Thai Chicken Soup

My husband and I loved this Thai Chicken Soup from Food Network Magazine.  I couldn't wait to make it as it was so different from usual comfort food, yet very hearty.  This cconut-curry soup is packed full of flavours.  It wasn't so spicey that you were breaking out in a sweat, which is the way I like it, but my husband prefers to have his mouth on fire with Thai food.  Our kids found it a bit spicey for their tastes, but they still ate it.

THAI CHICKEN SOUP RECIPE
from Food Network Magazine, Nov 2010

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons green curry paste
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 15-ounce can coconut milk
1 tablespoon fish sauce, plus more to taste
2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
4 ounces thin rice noodles, broken into pieces
2 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 pound), very thinly sliced crosswise
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, plus more to taste
1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and curry paste and cook, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth, coconut milk and fish sauce; cover and bring to a boil.

Add the bell peppers and noodles and simmer, uncovered, until the noodles are al dente, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken and simmer until just cooked through, about 3 more minutes. Stir in the lime juice and cilantro. Add more fish sauce and lime juice, if desired.

Printable Recipe
 
Happily submitted to Family Friendly Fridays at Mommie Cooks!
 
Enjoy!

 

from "The How and Why Wonder Book of Our Earth"

by Felix Sutton

Illustrated by John Hull

1972 Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.

I bought this lovely book at an auction.

Recipe: Barbecued Chicken Sandwiches (Slow Cooker)

When you want to stay cool in the kitchen and have a day full of errands, the slow cooker is your best tool for a sucessful supper.  If I know I have a busy day ahead of me, I scan my slow cooker cook books for recipes based on the ingredients I have on hand. 

The sauce on these chicken sandwhiches came out sweet, even though I skipped adding the brown sugar called for in the recipe. The combination of ketchup, Worcestershire, red wine vinegar, celery seed, chili powder and hot pepper sauce was delicious and flavourful. Some slow cooked dishes can be very bland but the flavour in these stands up to long hours of heat.

I made these delicious sandwiches with some bone-in chicken breasts and leftover cooked turkey I had in the freezer.  I boiled them from frozen until the meat was cooked and ready to shred, which took about 45 minutes.  After you boil them, drain and run cold water over them until they are cool enough to handle for shredding.

BARBECUED CHICKEN SANDWICHES
from "Taste of Home Casseroles, Slow Cooker & Soups" cook book

2 broiler/fryer chickens (3 to 3-1/2 pounds each), cooked and shredded
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups water
1-1/4 cups ketchup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar (I skipped this)
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon each salt, celery seed and chili powder
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
Hamburger Buns (see my home made version here)

In a 3-qt. slow cooker or Dutch oven, combine all ingredients except buns.  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours in the slow cooker (I made mine 3 hours on high), or simmer for 1-1/2 hours on the stovetop.  Serve on buns.  Yield: 8-10 servings.

Printable Recipe

Enjoy!

from the book "Children's Guide to Knowledge"
"Trees and Shrubs" by Marjorie Hartwell
and Charles Bradford
1971, Parents' Magazine Enterprises, Inc.

Recipe Cobb Salad Pizza & Bread Machine Dough

A salad pizza doesn't sound very filling for dinner but this has cooked chicken, bacon and a wonderful whole wheat crust to satisfy your appetite.  It's also filled with avacado, blue cheese, and lots of fresh vegetables.  The blend of flavours comes together nicely. My husband and kids even enjoyed this supper.

Yesterday was too hot to be cooking supper here in Kansas. So what do you make when everyone's starving and you need something quick - Cobb Salad Pizza! The August 2010 issue of Cooking Light magazine arrived in our mailbox yesterday and this recipe jumped off the page at me. I've been looking for interesting ways to use up all the greens we've been receiving on our CSA, and this looked like a delicious option.

You can use a store-bought crust, but this whole wheat crust is so easy to prepare in the bread maker.  Remember a pizza is as good as it's crust.  My dough takes 1 hour and 20 minutes to prepapre in the bread maker.

WHOLE WHEAT PIZZA DOUGH (Bread Maker)
from The Bread Machine Baker

3 teaspoons or 1 package of yeast (I use Bread Machine Yeast)
2 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon sugar (I used 1 1/2 half packets of Truvia)
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup water (room temperature)
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Place all ingredients in your machine according to the specifications of your machine (mine is always yeast first, followed by flour and the other ingredients).  Select the dough cycle and push start. 

