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Who likes coming home to dinner already made? ME! But hey, I’m single and I work full-time. Wait. I have a crock pot. If you don’t have a house-spouse, your best friend would be the crock pot. Plug it in as you leave, come home to dinner. It’s happiness in an appliance.
Feel free to mess with the vegetables — this recipe is pretty forgiving, and you can have what you like. If you do not like parsnips, cannot find parsnips, or don’t want to go look, use potatoes instead of them. If you’ve never had them, give parsnips a go — they’re surprising in flavor, and add something good to this stew.
Come Home to Chicken Stew
1 pound of chicken breast, cut in 1 inch cubes (could use thighs, too, if you prefer)
2-3 Tablespoons all-purpose gluten-free flour mix (I used Bob’s, more or less depending on how wet your chicken is)
2 teaspoons dried minced onion
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon sweet or Hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt*
1/2 teaspoon dill
freshly ground pepper, to taste
Spray or oil your crock. Add all the above ingredients, and mix thoroughly so chicken is coated and there’s no clumps of flour at the bottom. If you think your stock is salty, hold off on the salt.
Add your veg and stock:
2-3 carrots, chopped
2-3 small parsnips, chopped (or potatoes, see above)
3 ribs celery, chopped
3 cups chicken broth or stock (check for allergens here, unless you make your own)
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
2 small or 1 large bay leaves
Handful of celery leaves, optional
Cook on low 8-10 hours or high 4-5 hours.
Come home and add 1 cup of green beans or peas, if desired, about 1 hour before serving.
Serve with roasted potatoes, or some sort of roll or bread.
So Denise and I decided to go theme-ways for this particular Monday holiday. What does the theme of “Presidents’ Day” conjure up for you? Let me tell you, I had IDEAS. Many of them were particularly complicated, some were elaborate, and my fridge is still full of ingredients I bought while over-thinking my options.
What I ended up with is in homage to our sitting leader, Barack Obama, 44th president. His love of burgers is well-documented, and our First Lady’s initiatives include promoting healthy eating partly through family time. This is a quick, easy, and healthy weeknight burger recipe that takes about 15 minutes to prepare. With sides, this will feed four. Or it will feed you for a few meals.
mmmmmm
All-American Chicken Ranch Burgers
Makes 4 quarter pound burgers
Preheat either indoor grill, grill pan, or cast iron skillet.
1 lb. ground chicken
1 teaspoon crushed garlic (2-3 cloves)
2 teaspoons minced dried onion
1 teaspoon dill
½ teaspoon basil
½ teaspoon dried red bell pepper
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (OPTIONAL! For those who like a kick)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons potato starch
Grease your hands, and then mix the spice mix into the ground chicken well. Divide into 4 balls and compact it. This is a bit squishier than, say, beef burgers, so it doesn’t form into patties as well. It seems to work best to leave it in a larger ball and then flatten it once you’ve put it on the heat — or automatically in a two-sided grill. These take about 5 minutes on a George Foreman grill, and I’m guessing about 3-4 minutes per side in a skillet over medium heat.
The two flavors of ranch dressing that these ranch burgers are missing are a hit of acid and a creaminess. So make up for both with an avocado smash. While the burgers are cooking, make your sauce/topping:
1 ripe avocado
1 lime
pinch of salt
Smash avocado. Drizzle in a bit of the lime juice to get a guacamole-type consistency. Sprinkle on just a bit of salt.
To make up your burger, toast whatever you’re using as a bun. I used Deland Bakery’s Millet Potato Bread. If you eat gluten, surely you have a favorite. If you want a bun, Schar makes some decent ones.
To this I added:
Daiya cheddar block, sliced very thin
raw baby spinach, about a handful
topped with the burger
and then the avocado sauce
To continue the theme, maybe serve with broccoli, least favorite vegetable of our 41st president, George H.W. Bush? And jelly beans for dessert, favorite candy of our 40th president, Ronald Reagan?
Do you enjoy celebrating “minor” holidays? How?
(And if anyone tries these on a regular outdoor grill, please let me know how it works out!)
Okay, first things first. My good camera’s battery hit the skids half way through cooking this recipe, so I had to resort to my cell phone camera. Which means that some of these pictures are more terrible than they usually are. Now on to the subject at hand.
