Crock Pot Crazy Part 2: White Chicken Chili

On Friday night, the sister missionaries called me and asked if I was willing to make lunch for General Conference at the church between sessions on Sunday. I knew what I wanted to make! I've had this recipe in various permutations, and this one was pretty delicious. 

White Chicken Chili

2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
2 med onion chopped 
3 tsp garlic powder or 4 cloves fresh garlic minced
4 cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained
24 oz chicken broth
4-6 cans chopped green chilies
2-4 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp pepper
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cup sour cream
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese 

In a slow cooker (mine is 7 quarts) place chicken breasts (fresh or frozen) add chopped onion, garlic, beans, green chilies  chicken broth and all spices. Do not add sour cream or whipping cream. Stir the mixture around a bit to incorporate dry spices. Cook on low for 5-7 hours. Remove chicken to cutting board and shred into bite size pieces. Stir back into slow cooker. In small bowl whisk together sour cream and whipping cream until smooth. Whisk the cream mixture into the crock pot with other ingredients. Let the soup cook until heated through. Right before serving stir in shredded cheese. 

This is YUMMY (Probably partially because of the cream, let's be honest here). But it was great! I stuck it in the crock pot, went and watched the morning session, shredded the chicken, added the cream, and Yum! Everyone asked for the recipe. 

Tomatoes three ways: Part 1

Recently my mom gave me a ton of tomatoes, like more than one person could use in a month...So, I decided to be creative and get cooking so that they didn't go bad, plus it's good practice since I have tomato plants growing in my garden.

Fresh pasta sauce

Ingredients
8-9 vine ripened tomatoes (or slicing tomatoes)
3 TBS olive oil
2 TBS minced garlic
1 TBS Italian seasoning
2 TBS salt
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp pepper
**optional** basil and red pepper flakes

Roughly chop up your tomatoes. I threw out most of the "guts" i.e. seeds and insides, but I reserved some just in case my sauce got too dry.

 

The guts

Put your tomatoes in a pot on medium heat (with your olive oil) to cook them down. As they cook down the tomatoes will peel themselves and you can pick out the skins if you don't like them. Add all of your seasonings and continue to let the tomatoes render out, about 20 min.

After 20 min turn your heat down to lo/simmer and if your tomatoes start to get too dry, add in some of the guts that you didn't throw out. After about 15 more minutes, take out 2/3 of your tomatoes and puree them in a food processor/blender/magic bullet. I did a rough puree, dumped 1/2 back in, then finely pureed the rest. I like texture in my sauce, but if you do not, then puree all of the tomatoes until fine.

This was enough sauce to cover about 1/2 lb of cooked pasta, to which I also added 2 chicken breasts.

Chicken Breast Secret

 Heat your oven to 350. In a pan on the stove (medium heat) add a little oil before adding your chicken breasts and then sear your chicken for about 2 min on each side, giving them a nice golden brown color. Transfer them to your oven for about 10-15 min (depending on their thickness) and you have a perfect chicken breast that didn't dry out on the stove!

Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu

Post-Easter left us with a lot of extra ham, therefore I thought it would be yummy to take another stab at making chicken cordon bleu. My first attempt, hardly worth blogging, turned out just okay. So, after much research I used some of the tips mentioned in this blog to make a better dish. One of the best tips is to have absolutely everything prepped and ready to go so that the assembly line goes smoothly.

Ingredients
4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
4-8 slices of ham (depending on the size of the meat. Mine was freshly cut from the deli and was huge so I only used 4 pieces).
4 slices of swiss cheese (the lady in the aforementioned blog used shredded, whatever works).
Salt & Pepper
olive oil
 toothpicks, if necessary

1 1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
2 TBS butter, melted

1 egg
2 TBS dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350

Beat your egg, dijon mustard, and a splash of water together in a shallow dish. Set aside. Mix the melted butter into your bread crumbs. They will clump up, but if you continue to work your fork through the crumbs they will separate back out. The butter will help your crumbs to get nice and crunchy.

For the chicken, you will want to first roll up your ham and cheese into nice little rolls. Then, cut pockets in your chicken large enough to fit the ham/cheese rolls. I put my fingers on top of the chicken to act as a guide to make sure I didn't cut all the way through.Salt and pepper your chicken breasts, then stuff in your ham and cheese rolls. If you press together the open edge, it should reseal. If it doesn't, you can always use a toothpick to keep the chicken sealed together.

Dip each breast into the egg wash, making sure both sides are evenly covered. Then transfer your breast to the bread crumbs and evenly coat both sides.

Place them on a greased cookie sheet, and drizzle them lightly (like just a few drops on each) with your olive oil. Bake for 20-25 min. 