Printable Recipe

COBB SALAD PIZZA
adapted from Cooking Light Magazine, August 2010

1 (11-ounce) can refrigerated thin-crust pizza dough (or make your own)
Cooking spray (I used olive oil instead)
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese, divided
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar)
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1 teaspoon Montreal Chicken Spice (I added this ingredient)
2 slices applewood-smoked bacon (I used 4 slices maple bacon)
8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast cutlets (I diced them)
1/2 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
2 Tablespoons chopped red onion
2 cups lightly packed mixed baby greens
1/2 cup diced peeled avacado

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Unroll dough on a baking sheet coated in cooking spray (I used olive oil to coat the pizza pan instead); pat dough into a 14x12" rectangle.  Lightly coat dough with cooking spray (I used olive oil instead).  Bake at 425 for 8 minutes or until golden.  Remove from oven; sprinkl evenly with 2 Tablespoons of the blue cheese.  Set aside.

Combine oil, vinegar, mustard, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl; stir with a whisk.

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp.  Remove any bacon from pan; crumble bacon into oil mixture. 

Wipe your pan clean with paper towels.  Heat pan over medium-high heat, coating pan with cooking spray.  Sprinkle chicken with remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper (and I added a teaspoon or so of Montreal Chicken Spice).  Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes each side until done.

Add chicken, tomatoes, and onion to oil mixture; toss gently to combine.  Add greens; toss gently.  Top crust evenly with chicken mixture, avacado, and remaining 2 Tablespoons of cheese.  Cut into 8 pieces.

Printable Recipe

Enjoy!

1961 Harper & Brothers

I purchased this book at a garage sale for 50 cents.

Recipe: Spice-Rubbed Grilled Chicken

Pow!  This spicey chicken will knock your socks off!  I'm not one for hot food or food that's too spicey but this spice rub has  a sweet kick without overpowering everything.  We love barbequed chicken at our house but the sauce is often full of sugars, so I decided to use spice to add interest instead.  I "grilled" these in the oven and they came out crispy all over.

ALL-PURPOSE SPICE RUB
from Everyday Food Magazine (July/Aug 2006)

1/3 cup coarse salt
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
2 Tablespoons ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons dried oregano
2 Tablespoons dried thyme leaves
1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper (optional)

In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients, using your hands to break up the sugar. Store in an airtight container, away from heat and light, up to 6 months.

SPICE-RUBBED GRILLED CHICKEN
from my kitchen :)

8 chicken drumsticks
All-Purpose Spice Rub

In a shallow baking dish cover the chicken with spice-rub, make sure you get some under the skin as well.  Let sit in fridge for 30 minutes or more for the chicken to "absorb" the flavours (you can also skip this step if you need to).  Preheat oven to 425.  Prepare a foil-lined cookie sheet and spray it with cooking spray.  Place chicken pieces on prepared cookie sheet and bake in oven for 20 minutes.  Take chicken out, turn over to crisp the other side and bake for another 20 minutes.  Serve with some dipping sauce like ranch or sour cream to help balance the spice.

Printable Recipe

Enjoy!

from "My Big Book of the Seasons"

by Bertha Moris Parker

Illustrated by Eloise Wilkin

1966, Western Publishing Co.

 

This book is from our local library.

Recipe: Baked Chicken with Peaches

Yum, yum, yum!  Oh this was sooo good having juicy peaches in every bite!  Like all roasted dishes, this came together very quickly and was easy to make.  The tricky part was cutting up the juicy peaches.  I served this with fresh-picked sweet corn on the cob.

I was originally going to make Peachy Keen Chicken from Mommy Cooks! but didn't have all the ingredients I needed.  I found this recipe at All Recipes.

BAKED CHICKEN WITH PEACHES
from All Recipes

8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup brown sugar
4 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Place chicken in the prepared baking dish, and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Place peach slices over chicken, then sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, ginger, cloves, and lemon juice.

Bake for about 30 minutes in the preheated oven, basting often with juices, until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.
 

Printable Recipe
 
Enjoy!

1962, Franklin Watts, Inc.

This book is from our local library.

Recipe: BBQ Chicken with Homemade Sauce & Steakfries

This is one of our regular weeknight meals that I make often, however, this is the first time I've made-it-from scratch.  In Micheal Pollen's Food Rules: An Eater's Manual he says it's okay to have french fries and such, but just to make it yourself instead of driving through a fast food joint to get it.  This makes sense as we're less tempted to eat these all the time if we have to go through the effort of making them.  These steak fries though, are worth it ;o)

I wanted to reduce the amount of sugar in our barbeque sauce so I made it myself.  Our favourite way to serve it is baked in the oven on chicken drumsticks.  Here's a great recipe for it and how to make this tastey chicken dish.  If you have a homemade barbeque sauce recipe, please share it in the comments as I'd like to try to make some different varieties.

HOMEMADE BARBEQUE SAUCE
from Barbeque-Smoker-Recipes.com

1 400g can of chopped tomatoes or 1 cup of ketchup (I used 28oz. can crushed organic tomatoes)
6 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons vinegar
4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon dry English mustard
1 clove garlic, crushed (I used minced garlic)
A pinch of salt and pepper
Red Chillies / Chili Sauce to your taste (I used Louisianna Hot Sauce, a shake or two)

Just throw everything into the saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 45 mins or so until you have a nice thick sauce.  Remember, you can always vary chilies and garlic to suit.