Alfredo sauce. Seriously, before the food allergy apocalypse, this was one of my very favorite things. When I was first diagnosed, I tried to make a soy based Alfredo sauce, and I took one bite, and dumped the rest of it down the sink. I may have also spit the bite I took in the sink. (Yes, I’m that classy.) You may remember that I have mentioned that I’m not a fan of soy milk. So when Mary Kate and I decided to do this blog, Alfredo sauce was one of the first things that I put on the infamous spreadsheet for us to find a solution to. I think I’m finally there. Even my husband, who can still eat dairy, says that this is amazingly close. This recipe will not help those of you with a nut allergy, as the base is made of cashews. Although the sauce itself is gluten free, I did use regular pasta, which is not. So if you want to make this recipe gluten free, just use gluten free pasta (MK suggests Schar pasta (I’ve only had the penne), Quinoa pasta (here, only had the macaroni), and Trader Joe’s corn pastas). This recipe will probably feed about 4-6 people depending on portion size.
Alfredo Sauce:
1 cup of raw cashews or cashew pieces (pieces are cheaper, buy those)
4 teaspoons of lemon juice (fresh is better but the bottled will work in a pinch)
1 teaspoon of roasted minced garlic (you can get it in a jar at the grocery store)
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon of nutritional yeast
dash of nutmeg
dash of paprika
dash of sage
1 1/2 cups of boiling water
1 tablespoon of Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread Soy-free
2 teaspoons of cool water
2 teaspoons of corn starch
Chicken Primavera Ingredients:
1 to 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breast, sliced into strips
seasoned salt
black pepper
2 tablespoons of canola oil
2 cups of pasta (small shells, macaroni, etc.)
1 – 16 ounce bag of frozen mixed vegetables
enough water to cook the pasta
First, make the Alfredo sauce:
Put the tea kettle on to boil your 1 1/2 cups of water first. You will need your blender. Take your 1 cup of cashews and grind them into a fine powder. You can do this in the blender, but I like to grind them in a coffee grinder that I use specifically food and spices.
Finely Ground Cashews
It’s easier if you grind them in batches if you’re using the coffee grinder. Once they are finely ground, put the cashews in the blender. (If you’re grinding them up in the blender, put the cashews in blender and process them until they are finely ground before adding any other ingredients.) Add the lemon, garlic, salt, black pepper, nutritional yeast, nutmeg, paprika, sage, and the boiling water in the blender with the cashews. Put the cover on the blender and blend until smooth. Let it blend for a while, the smoother the better.
Once you think it’s blended enough, pour the mixture into a sauce pan, and put it on medium low. Add the Earth Balance and let it melt into the mixture, while you mix the cornstarch and 2 teaspoons of cool water together in a small container. Once the Earth Balance is melted, stir the mixture to incorporate the Earth Balance and then pour in the cornstarch mixture, while continually stirring (if you don’t stir continuously, you’ll have lumps). Put the sauce on the back burner on the lowest setting while you get everything else ready.
Alfredo Sauce
Now it’s time to cook the chicken. Slice the chicken breast into strips if you haven’t already done so, and season them with the seasoned salt and pepper (just sprinkle some over it). Put the canola oil in a skillet and turn the burner onto medium high. Put the chicken into the pan but don’t crowd the pieces.
Chicken properly spaced in frypan
Sear the chicken so you get a nice golden brown on the outside, and make sure your pieces get cooked without being overcooked. Easy for me to say right? I prefer to use dark meat, because it’s really hard to over cook dark meat, and because I like it better. But, since my husband likes the breast meat, and I got a wicked deal on some chicken breast, that’s what we’re using here. However, next time I’d probably use boneless chicken thighs. Anyway, the picture below shows what you’re trying to get for a nicely seared outside, as it’ll add flavor to the dish.
Properly Seared Chicken
Put the chicken aside once it is cooked.
Now we need to cook the pasta and vegetables. Using a large pan, put enough water in to cook 2 cups of pasta, and a couple of dashes of salt. Bring the water to a boil, and add the two cups of pasta to the water. When the pasta is almost ready but not quite tender enough to be considered done, pour the bag of frozen mixed vegetables into the pan with the pasta.
Pasta and Vegetables Cooking
Bring the water back to a boil and let it cook for two or three minutes after that. Once the vegetables are done, the pasta should also be ready. Drain the water.
Spoon some of the pasta and vegetables onto a plate, and place some chicken on top of the pasta and vegetables.
Chicken, Pasta and Vegetables on a plate
Then ladle some of the Alfredo sauce over your chicken, pasta and vegetables. And Voila! Yay Alfredo Sauce!!
This recipe featuring lovely tasty kale is posted, in part, in honor of the last day of G.I.S.H.W.H.E.S. (the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen), which everyone who knows me has heard way too much about (and has likely been asked to participate in). I am not sure why GISHWHES is obsessed with kale, except that kale is truly wonderful and tasty if you cook it right. I think this one is pretty good.
Our friend Mary has, this year, become the Great Kale Whisperer, and has been providing bags and bags of kale to any takers. Now that I know you can freeze kale, I’ve stocked up, but this recipe is rapidly depleting my stash. This is so warming and tasty that the Starks could find comfort in it (and go read or watch Game of Thrones if you want to get the reference. Everyone else is doing it.).