Here is the link again, but this is what your ham rolls should look like inside your chicken. She was able to fit 2 rolls per breast, but due to the size of mine I only fit one.
 

Sunday Comfort: coq au vin

Yesterday was a cloudy, snowy Sunday and that means that we needed some yummy comfort food. This meal is particularly meant for a special occasion or for once in a while.The reason I say that is this is not the type of recipe where you happen to have all of the ingredients lying around. I used the recipe from Ina Garten and my modifications are in parentheses.

Coq Au Vin (in other words, yummy French stew)

Ingredients

• 4 ounces good bacon or pancetta, diced ( I used bacon)
• 1 (3 to 4-pound) chicken, cut in 8ths (Seeings how I'm pregnant again, I was not about to butcher in anyway a chicken. I bought drumsticks, breast, and thighs separately and froze what I didn't use. I also trimmed the skin and fat from the thighs since they are such a fatty cut.)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound carrots, cut diagonally in 1-inch pieces
• 1 yellow onion, sliced (I omitted this completely)
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic (also sold conveniently in pre-chopped squeeze tubes :) )
• 1/4 cup Cognac or good brandy (I omitted this completely--it wasn't worth the purchase)
• 1/2 bottle (375 ml) good dry red wine such as Burgundy (I used a Cabernet Sauvignon 375mL= 1 1/2 cups. We have used both wines and honestly I couldn't tell a difference. I'm no wine connoisseur. Also, if you're like me you don't have a corkscrew at home. Luckily wine comes with twist-off tops)
• 1 cup good chicken stock, preferably homemade (I used it from a can, homemade is way too involved for me)
• 10 fresh thyme sprigs (I used an italian blend of thyme and oregano for a little more depth, about 1 tablespoon)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 pound frozen small whole onions (I could not find them frozen so I had to buy them fresh and the bag was larger than 1/2 lb, hence the reason I omitted the yellow onion.)
• 1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, stems removed and thickly sliced (no creminis where I shopped, so I used baby bellas--still just as good).

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the bacon and cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove the bacon to a plate with a slotted spoon.


Meanwhile, lay the chicken out on paper towels and pat dry. Liberally sprinkle the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. When the bacon is removed, brown the chicken pieces in batches in a single layer for about 5 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Remove the chicken to the plate with the bacon and continue to brown until all the chicken is done. Set aside.

Add the carrots, onions (here I put in the pearl onions since they were fresh. I didn't want al dente onions as this recipe calls for the pearls at the end), 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper to the pan and cook over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the Cognac and put the bacon, chicken, and any juices that collected on the plate into the pot. Add the wine, chicken stock, and thyme and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and place in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just not pink. Remove from the oven and place on top of the stove.


Mash 1 tablespoon of butter and the flour together and stir into the stew. Add the frozen onions (I did this much earlier to ensure they were fully cooked). In a medium saute pan, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and cook the mushrooms over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until browned. Add to the stew. Bring the stew to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes. Season to taste. Serve hot.

My notes: depending on how much your chicken cooked in the browning process depends on how long you need yours to stay in the oven. Because I bought mine all separately, the pieces were smaller and so they cooked much faster. I did not have to leave it in as long. 

If you get stuck buying fresh pearl onions, a quick tip to peeling them is to boil a pot of water, dump in the onions and let them boil for about a minute, then remove them. The onions skins will come off super easy this way and you don't have to worry about peeling a bajillion onions.

Remember to get wine with a twist-off top if you don't have a wine key/cork screw. Nothing is worse than getting home and not being able to open the wine, or having to knife away at the cork until it disintegrates or falls inward to the wine.

 Browning the bacon. As you can see I did not use a dutch oven-- this is an oven-safe pot and it worked great!

 Diagonal cuts. I used baby carrots, mostly because they are easier to eat than big ol' chunks of regular carrot.

 Post-boiled onion: you can see the skins peeling right off. I chopped the ends and it was easy to get them peeled.

 Browning the chicken. I recommend rotating the chicken in terms of placement because if your oven/coil is like mine, all of the fat sat at the bottom and cooked whatever was down there a lot quicker than what was at the top.

 Sauteeing the carrots and onions. I did chop some of the pearls so that they would spread more of their flavor since I omitted the yellow onion.

 Added the chicken back in with the vegetables, as well as the stock and wine. This is pre-oven.

 This is post-oven. The chicken will get a dark exterior from the wine, but the inside stays nice and white and juicy!

 Sauteeing the mushrooms. This is the first time I used baby bellas and they are kind of a sensitive mushroom, meaning they bruised easily.

 All together in the pot.

Served atop mashed potatoes--enjoy!