BBQ CHICKEN DRUMSTICKS FROM THE OVEN
adapted from Kraft Canada Recipe
8 chicken drumsticks
2-4 cups barbeque sauce
2 dashes hot sauce

Preheat oven to 400.  Place chicken drumsticks on foil-lined cookie sheet, sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake 20 minutes, then remove chicken drumsticks from cookie sheet and place in large bowl of barbeque sauce to coat.  Return to sheet and bake 30 more minutes.

STEAK FRIES
from e-how.com

4 to 5 medium russet potatoes
Extra-virgin olive oil
Dried herbs, salt and pepper
 
Preheat the oven to high, or 450 degrees. Toaster ovens work well for this recipe and save energy.
Start with 4 or 5 medium-sized russet potatoes and cut into thin, about 1/2 to 1 inch, wedges.

Spread the potato wedges out on a cookie sheet. Coat the potatoes with extra-virgin olive oil using a basting brush. Sprinkle with dried herbs and steak seasoning or salt and pepper. If you don't have any dried herbs, Mrs. Dash will work (I used Montreal Chicken Spice).

Cook potatoes in the oven for 25 minutes. Turn potatoes once with a spatula, about half way into the cooking time. Steak fries are done when they turn slightly brown on the cut sides. Serve fries hot from the oven with lots of ketchup and napkins.

Printable Recipe

Enjoy!

from the book "Bruin Furryball in the Toy-House"

Trnka-Menzel

Andrew Dakers, London

Recipe: Spring Chicken Pot Pie

A delicious chicken pie stuffed with oddles of spring vegetables.  The light sauce is so tastey with paprika and thyme.  Everyone loved this dish and some even had second and third helpings. 

This wonderful dish was created by Good Things Catered which is a lovely lady who used to run a sucessful catering business and now blogs her recipes and menu's.  How lucky are we to have her share her great cooking!

SPRING CHICKEN POT PIE
from Good Things Catered

2 tsp olive oil
About 6 small boneless chicken thighs, trimmed
2 medium carrots, halved and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/4 large red onion, diced
1 leek, trimmed halved lengthwise and white/light green portion sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 lb. fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
6 button mushrooms, sliced
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 c. all purpose flour
2 c. low fat milk
juice of 1 small lemon
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
garlic salt and pepper
1 c. fresh steamed peas
garlic salt and pepper
1/2 recipe pie dough

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

In large dutch oven over medium heat, add olive oil and bring up to almost smoking.  Meanwhile, slice chicken thighs into 3/4 inch strips.  Season chicken liberally with garlic salt and pepper and toss into dutch oven.  Cooking, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through; about 5-8 minutes depending on size.  Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

With remaining olive oil and chicken drippings still in pan, turn heat down to medium low and add carrots and red onion.  Adding a very small pinch of salt, stir to combine.  Cook until carrots just start to become tender, about 5 minutes, and then add leeks, asparagus and mushrooms.  Cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables have become tender crisp, about 10-12 minutes.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Add butter to pan and stir until completely melted.  Add flour to pan and stir well, scraping up brown bits from the bottom of pan and combining flour and butter (this is your roux).  Stirring constantly cook roux until uniform in texture and beginning to brown slightly, about 3 minutes. 

Slowly add milk 1/2 cup at a time into pan, stirring constantly and combining with the roux thoroughly before adding more (this is your bechamel).  Once all milk is added, cook while stirring and scraping bottom to make sure mixture does not burn.

Add lemon, paprika, thyme, parsley, salt and pepper to taste and cook while stirring until thickened (lift your spoon out of the mixture, drag a line across it horizontally and it should hold it's shape.), about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop strips of chicken into small pieces.

When bechamel is thickened, add chicken with any juices, cooked vegetables,and peas back to the pan.  Stir to combine well and place into a prepared souffle pan.  Top with pastry dough, wash with egg wash if desired, and place into oven.  Bake until pastry has started to brown slightly, about 20 minutes.  Remove from oven, let cool slightly and serve.

Printable Copy

Enjoy!

from the book "Fairy Tales"
by Hans Andersen
Illustrated by Kay Nielsen
1932 Garden City Publishing Company

Recipe: Chicken Cacciatore Soup

I'm not posting a St. Patrick's Day recipe today.  Our family heritage is more of a "mush" than anything else.  I'm English (Grandad from England), Scottish, Acaidian French, Spanish (Great Grandfather from Spain), and who knows what else.  Then our kids have a mix from Dad's side (Saxon, Irish, et al) so our kids are like 6 or more heritage mixed together - mush!

