Coconut Curry Chicken Soup (Slow Cooker!)

This soup is really good!  I keep thinking about it and I ate it last night for dinner!!  I just love curry and coconut milk, mmmm, makes me happy.

Ingredients:
1 T Olive Oil
1 large Onion, chopped
1 large Bell Pepper (any color), chopped
3/4 tsp Salt
3 Garlic cloves, minced
3 T Yellow Curry powder
1 tsp Cumin
1 T Fresh Ginger, grated
4 Red Potatoes, cut into bite size pieces
5 cups low-sodium Chicken Broth
3 Large boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1.5 - 2 lbs), leave whole
1 can Coconut Milk
1/4 cup Corn Starch
1/4 cup Cold Water

Extras:
Cashews
Chopped Cilantro
Cooked white rice

Saute onion, bell pepper, and salt in olive oil until soft and spotty brown.  Add garlic, curry, cumin and ginger and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Remove from heat and add to slow cooker insert.  Stir in chicken broth and red potatoes.  Lay chicken breasts on top of all ingredients in slow cooker.  Cook on low for 4 hours.  Remove chicken and set aside.  Combine corn starch and cold water in separate bowl until dissolved and smooth, stir cornstarch mixture and coconut milk into soup.  Turn Slow cooker to high and cook for 30 - 45 more minutes.   Whisk the soup briefly, chop chicken into small bite size pieces, then stir chicken into the hot soup to warm through.  Serve with steamed white rice and garnish with cashews and cilantro.  Enjoy!!!

Roasted Tomato Soup

This soup is so yummy! We loved it, kids loved it, even my 2 year old asked for 3rds! I was given 2 grocery bags full of ripe tomatoes from my friend.  I made 8 pints of salsa plus this awesome soup for dinner.  I didn't get any tomatoes planted this year, (I had a baby instead :) Yay for friends' gardens!

2 1/2 lbs Fresh Ripe Tomatoes cored and halved (or quartered if large)
6 Garlic Cloves peeled and left whole
1 large Yellow Onion sliced thin
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
2 T Butter
2 T Flour
2 Bay Leaves
1 tsp Dried Basil
3 C Chicken Broth
2 T Sugar
2/3 C Half and Half

Preheat oven to 450. Spread tomatoes, garlic, and onions on cookie sheet (I needed 2 sheets).  Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast in oven for about 25 minutes or until soft and caramelized.  During the last 5 minutes of roasting melt butter in soup pot then stir in flour.  Add bay leaves and basil and let cook for a minute or so.  Whisk in chicken broth.  Remove veggies from the oven and add to soup pot along with any accumulated juices on your cookie sheets.  Add sugar.  Let simmer uncovered for 10 - 15 minutes.  Remove bay leaves.  Puree in blender in 2 batches or with an immersion blender.  (Just remember to remove the insert from your blender lid and cover with a towel so you don't have an explosion!)  Return to soup pot and add half and half.  Salt and pepper to taste (I didn't need to add any more). Enjoy!

Chicken Noodle Soup

I am a huge soup person. I love making and eating soup, all different kinds, I feel like I'm just doing something good for my family and for my body. This is not a new recipe, instead it is one of my all time favorites. I make it all the time, the ultimate comfort food for me - and so healthy and low calorie. It usually will feed our family of 4 for two dinners, and then feed me lunch one other day - I lOVE it!

My mom passed the original recipe onto me several years ago when I was in college and I've turned it into my own streamlined version.

Ingredients:

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts

3 or 4 large carrots sliced

4 stalks of celery diced

1 large onion chopped

2 or 3 cloves of garlic minced

6 cups water

3 tsp chicken bouillon

2 cans low sodium chicken broth (I prefer Swanson's - no MSG)

Egg noodles (I usually use about 1/3 to 1/2 package and I always go with "No Yolk" brand extra wide)

Bring water to boil, add bouillon. Simmer chicken in bouillon water for at least an hour, until chicken is cooked and soft. Remove cooked chicken and add all the vegetables and canned broth to water. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are soft - about 20 minutes. While vegetables are cooking - chop chicken into bite size pieces. After vegies are soft add egg noodles and chicken and cook 10 minutes longer.

Totally easy and really yummy - love it!!

Make-ahead Spinach Manicotti

I totally blew it on the picture of this dish, it looks way ugly - but don't be deceived - this was delicious! I've never made manicotti before, and this recipe I found is awesome, and way easy. The recipe comes from Taste of Home magazine submitted by Christy Freeman.

1 carton (15 ounces) ricotta cheese

1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided (I used the grated kind from the can)

1 egg

2 tsp minced fresh parsley (I used 1 tsp dry parsley)

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp garlic powder

2 jars (28 ounces each) spaghetti sauce with meat

1 1/2 cups water

1 package (8 ounces) manicotti shells - left uncooked

In a large bowl, combine ricotta, spinach, 1 cup mozzarella, 1/4 cup parmesan, egg, parsley, onion powder, pepper and garlic powder. Combine spaghetti sauce and water; spread 1 cup sauce in an ungreased 9 x 13 baking dish. Stuff uncooked manicotti with spinach mixture; arrange over sauce. Pour remaining sauce over manicotti. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and parmesan. Cook it right away or you can put it in the refrigerator and save it for a day. Take out of refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 14 manicotti shells or 6-9 servings depending.