Green Chile Chicken Soup

With the cold weather on its way, I decided it was time for some yummy soup. I had researched a lot of recipes online, but none of them were exactly what I was wanting to eat. Plus they are portioned for, like, a restaurant. There are only two of us so here are the portions I used. I tend to not measure things with measuring cups or spoons so here is my best estimate at how to make this yummy soup.

1 cooked chicken breast, chopped or shredded
1 can chicken broth
1 can (the tiny 3.5 oz can) diced green chiles
1 can (I think it was a 10 oz can) green chile enchilada sauce
1/2 can of water
1/2 of a lime's juice
1 can white beans (I used great northern beans)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin

dash of pepper and salt
*Sour cream, shredded cheese, and chips to garnish

Add all of it into a pot and heat thoroughly.

It is delish! As a side note, you can add cilantro to the soup, but the hubs and I do not like it so we chose to omit it. Similar recipes use rice, once again due to preference we used beans. From the peanut gallery (i.e. my husband) he recommended more chicken (he likes his soup chunky, like chili) and less lime (he doesn't like lime...) but I thought it turned out just great!

Chicken Parmesan Soup

I have this friend... we've been friends for a long time, and our relationship is such that most of what we do together is cook dinner. We'll call this friend... "J." Usually J and I get together on Sunday evening, we meet at one of our houses and make something delicious. Usually stunning. We don't go for normal food, we make things amazing! Usually, I'm the basic girl, and J adds the idea for the twist that makes everything just one notch above normal. We've make mac-n-cheese, red and white chicken Parmesan, calzones, the list goes on... all of it was delicious and with a twist.
Earlier this week I saw a post on this blog that seemed just about up our alley. So I sent him a quick facebook post that said something to the effect of "you, me, chicken Parmesan SOUP and focaccia bread" Then I went on with my life... 
Today I was woken up during my Sunday afternoon nap by a buzzing cell phone, just one buzz meant it was a text message and could be checked later. Upon waking up a little more, I rolled over and checked my messages. I aparently had 2 messages that I had missed-- one said "I just saw your message. Is it too late to say ABSOLUTELY!!!!"  then a few minutes later it said "Whatcha doing tonight?" Having made no prior plans, we decided on 6:00 at his place.
I know you probably don't care about the background, but I assure you it was worth the wait for this recipe! The foccacia bread went on the back burner for a while, we'll get back to that one. But this soup... I'm craving leftovers already!

Chicken Parmesan Soup

Just Another Day in Paradise

4 Tablespoons olive oil

2 chicken breasts, pounded thin

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

4 cups chicken broth (We used bullion, I have a costco pack!)

salt and pepper

1 cup fresh basil, chopped (I didn't have nor want to spend 3 dollars on basil, so it was 1/3 cup dried basil, which was perfect)

1 tsp red pepper flakes (the ones I have are pretty spicy and the soup had quite a kick, I liked it, but if you don't... maybe cut this in half.)

1 large onion, sliced really thin

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

(1 cup ish your favorite shaped pasta)

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook it in 2 Tbs of olive oil. Cook until just cooked through. Remove and set aside.

Add remaining olive oil and saute chopped garlic, onions, (dried basil) and pepper flakes. Cook until onions are beginning to soften...just a couple minutes. Add tomatoes and chicken broth and bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.(At this point, my friend J had a brain child, and we added some pasta and let it cook to almost done)  Add the chicken back in and cook another couple of minutes. Sprinkle in the (fresh) chopped basil and stir.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve with your favorite bread sticks. 

Note: Larissa at Just another Day in Paradise used the bread you would use for bruschetta. She toasted them and used them as crutons, which I'd like to try sometime, I'd bet it was delicious!  Alas... I made my own garlic Parmesan bread sticks. Mostly because I totally ruined a batch of rolls the other day (don't ask, I don't know...) and felt the need to redeem myself with yeast breads. 

I'm thinking this will make a quick, easy dinner group dinner during the up coming, busy count down to graduation! One month from TODAY! 

Chicken Marimba (or Chicken Lasagna)

Mix the following ingredients:
3 C Cooked diced chicken
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1/3 c milk
chopped onion
chopped red pepper
sliced mushrooms
1/2 t basil

Then mix these:
1 1/2 c cottage cheese
1 egg
2 Tbsp Parsley

2 C shredded cheddar
1/2 c Parmesan
lasagna or bow tie noodles cooked (one package)

Layer chicken mixture with noodles, cottage cheese mixture and cheddar cheese, like lasagna. Use 3 layers of noodles, ending with chicken sauce. Top with the Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350* for 45 min to an hour. Then enjoy it with some french bread and some salad.