So, I'm posting an Italian recipe just to throw everyone for a loop ;o)  I actually had a bottle of Ledo's tomatoe sauce that my darling husband got for me the last time he was in Maryland that I've been dying to cook with.  Don't know Ledo's Pizza?  I (and Gail from Oprah) can only describe it as the best tasting pizza ever!  Ledo's Pizza was featured on Oprah's Quest for the Best: The Best Pizza in America back in Nov 2006.

I found a great recipe on the Food Network Site for Chicken Cacciatorie Soup by Pat Bias.  Oh boy, this was soooo delicious and quick to make.  I read it's taste described as "spaghetti soup" and I think that's a good fit.  We had it sprinkled with parmesan cheese and served with a side of homemade Buttermilk Cheese Bread (I'll post this yummy bread machine recipe later).  Our daughter had a friend over for supper and even she gobbled it up.  Our 3 year old son (who we can hardly get to eat anything) ate his whole bowl.  Sucess!

I did make a few changes to the recipe.  I cooked the diced chicken in Montreal Chicken Spice and Olive Oil prior to adding it to the soup.  Why?  Becasue I thought it wouldn't be as gross would taste better than adding the uncooked chicken to the soup.  After all the ingredients were mixed I transferred it to the slow cooker turned on low for an hour until we were ready to eat.

CHICKEN CACCIATORE SOUP
from Food Network's Pat Bias

1 cup uncooked rotini
3 cans vegetable broth
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 8 ounces)
1 (30-ounce) jar of extra chunky spaghetti sauce with mushrooms and diced onions
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic puree
1/3 teaspoon Italian seasoning
3 teaspoons red wine (optional)
1 (14.5-ounce) can stewed tomatoes, cut up in juice
1 medium zucchini sliced

Cook rotini according to package directions, substituting 1 can vegetable broth for part of the water. Cook until done (about 10 minutes). Drain and set aside. Cut chicken breasts into a 1-inch dice. In a large pan, combine spaghetti sauce, 2 cans of vegetable broth, onions, garlic puree, chicken, Italian seasoning, red wine, tomatoes, and zucchini. Cook until vegetables are tender and chicken is cooked through (20 to 30 minutes). Add cooked rotini, and cook until heated through.

For a printable version of this recipe go here.
Enjoy!
 

Sugar and Spice Cookbook for Kids
by Julia Kiene
1950 Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Appliance Division

Recipe: Chicken-Patty Pockets

For Spring Break this year we're having a "staycation".  No big plans, just going with the flow while the kids hang out with their friends.  One plan, is to spend some time in the kitchen as our daughter is having trouble reading through instructions at school.  My hope is that learning to follow a recipe may help?

Yesterday, she had 2 friends over for the day.  While they played at the park, I flipped through the April 2010 Everyday Food  (I love this magazine!) and spotted a good recipe for lunch on page 38, "Emeril's Chicken Patty Pockets". 


After the park we headed to the grocery store for the ingredients.  I told the girls what we needed and let them find where everything was (ground chicken, parsley, mint, cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes, pita pockets, onions).

I have found that when our daughter has more than one friend over at the same time, I have to keep them engaged a bit to prevent any drama (i.e. "she won't play with me, we're bored, they don't want to play what I want to play").  While this doesn't happen often, they were tired from sleepovers the night before and that could only lead to trouble ;o)  Keep in mind, when she has friends over the rule is no TV or electronics and it's free play all day.

Her friends love to cook and I've put them to work cooking many times.  I break down a recipe and give each of them a job.  This recipe required lots of chopping, snipping of herbs and prepwork so there was a job for everyone to do.  Making the patties with the ground chicken made for lots of "eewww!" but they liked getting their hands all dirty.

They had fun and the patties cooked up in a flash (4 minutes each side under the broiler).  It took some time to figure out how to cut a pita pocket (seriously, I've never done this) but we eventually clued-in how to do it.  It's nice that the girls see me learning and figuring out how to do stuff too.  We ruined 4 pita's before we figured out how to get the pocket.  Um, I finally figured out that you just have to cut them in half then open them up.

These were spicy!  Our daughter eats Thai food and found the patties very spicy.  Next time the kids make them, we'll reduce the Cayanne Pepper to 1/4 tsp. to see if that helps.  The kids still ate at least one patty each and said it was delicious.  My husband and I thought so too :)  I froze the leftover patties for future lunches.

Isn't that pretty how the made the recipe look like it was printed onto a tea towel?

UPDATE 15-Mar-2010

I took these to a MOMS Club Recipe Club event where we were featuring appetizers and had the pita's cut into pockets on the side. It was a hit! I'll include the recipe for the Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies you see there later this week.

 

Enjoy!  Sarah

from the book "The Animal Fair"

Stories and Pictures by Alice and Matin Provensen

1952 Western Publishing Company