I found it to still have a lot of sauce even after cooking uncovered. The water may be able to be reduced a bit. I liked the extra sauce though, it was not watery at all. This fed my family of 4 two dinners and a lunch - winner! I liked it so much I'm going to make three pans of it for my big family reunion in June!!

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

When planning out my month of meals I assigned Thursday to be my "bean" day of the week. Each day of the week has it's own main ingredient or type of food. Monday is soup day, Tuesday is leftover day (I always have leftover soup), Wednesday is Pasta, Thursday is rice or bean or rice & bean, Friday is Chicken...etc.

This Slow Cooker Turkey Chili recipe comes from Cook's Country magazine. It is definitely not a 5 ingredient or less recipe, luckily I already had all the ingredients but one on hand. It turned out really yummy. A little too spicey for the kids though. One problem for me was that the recipe made way too much to fit into my little slow cooker. I ended up having to just simmer it slowly on the stove top in my stock pot. I felt it turned out perfectly yummy just the same. The recipe says it feeds 8 - 10, but I think it feeds more. I would say at least 12 if you're eating anything else with this dish. It makes a lot, I'm going to have to freeze some of it.

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

1/4 cup chili powder

1 TBSP ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

2 slices of hearty white sandwich bread, torn into pieces

1/4 cup soy sauce

6 garlic cloves, minced

salt and pepper

2 lbs of ground turkey (anything but 99 percent lean)

3 TBSP vegetable oil

3 onions, chopped fine

1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 (16- ounce) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (28 - ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth

1 TBSP brown sugar

2 tsp minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo (this is your heat, eliminate it for mild chili, or use crushed red pepper or something else for heat, if you prefer)

1. Heat chili powder, cumin, and oregano in large nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Set aside.

2. Using potato masher, mash bread, soy sauce, 1 TBSP toasted spices, half of garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in large bowl until smooth. Add ground turkey and gently knead until well combined.

3. Heat 2 TBSP oil in now-empty skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Cook turkey mixture, breaking up meat into 1 inch pieces with wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Transfer to slow-cooker insert. Add onion, bell pepper, and remaining oil to now-empty skillet and cook until softened, 6-8 minutes. Stir in remaining toasted spices, tomato paste, and remaining garlic, and cook until paste begins to darken, 1 - 2 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker.

4. Stir beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, brown sugar, and chipotle into slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until turkey is tender, 4 to 6 hours. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips.

Orange Walnut Chicken

I was tired of walking to the pantry at 4:50 pm every day and not know what to cook for dinner, then ultimately settling for something routine and boring. I decid

ed at the beginning of March to plan out my entire month of dinners. A week or so before this I had taken home a stack of cooking magazines from a church free market and subscribed to Cook's Country magazine (America's Test Kitchen). So in figuring out how to plan my month of dinners I found myself continually wanting to try all these new fantastic recipes in these magazines, and why not. This month has been so much fun. New recipes, new ingredients, new adventures!

This Orange Walnut Chicken recipe was my first new recipe of the month, it comes from a Taste of Home magazine, submitted by TerryAnn Moore. When I first saw

the recipe, I didn't get overly excited about it, but it had won the grand prize in a contest they do every issue. That's got to be worth something right? Definitely. It turned out phenomenal. I loved it. So so yummy. The crunchy toasted walnuts and the green onions just set it off perfectly. When my husband bit into it he said, "It's like I'm eating at some exotic restaurant." Thank you honey! Here you go!

Ingredients

3 TBSP Orange juice concentrate

3 TBSP Vegetable oil (divided)

1 TBSP Soy sauce

1 garlic clove minced

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (I actually used chicken tenders)

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 TBSP Butter (I used margarine)

4 Green onions, thinly sliced (divided)

1/2 cup orange marmalade

1/2 cup Orange juice

1/4 cup Lemon juice

2 TBSP Honey

1 to 2 TBSP Grated orange peel

2 to 3 tsp Grated lemon peel

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Hot cooked rice

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine orange juice

concentrate, 2 T of oil, soy sauce, and garlic. Add chicken; seal bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours. Remove chicken; reserve marinade. In a skillet, cook chicken in remaining oil until juices run clear. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, saute walnuts in butter until lightly browned; removed and set aside. Set aside 1/4 cup green onions for garnish. Add remaining onions to saucepan; saute until tender. Add reserved marinade and the next eight ingredients. Bring to a rolling boil; boil for 2 minutes, Reduce heat; si

mmer, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes or until sauce reaches desired consistency. Serve chicken over rice, top with sauce and reserved walnuts and onions. *note - I found the sauce to be very intense - start with a little and add more as you need it, don't just dump a bunch on right off the bat! (If I had a nicer camera or better light at dinner time, the picture would do the dish justice, but this will have to do, and it will have to do for future recipe posts!)