Chicken Creole Soup

I too have been missing in action for a while. Things have been crazy around here since Thanksgiving. And boy has it been super cold here in New Hampshire! I can't wait for warm weather! 

I don't think it's going to slow down for a while, as I have begun taking online classes at my local community college. I have entered into the Medical Coding Certificate Program and should be able to complete all my classes in just over a year. As a result, I will more than likely have less time to devote to blogging. I really love sharing recipes with all of you, and I plan to blog as much as possible while taking classes, but it may be few and far between until I have school breaks. But I figured since I have a few min right now while my son is watching cartoons, I would share a recipe for one of my families favorite soups. 

I have made this soup a number of times, and each time it is perfect. Before I had our son, I made this soup a little spicier. But in the hopes that he would eat it, I went a little easy on the spice this time. The recipe as follows is the way I made it last night. It has a subtle spice (feel free to make it spicier if you want), but it's not too spicy. 

Also, as a little note, this makes A LOT of soup. There are only 3 of us, so after we had dinner last night I had two 6 C buckets and a 3 C bucket leftover. Now that is a lot of soup! You could totally cut this in half if you don't want that much soup, but we like to put leftovers in the freezer for a quick go-to meal when there is not much time to pull a meal together on a crazy hectic day. If you do choose to freeze some, when you reheat it in a pot, you may want to add some water or chicken stock to it to make a soup consistency again. We like to serve this with nice crusty rolls to complete the meal. 

I apologize for the lack of photos. I was trying to pull this together quickly with a toddler who likes to "help". 

This is the first stage of the process. Saute the onions, peppers, celery, minced fresh garlic, and chicken in a couple tablespoons of olive oil with a little salt, pepper and garlic powder. I know, your thinking fresh minced garlic AND garlic powder?! Yup. We like garlic in this house. If you don't like garlic that much, feel free to add less or leave it out or use only one type of garlic. 

Make sure you start with a large enough pot for this.....The first time I made this soup I had to switch pots halfway through because I didn't have enough room for the liquid.... The pot I use for soups is a large stainless steel stock pot. It is large enough to fit a whole turkey carcass for making stock.  

And this is actually one of the leftover buckets that we put in the freezer. But the time the soup was done, our son was antsy and ready for dinner, so I forgot to get a picture of it in a pretty bowl. 

The rice soaks up a lot of the juice in the soup, so feel fee to add less rice or more liquid. 

And here's the recipe. 

Chicken Creole Soup

(adapted from Betty Crocker)

2 T olive oil

1 med onion, chopped

2 large stalks celery, chopped

1/2 each green and red bell pepper, chopped

2 t finely chopped garlic

2 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1” pieces

Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

1/4 C flour

2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes, undrained (I used 1 can of jalapeno diced tomatoes and 1 can plain diced tomatoes)

4 C chicken broth or stock

3 C water

1 1/4 C uncooked regular long grain white rice

1/4 t cayenne pepper (add more if you like it spicy or even add hot sauce)

2 dried bay leaves

In 5-6 qt large dutch oven or stock pot, heat olive oil over med-high heat. Add onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic and chicken sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste; cook 7-9 min, stirring frequently, until onion begins soften. Stir in flour. Cook 5-6 min stirring constantly until flour begins to turn light brown. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to med-low. Cover and cook 15-20 min stirring occasionally, until rice is tender and chicken is no longer pink in center. Remove bay leaves before serving. Taste and add salt to taste, if needed.

We serve this with warmed crusty rolls.

Enjoy!                                            

Sandi 

Oatmeal Whole Wheat Pancakes

I have a handful of post drafts that I have begun but not managed to complete, as well as additional photos that I have yet to even begin drafts for. I'm working on it... So when I heard that today was National Blueberry Pancake Day, and since I found these pretty blueberries yesterday, I thought it was appropriate to celebrate with blueberry pancakes for breakfast!

Making pancakes from scratch really is quite easy, and all it takes to make it as quick as using a boxed mix is a little preparation ahead of time - you can mix up the dry ingredients and keep them in an airtight container. In my opinion, making anything from scratch really is worth the small amount of extra effort.

These particular pancakes have more texture and more 'stay with you' filling power than your traditional white pancake. They also freeze well, and are excellent reheated in the toaster (although usually I do this with them when I haven't added blueberries, so be cautious of the blueberry juice leaking if you do not have a toaster oven). 