A note on cleaning kale — I wash kale, especially if not from the supermarket (i.e. there may be bugs) in the manner I learned from my friend Linda a few years ago for broccoli — run a sink full of cold water, add a handful of salt, soak veg for about 10 minutes, then drain. The salt shrivels any cling-on creatures, and you’re good to go.
More Chicken and Kale!
Winter Is Coming Chicken and Kale
2 T olive oil
1 baseball-sized onion, chopped
1/2 t salt
pepper to taste
3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 t dried thyme, crushed
16 oz. (1 large) package baby bella mushrooms, washed, de-stemmed*, and broken into 2 or 4 pieces each — breaking mushrooms rather than chopping them seems to make them shrink less, and I like the size better for this dish.
3 cloves garlic, minced (is best to mince fresh, not use jarred, here)
3-4 cups kale, washed, stemmed, and chopped finely
1 t shallot pepper blend
1 tube of prepared polenta (sundried-tomato and garlic is nice for this)
Heat olive oil over medium heat in large skillet with cover (or large soup pot, if you don’t have a covered skillet). When shiny and hot, add chopped onion, salt and pepper. Cook until onion is translucent.
Add chicken and stir every few minutes until chicken starts to brown at the edges.
In separate skillet, heat just a sheen of olive oil over medium heat for the polenta. Slice polenta into slightly smaller than 1/2″ rounds, and pan fry. If you heat your polenta through and leave it soft, the juices of the dish will soak into it. My personal preference is to cook it until golden brown on either side, giving it a crunchy edge.
Add thyme, mushrooms, and garlic to large pot, and cook, stirring often, until mushrooms have shrunk and given off most their moisture.
Add kale, sprinkle with shallot pepper and cover, without stirring for 2-3 minutes, until kale has wilted. Then stir, cooking 3-5 minutes more. Turn off heat and cover if polenta isn’t done yet. Serve chicken mixture over polenta.
*If you ever make your own soup stock — veg or meat — it’s useful to throw things like mushroom stems in a container in the freezer to use for stock. The mushroom stems add a nice depth to stock.
(P.S. Thanks to my mother’s friend Barb for being a test cook for this recipe and helping me to improve it!)
Why buffalo wings? Because I love them, and I can’t eat them out anymore. Buffalo wing sauce is generally made with butter or margarine, and therefore contains milk. And depending on the particular restaurant, the breading may contain milk and they might use an egg to coat the chicken before breading it. And many restaurants use wings that are delivered to them already breaded/coated so they have no clue what’s in them unless they still have a box kicking around with the label on it. You can imagine just how much fun this conversation with restaurant servers would be and why it’s not even worth the bother to try – Oh, can you make me a special sauce that doesn’t contain any milk or milk products, and by the way, margarine contains dairy. And even though you get the wings pre-breaded, can you find some wings that aren’t coated and cook them for me? Yeah, right. Not happening in this universe. Secondly, although I learned how to deep fry with a stockpot and a candy/frying thermometer while we were working on one of our recipes, I’m not frying on a work night and cleaning that up. So the recipe had to be baked. I started with this recipe and modified it to be dairy free, and then did a gluten-free version too, even though Mary Kate doesn’t really care for buffalo wings. The nice thing about this recipe is that you can take the cooked chicken wings and make any sauce you want and then coat them with it. So if you don’t like buffalo wings, experiment. Tell us what you used for alternate sauces.
Easy Buffalo Wings (Dairy-free, BUT NOT gluten-free version)
Easy Buffalo Wings (Dairy-free, BUT NOT gluten-free version)
Wings and Coating:
36 chicken wing pieces
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon salt or spicy seasoned salt, such as Penzey’s Spicy 4/S Salt or Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasoning
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of Penzey’s Forward Seasoning (If you don’t have this, mix some black pepper, onion powder, paprika, garlic powder, and turmeric together to equal 1 teaspoon)
Wings Coated on Baking SheetCooked Wings on Baking Sheet
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a bowl toss the wings with the oil, and salt. Place flour and Forward seasoning into a gallon zip lock bag and seal closed. Shake to evenly distribute flour and Forward seasoning. Add a few wing pieces and shake to coat evenly. Remove wings from the bag, shaking off excess flour, and spread out evenly on oiled baking pan(s). Do not crowd. Repeat until all wings are coated. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, turn the wings over, and cook another 20-25 minutes, or until the wings are cooked through and browned.
Sauce Ingredients in SaucepanCompleted Buffalo Sauce
While the wings are baking, mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a pan, and over low heat bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and then turn off.
