Veggie Chili

So, after the arrival of baby girl, people brought us food that somehow, always included a can of corn. I'm totally grateful for all the delicious food that people brought, so if it sounds like I'm poo-pooing the arrival of corn in our house, please know that's not the case. Anyway, I ended up with a few cans in the pantry and remembered this recipe from our friend, Rachel. She always downplays her cooking skillz, but this was a good recipe. 


Veggie Chili
2 tblsp oil
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 cup banana peppers, chopped (I used banana peppers because I have a ton of them left over from an overproductive garden. If I had jalapenos, I would have used those instead.)
2 1/2-3 cups black beans, soaked overnight (or 2 cans black beans for a faster recipe)
2 cans sweet corn
1 can chopped tomatoes and the juice
2-3 cups additional veggies (I like zukes, carrots, broccoli, but use whatever you like)
chili pepper
cayenne (probably not necessary if you use a pepper more powerful than banana)
garlic powder
salt and pepper
Heat oil in a soup pot (if you're switching to a crock pot, use a smaller pan) over medium high heat. Sweat onions and peppers and then season with salt and pepper. If you're switching to a crock pot, now's the time. Add beans, corn, tomatoes, and additional veggies. Season to your taste. You'll have to come back a few times to get it right because the heat will bring out the spices. If you're going for a quick cook, bring everything to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let it come together for 30 minutes. If you're using the crock pot, cook everything on high until the beans are tender (around 4 hours) and then reduce to low until you're ready to eat. I let the whole thing go for about an additional 3-4 hours. Serve with sour cream and cheddar cheese.  

Jan's Crock Pot Chicken and Salsa

To be fair, it's Jan's Daughter's Crock Pot Chicken and Salsa, but that just doesn't roll off the tongue. Also to be fair, it's my version of her recipe. Her recipe is also provided below. The only downfall I saw in this recipe is that I was at home while it was cooking. It was really hard to not eat the whole thing before dinnertime. The chicken fell apart and shredded into the rest of the dish and it was awesome!


Jan's Crock Pot Chicken and Salsa
1 package frozen chicken breast
2 cups fresh black beans
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 bag frozen corn
1 jar salsa
1 tblsp cumin
salt and pepper
shredded cheddar cheese
brown rice
plain yogurt
Add chicken, beans, water, corn, salsa, cumin, salt, and pepper to crock pot. Cook on low all day. Serve over brown rice topped with cheddar cheese and yogurt. Seriously. That's it.


Original Recipe
1 package chicken breast
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1 jar salsa
1 block cream cheese
rice
Add chicken, beans, corn, and salsa to crock pot. Cook on low all day. About 1 hour before eating, add block of cream cheese and stir to combine. Serve over rice. Personally, I'm going to try this one as a dip one day since the inclusion of cream cheese screams dip to me. I think this and a big bag of tortilla chips is in my future!

Tortilla Soup

I am all about any dinners that I can make in advance and none is better than soup. Not only is it super convenient to make the day before, but I have yet to meet a soup that doesn't taste better on the second day. I threw some spinach into this one in an attempt to up our veggie intake.


Tortilla Soup
2 tblsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 jalapeños, ribbed, seeded, and chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 chicken breast, chopped

cumin

chili powder
1 15 oz can chopped tomatoes
1 quart chicken stock
1 generous handful spinach leaves, chopped
tortillas sliced in 1 inch strips
1 avocado chopped
grated cheddar cheese
plain yogurt
Heat olive oil in soup pot over medium heat. Sweat onions, jalapeños, and garlic.Add chicken breast and brown lightly. Add 1 tsp each of cumin and chili powder. Let cook for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and chicken stock. Bring to boil. Taste and adjust seasonings - if you're me, you're going to need a good bit of additional spices and salt. Add spinach. Reduce to simmer. About 5 minutes before you are ready to serve the soup, toast the tortillas until crispy. Serve soup topped with tortillas, avocado, cheddar cheese, yogurt and whatever else you think would be yummy up there.

