º. Mix all the ingredients for the cornbread into a big mixing bowl. Spoon wet cornbread mixture over the chili in a thin layer. Sprinkle the top with extra cheese. Bake for 25 minutes.

Dump Soup

My mom, Amanda's "memaw" discovered this recipe years ago. I'm not sure where she found it, some church covered dish dinner most likely. She raved about how easy it was and how dad was actually willing to eat it. I fell in love with it because it is so easy and it is made with ingredients I almost always have on hand. Mom insist it must be made with Campbell's minestrone and no other brand will do.

Last week, our first cold snap caught me by surprise. September? When did that happen? Well, fall had arrived and I found myself scrounging through the pantry looking for warming comfort food. Dump Soup it was. Today, we finished it off. The cold spell didn't even last as long as the leftovers did. Tomorrow is October? You've got to be kidding me.

Dump Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb ground meat

1 large onion chopped

3 cloves of garlic minced

4 or 5 stems of celery diced

2 cans Campbell's minestrone soup

2 cans pinto beans

1 can ranch style beans

1 can Rotel tomatoes

1 can diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted!)

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Brown ground meat with onion, garlic and celery. Dump in other ingredients. Add salt and pepper.

Add 2 soup cans of water. Simmer for 30 minutes or so to let the flavors have time to meld. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with crusty garlic bread. (Although it is great with corn bread too.)

Even better the next day.

Additional Notes:

For a richer flavor, use beef broth instead of water. The leftovers will thicken; just add water to desired consistency.

If you want to extend it - dump in more cans. Sometimes I add a can of whole kernal corn or a can of green beans. (In the above photo I had added half a can of corn and half a can of black beans left over from a taco salad the previous day.)

My Mom likes it with 2 cans of ranch style beans and some people prefer the spicy Rotel.

You can add tobasco at the table or stir in some red pepper flakes.

Chris adds japalenos. Modifications are limitless.

As written above it is approximately 130 calories per one cup serving. Change things and you'd have to recalculate.

-Karen