Start by combining your dry ingredients in a large bowl and your liquid ingredients in a measuring cup or small bowl. 

Stir together the dry ingredients, then add the whisked liquids all at once, and stir just until combined. If the batter is too thin, stir in a small amount of additional all purpose flour. For this batch, I used ~3/4 cup total all purpose flour. 

Pour or spoon the batter onto a preheated griddle or skillet (I use a nonstick griddle, but if you use a different type of skillet you will probably need to use oil or butter to keep the pancakes from sticking). Sprinkle fresh blueberries over the top of each pancake (or another fruit, or just leave them plain).

You can see the very edges starting to look dry in the above photo, and a couple bubbles popping over the surface. When this effect spreads over more of the surface it's ready to flip.

Allow the pancakes to finish cooking on the second side, and then flip them blueberry side up to serve.

And here's the recipe:

Oatmeal Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup old-fashioned oats

¼-1 cup all purpose flour (to desired consistency)

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

2 cups milk or buttermilk (or your favorite milk alternative)

1/4 cup olive oil

Fresh blueberries or other fruit (optional)

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl (start with the smaller amount of all-purpose flour). Store in an airtight container until you're ready to make pancakes. Whisk the eggs, milk, and oil in a measuring cup or small bowl, and stir into dry mix just until combined. Stir in additional all purpose flour as needed to reach the correct batter consistency. 

Pour or spoon the batter onto a preheated griddle or skillet (I use a nonstick griddle, but if you use a different type of skillet you will probably need to use oil or butter to keep the pancakes from sticking). Sprinkle fresh blueberries over the top of each pancake (or another fruit, or just leave them plain).

When bubbly and starting to look dry, flip pancakes and allow to finish cooking on the second side. Serve fruit side up. 

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge, or freeze for a conveniently fast and delicious breakfast or snack. 

Enjoy!                                            

Sue

Salmon Burgers

Hello again! I know, I've been missing in action for a while now, but I should be able to dedicate my free time to blogging again. We survived a family round of colds, including my little one's first. We traveled home to visit family in Maine for the holidays and got to experience a week of true winter that we've missed being in California - we arrived on the first night of freezing rain that began a doozy of an ice storm that knocked out our power for the rest of our week-long visit! It was a beautiful winter wonderland with everything covered in ice, and then we got a pretty layer of fluffy snow on top of it for Christmas. The power was restored to our family's home promptly after we returned to California, where we enjoyed sunshine and mid-60-degree weather to chase away our jet lag. 

Now, to celebrate my return to the blogosphere, I've decided to share with you an original recipe of mine that is really quick and easy to make, and so yummy. These salmon burgers even make good leftovers!

Start with about one pound of salmon (if you purchase it with the skin, get closer to 1.5 pounds to allow for the weight of the skin you will remove). Grind the salmon if you have a grinder, otherwise just chop it as finely as you can. Add the zest of one lemon, a healthy sprinkle of dried parsley, two grated cloves of garlic, and a dash of crushed red pepper flakes to taste. 

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and divide into four or five equal portions. I generally make five, but if you ended up losing more when removing the skin you may decide to make four.

Shape each ball into a patty and place on a hot skillet. I use one with raised grill lines, but a flat one would do the trick. Leave the patties alone until they are mostly cooked, so that only the very top is uncooked, then flip them and allow them to finish cooking on the second side. If you try to move them around more than this, they will fall apart on you, so resist the urge. 

This is why I really like the grill-skillet, you get these lovely lines on the finished burgers.

Serve with your favorite toppings - mine are fresh spinach and a nice thick slice of heirloom tomato - and enjoy!

Now here's the handy recipe for you:

SALMON BURGERS

1-1.5 pounds salmon, skin removed, ground or finely chopped

Zest of one lemon

2 cloves garlic, grated

Dried parsley to taste

Crushed red pepper flakes to taste

4 or 5 sandwich buns and your favorite toppings

Combine all ingredients. Divide into 4-5 equal portions. Preheat a skillet, shape each ball into a patty and place on hot skillet. Allow to cook most of the way through before flipping to cook on the second side. Serve with your favorite toppings on lightly toasted buns. 

Enjoy!                                            

Sue