Braised Short Ribs

So now that I go to the farm to buy my meat, I end up wandering around looking at meat that I've never eaten before in my life. Not because it's not available in the grocery store, but because in the grocery store, I just grabbed chicken and left. Anyway, while I was wondering around, I picked up a package of short ribs. They sat in my freezer for two months. I kept thinking about them, but didn't know what to do, so they stayed right there in the freezer. This weekend, I finally did a little research on how to cook them and went for it. The basic process is brown, deglaze, braise, chow. And, I'm happy to report that I do indeed like short ribs. A lot. Really. Awesome.


Braised Short Ribs
2 tblsp olive oil 
10 short ribs
flour for dredging
4 carrots
1 large onion
2 large potatoes
1 cup red wine 
1 tblsp tomato paste
1 quart beef stock
salt and pepper
Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Salt and pepper short ribs. Dredge in flour. Brown all sides for approximately three minutes. While meat is browning, cut carrots, onion, and potatoes into large chunks and place in slow cooker. Remove meat from pan and place on top of veggies. Deglaze pan with wine. Stir in tomato paste and season to taste. Pour red wine over meat and veggies. Add beef stock until meat is almost totally submerged (next time I will preheat the beef stock before adding it). Cook on high setting for three hours or until meat is tender (mine was falling off the bone at three hours - yummy!).

Basic Chicken Vegetable Soup

I don't think I made the same chicken vegetable soup twice. What I add varies with what fresh and frozen veggies I have on hand and what I'm in the mood for that day. This is the soup I made for our Christmas Eve party. This one relied pretty heavily on frozen veggies since the farmer's market the Saturday before was closed because of the blizzard of 09! I made this one in the crock pot to make it a little easier. 


Chicken Vegetable Soup
4 tblsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
2 bay leaves
4 cups homemade turkey stock
1/2 bag frozen carrots
1/2 bag frozen peas
1/2 bag frozen okra
1/2 bag frozen corn
1 28 oz can chopped tomatoes
Crushed red peppers, salt, and pepper
Heat 2 tblsp olive oil over medium heat and sweat onions. Place onions in crock pot. Heat remaining olive oil over medium high heat and brown chicken. It doesn't need to cook through, just get some color on it. Transfer to crock pot. Put all remaining ingredients in crock pot. Cook on high for about 1 hour (bring to simmer). Adjust seasoning. Cook on low until ready to serve.

Pasta Fagioli

This is one of my all time favorite soups. Delicious. Filling. Easy. What else can you ask for from a soup?


Pasta Fagioli
3 tablespoons olive oil

4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

6 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped fine

1/2 onion chopped

2 16-oz can Cannellini beans

1 16-oz can of chopped tomatoes 

1 16-oz can of chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

1 bay leaf

1/4 lb. elbow macaroni, cooked and drained

1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil over medium heat and saute bacon, garlic, and onion. Add beans and saute for 10 minutes, stirring occassionally. Add rest of ingrediants, except macaroni and parmesan cheese, and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with parmesan cheese and macaroni on the side. 

For Christmas Eve, I made this in the crock pot. I sauteed the bacon, garlic, and onion in a skillet and then dumped it and the remaining ingredients in the crock pot. I cooked it on high for about an hour until it came to a little simmer and then put it on low let it boogie the rest of the day (about 2.5-3 hours). Very tasty and made the house smell awesome. 

Crock Pot Chicken

I've had a crock pot for over a year and never once turned it on, so I actually had to look up a recipe in the owner's manual. Pathetic. I know. So, while I was surprised to find out you can cook a whole chicken in a crock pot, it turns out if you cook the hell out of a chicken for 11 hours while you're at work, the whole thing falls apart. Really, when I tried to take the chicken out of the crock pot, the entire breast came off. But it still got positive results from the boys, which is all that matters.

Crock Pot Chicken
1 3-4 lb chicken
3-4 medium potatoes (I used a mix of white sweet potatoes and russets) cut into large chunks
1 yellow onion cut into large chunks
6-7 cloves garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper
Put chicken, potatoes, onion, and garlic in crock pot. Coat with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook on low all day.