Slow Cooker Chicken Posole

To be honest, I have no idea what real posole should taste like, but I made this up yesterday and we scarfed it down, so I'll make it again. I especially loved it with the sliced radishes, a squeeze of lemon, fresh cilantro, and avocado.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts

1 small yellow onion peeled and diced (I forgot to put this in, and it was great)

2 poblano peppers chopped into small pieces

6 cups chicken broth (or somewhere in between with water)

1 can Rotel

2 or 3 7-oz cans diced green chiles (fire-roasted gives even more depth)

3 cloves garlic minced

1 tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1 can hominy (25oz?) drained and rinsed
garnishes: sliced radishes, limes, chopped fresh cilantro, avocado, cheese (monterey jack, cotija, whatever you have on hand)

Instructions

1. Throw all of the ingredients into a crock pot and cook on low 6-7 hours, or high 3-4 hours. 

2. 30 minutes before serving, shred the chicken and add the hominy.

3. Serve with sliced radishes, limes, fresh cilantro, avocado, and cheese (we used monterey jack or cotija)

Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour (add an additional ½ cup for a fluffier cookie or for altitude)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter unsalted butter, room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
2. In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. In a stand alone mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (can use hand held too), cream together butter and granulated sugar and brown sugar. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time and mix, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Mixture may look clumpy.
4. With the mixer on low-speed, slowly add the bowl of dry ingredients and mix just until dough comes together, it may be a little crumbly which is totally fine! You do not want to over mix the dough, otherwise the cookies can flatten when baked.
5. Lastly mix in chocolate chips. Place dough in refrigerator for 1 hour to firm up. Dough will be pretty firm already, but I find that cooled dough bakes better. If the dough is too warm or sticky, the cookies may flatten out.
6. Drop heaping spoonfuls of batter onto the baking sheet. Mine were about 3-4 tablespoons each.
7. Bake for 9-12 minutes (baking time will depend on oven) until edges are golden. Let cool on baking sheet for a few minutes than transfer to cooling rack.

Notes

It's common for chocolate chip cookies to turn out flat. Here are few helpful tips. Do not over mix the dough, just mix enough for it to come together and stir the chocolate chips in by hand. Chill cookie dough so that's it's very cold - you can even put it in the freezer to chill even further - if the dough is room temperature or warm, it will spread faster when baked. You may have under measured the flour a bit - add a few tablespoons more if needed. Lastly, do not put cookie dough on a warm cookie sheet - make sure that the cookie sheet has cooled or use a new one for the second batch. With all this said, the flavor of the cookies will not change even if the cookies spread! I make these all the time and they don't flatten out on me, but I follow all the tips above to prevent flat cookies.

Easy Pound Cake

• 2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla, almond, or lemon extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 eggs

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Blend in milk and extract. Sift dry ingredients together and add. Beat till smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour into a well greased and floured loaf pan. (Mine is about 9x5".) Bake at 300° for about 90 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack. Cool completely.

Roasting Vegetables

Here are some recipes I like for roasting vegetables:

Kale chips
- 1 bunch of kale

1. Preheat oven to 350. Take stem out of kale. No need to chop up.
2. Place kale in large ziplock. Pour in maybe 1/4 c olive oil, some parmesan and bread crumbs if you're feeling fancy. Give it a good shake and knead.
3. Pour out on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with sea salt (you could also put this into the bag, but sometimes I put too much salt in).
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes until crisp.

Roasted brussels sprouts, potatoes, and carrots
- 1 red onion
- 3 carrots
- 14 oz yukon gold potatoes
- 3/4 lb brussels sprouts
- 1 bunch thyme

1. Preheat oven to 475. Cut off and discard the stem ends of brussels sprouts; cut into bite-sized pieces.
2. Medium-dice potatoes.
3. Peel carrots and cut into bite-size pieces.
4. Pick the thyme leaves off the stems.
5. Place all veggies on sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper; toss to coat.
6. Arrange in a single, even layer. Roast 25-27 minutes or until browned and tender when pierced with a fork.

Also try, parsnips, sweet potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, etc.

Arugula-Pear Salad & Lemon Vinaigrette

This is one of our favorite salads!

3 oz arugula

1 lemon

1 pear thinly sliced

1 shallot minced

a pinch of grated pecorino cheese for garnish

Combine the juice of the lemon, 1/2 t salt, 1/4 t pepper, the shallot and 2 T olive oil. Just before serving, toss with the sliced pear and arugula. That easy!

Fall Vegetable and Goat Cheese Quiche with Arugula-Pear Salad and Lemon Vinaigrette

4 eggs
1 pie crust
4 oz goat cheese
3/4 c milk
5 oz brussels sprouts
1 leek
1/3 c grated pecorino cheese

Recipe Arugula-Pear Salad & Lemon Vinaigrette

1. Preheat oven to 425. Discar root end and upper, dark-green leaves of leek and wash thoroughly. Medium dice leek. Cut off and discard the stem ends of the brussels sprouts. Pick off and reserve the brussels sprouts leaves until you reach the lighter cores; discard the cores. Crumble the goat cheese.

2. In a medium non-stick pan, heat 1 T olive oil on medium until hot. Add leek, salt, pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 2-4 minutes or until softened. Add brussels sprouts and 1 T water; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 1-2 minutes, or until sprouts are bright green and slightly softened. Remove from heat.

3. While the vegetables cook, this is a great time to make the lemon vinaigrette fro the Arugula-Pear Salad. Crack the eggs into a large bowl; beat until smooth. Whisk in the milk and all but a big pinch of the pecorino cheese; season with salt and pepper. Add the cooked vegetables and whisk to thoroughly combine.

4. Place the pie crust on a sheet pan. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Evenly top with goat cheese; season with s&p.

5. Place quicke in oven and bake 26-28 minutes or until crust is brown and filling is cooked through and slightly crispy on top. Let stand at least 5 minutes before serving.

6. Toss the sale and serve with the quiche.

Butternut Squash and Kale Rigatoni with Crispy Rosemary and Butter Lettuce Apple-Salad

We've been trying out Blue Apron meals around here. It's been great, but not completely for what you think. The fresh ingredients are great and remeasured (but not pre-cut, which I like), but the meat is so-so. I like it because I don't have to plan, shop, or pre-measure. I especially like that Jared hops right in and starts cooking. It's made me so happy. And I have at least 2 meals for the week that I know will be filling and - let's be honest - there on the table. Here's one of the recipes that was solid. 

3/4 lb mezze rigatoni pasta

3 cloves garlic

1 bunch Lacinato kale

1 butternut squash

1 apple

1 head butter lettuce

1 bunch rosemary

4 T butter

2 T red wine vinegar

1 T whole grain dijon

1/2 c grated parmesan cheese

1. Prep ingredients. Heat a medium pot of salted water to boiling. Small dice squash, pick rosemary leaves off stems, mince the garlic, roughly chop the kale, cut the apple into matchsticks and toss with 1/4 of the vinegar. 

2. Fry the rosemary in a thin layer of oil on medium-high heat about 1 minute. Transfer to a paper towel. 

3. Cook pasta and vegetables. Add pasta and cook 9-11 minutes, al dente. Reserve 1/2 c cooking water. Heat the pan used for the rosemary on med-high until hot. Add squash, salt, pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally 8-10 min. Add garlic and kale, salt and pepper. Cook 2-3 minutes until kale is wilted. Transfer to a bowl. 

4. Add the butter to the pan used for the veggies. Cook 15-30 seconds until butter foams. Then continue cooking swirling the pan 2-3 more minutes until deep golden brown and nuttily fragrant. 

5. Add the pasta, veggies, half of the reserved cooking water to the browned butter. Stir frequently 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish. 

6. In a small bowl, make the vinaigrette. Combine remaining vinegar, mustard, salt and paper and 2 T olive oil. Combine vinaigrette with the lettuce and apple. Garnish with the rosemary and cheese. 

20-minute Chicken Noodle Soup

My friend, Brittany, gave me this recipe. I have a few soups in my arsenal that are fast, but this is a really really fast recipe!

46 oz chicken broth

1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts -bite size (2 breasts)

1 1/2 cups uncooked med egg noodles

1 cup sliced carrot

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup sliced celery

1tsp. dill weed

1/4 black pepper

In a large saucepan, over medium high heat, bring all ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes or until chicken and noodles are cooked. Yum

Potato Leek Soup - Vegan

• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 Tbs. coconut oil
• 2 large or 3 medium leeks (root and dark green parts removed), sliced crosswise (to yield 2 cups), washed, and dried
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 tsp. coarse salt; more to taste
• 1 hearty sprig fresh thyme
• 1/2 bay leaf
• Small pinch saffron, crumbled
• Pinch cayenne
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 12 oz. Yellow Finn, Yukon Gold, or other medium starch potatoes, peeled and diced (to yield 2 cups)
• 4 cups homemade or low-salt vegetable broth
• 2 Tbs. minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
• Crème fraîche, for serving
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a heavy-based pot, heat the olive oil and coconut oil until quite hot. Add the leeks, onions, and salt, and then turn the heat to medium low. Add the thyme and bay leaf. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are slightly softened and a bit browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the saffron, cayenne, and garlic; cook, stirring, for 1 min. Add the potatoes and vegetable broth. Increase the heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a bare simmer, cover, and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Discard the thyme sprig and bay leaf. Transfer 1 cup of the soup to a blender to purée and then return the purée to the pot. Adjust the seasonings. Ladle into shallow bowls; garnish with the parsley, crème fraîche, and pepper.

(adapted from www.finecooking.com)

Crockpot Buttered Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size chunks
• 1/2 onion, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or grated
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1-2 teaspoons curry paste ( I used Thai Red Curry Paste and 2 teaspoons)
• 2 tablespoons garam masala
• 1/2-1 teaspoon turmeric ( I used 1/2 since my family is not crazy about turmeric)
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (use less if you are not a spicy person)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk, regular or lite (I used regular), plus more if needed to thin the sauce
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt (I used 0%)
• 1/4 cup half and half or heavy cream
• cooked white rice, for serving
• Fresh homemade Naan, for scooping (a must!)

In a large glass measuring cup or bowl mix together the coconut milk, greek yogurt and cream. Stir in the tomato paste, garlic, ginger and all the spices. Mix well.

Spray the inside of your crockpot bowl with cooking spray or grease with olive oil. To the bowl sprinkle the onion over the bottom. Add the chicken and then pour the coconut milk mixture over the chicken so the chicken is completely covered. Add the butter and place the lid on the crockpot. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours. I like to stir mine once or twice during cooking, but it is not necessary. When ready to serve taste and season with salt and pepper if desired. Serve over rice with a big piece of fresh Naan

(from http://www.halfbakedharvest.com)