Jambalaya

It's hard with young children to find a meal that everyone readily eats.  And since my kids all like sausage and rice, I decided to try to make Jambalaya.  Not authentic, obviously, since I don't like shrimp, but I found a recipe that used chicken instead.

Actually, this is the 3rd recipe I've tried, and this one seems to have hit the sweet spot.  Everyone eats most of it, and nobody gets angry when I put it on their plate.

The recipe called for cooked chicken.  I just cut up raw chicken and sautéed it, and followed the recipe from there. (except I left out the celery and parsley.  Celery because I didn't have any, and parley because I didn't have fresh parsley and I didn't feel like reaching up into the back of my cabinet where my dried stuff got shoved)

• 1 lb. cooked chicken
• 1 lb. smoked sausage
• 4 cloves garlic
• 12 oz. seasoning mix (onion, bell pepper, celery)
• 2 cups long grain rice
• ½ to 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 3.5 cups water
• 1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
• 2 whole bay leaves
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• ½ bunch parsley
• to taste salt and pepper

1. Slice the sausage and cook in a large pot over medium heat until thoroughly cooked (about 5 minutes). Don’t worry if the drippings begin to stick and coat the bottom of the pan, it will be deglazed later. Remove the cooked meat (leaving the fat/drippings in the pan) and set it aside for later.

1. Add the chopped onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic to the pot with the meat drippings and cook until soft (about 3-5 minutes). The moisture from the vegetables should loosen anything stuck to the bottom of the pan from the meat (all of that flavorful good stuff).

1. Once the vegetables have softened, add the dry rice, cayenne pepper and tomato paste. Stir it all together and cook for approximately 1 minute more. This will allow the tomato paste to caramelize and the rice to toast just slightly.

1. Add 3.5 cups of water, diced tomatoes, bay leaves, thyme, fresh cracked pepper (about 20 cranks) and salt (about ½ tsp). Stir it together, then add the meat back into the pot. Bring it up to a simmer, add a lid and reduce the heat to low. Allow the pot to simmer on low until all of the moisture has been absorbed by the rice (about 30 minutes). Stir in the chopped parsley and serve.

I served it with green beans and garlic bread

Mexican Chicken Casserole

I got the recipe from here.  I cooked the chicken in the crock pot with the chicken stock, diced peppers, onion and garlic.  Then I diced it up and put it in a large skillet with some of the chicken stock, and stuff from the crock pot, adding in the milk (I used coconut milk from a can instead of evaporated milk), cream cheese, grated cheese and enchilada sauce.  The assembly in the casserole dish was the same (I used blue corn tortilla chips).

I served it with tortilla chips and coucous (I thought I had a mexican rice side pack, but apparently didn't).

Crock pot chicken parmesan

This meal was kind of inspired by this recipe.  I'm exhausted from days of getting my house ready to sell, though, so it's super simplified.

I put some frozen chicken breasts in my crock pot and then dumped a jar of Classico Tomato & Basil sauce over it, and just let it go on low for several hours. (um...6?)

When we were ready to eat, I pulled the breasts out, and put them on a platter.  I sprinkled them with thyme, oregano and basil, drizzled some sauce from the crock pot, and then topped them all with liberal amounts of Parmesan cheese.

I served with cooked spaghetti pasta (with more sauce from the crock pot in a 2c glass liquid measuring cup to pour over if desired), green beans and biscuits.

Hawaiian Haystacks

The chicken part is actually kind of similar to beef stroganoff, sort of.  I kind of made up the recipe after making stroganoff anyway.

I cut up chicken and sautéed it with garlic (3 or 4 cloves) and onion.  After it's all cooked I add maybe 2 cups of chicken broth with 3 tbsp of flour mixed in, and basil and thyme and savory, I think.  I just threw some herbs that smelled good in.

Then it's served over rice and topped with pineapple and whatever else you have on hand that sounds good.  For us it was cheese, cucumber, green pepper, olives, green onion, and chow mein noodles.  No tomatoes or I would have had those too.

Chicken Enchiladas

This is a pretty simple recipe that I don't really measure.  It has changed a little since going off dairy, though.

Diced/shredded cooked chicken
sour cream (Today I actually used some tofutti cream cheese substitute thinned with a little coconut milk yogurt)
grated cheddar (almond)
can diced green chilis
diced green onions (this is the first time I've put green onions in it, it was pretty good!)
enchilada sauce
tortillas

mix together first 5 ingredients.  Spread a little enchilada sauce on one side of a tortilla.  Put a spoonful or two of filling mixture along one side, and then roll with the enchilada sauce to the inside.  Place in a pan with some sauce spread on the bottom.  Continue until filling is gone or desired number achieved.  Top with more enchilada sauce.  Bake, covered with foil, at 350* for half an hour or so, or until sauce is bubbly.  top with more grated cheese, and return to oven for cheese to melt (5 or so minutes).  Serve with mexican rice, chips & salsa, or other sides of choice.

Saffron Chicken

So, this was my first use of saffron, ever.  I used this recipe.  I used the So Delicious coconut milk greek style yogurt (which I was so happy to discover!)

I also grilled it instead of broiling it.  Husband and I really enjoyed it.  The kids...well...it was new.  I'm willing to try it again.  Maybe next time they'll eat more.

Poulet Basquaise and Salade Niçoise

This pair are actually both considered a main course, but growing up they were always paired together.     I've modified the poulet recipe to be used in the crock pot (because it's just easier).

Poulet Basquaise

4lbs chicken breasts (bone in or boneless)

3/4 c. dry white wine (optional) [I just used chicken stock]

salt, pepper, sugar

1 bay leaf

4 sprigs parsley

1/2 lb each green & red pepper

1 lb each onions and tomatoes ((I never use tomatoes, but if you are going to, add them late in the cooking process so they don't get mushy))

1 clove garlic ((I actually used 3. :p))

1/2 tsp thyme

Put it all in the crock pot until chicken is done cooking

Salade Niçoise

1 lb potatoes
1 can green beans
1 can black olives
1 can chunk light tuna
2 tomates, cut in wedges
2 hard boiled eggs, halved

vinaigrette:
3/4 c. olive oil
3/4 c. red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp tarragon
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper

Blend vinaigrette ingredients, set aside. Peel slice and boil potatoes until soft. Drain and place into large bowl.  Add green beans and olives. Pour vinaigrette over potato mixture.  Cover and refrigerator and marinate for at least 4 hours, stirring occasionally.  Place potato mixture (reserving vinaigrette) onto a platter.  Garnish with tuna, tomatoes and eggs, pour reserved vinaigrette over garnishing.

Fajitas

This is one of my all-time favorite foods ever.  I love fajitas.

Really, they're quite simple to make, so this is another "lazy day" meal.

First off, I cut up and sauté chicken breast, and then I add onion, green and red bell peppers, and then a packet of seasoning.  I've tried several recipes for making my own, but I haven't really liked them as much, so I'm still on the lookout.

Roll them in a warmed tortilla (one day I'll have to premake a whole bunch of my own tortillas because homemade fresh ones are so much better), and then serve with cheese, sour cream, and chips & salsa.  Sometimes I add spanish rice.

Cashew Chicken

It was this recipe.  I didn't flour the chicken first, because it was frozen, so I just stuck whole breasts into the crock pot with the sauce.  I added some chicken stock to give more liquid, and then when the chicken was cooked, I pulled it out.  I diced it and then added some corn starch in liquid to the sauce to make it thicker.  Served over brown rice.

It was pretty good.

Teriyaki grilled chicken

This is one of my dad's favorite recipes.  Not only that, but since the outside cooking is my dad's realm, so my mother didn't have to do a whole lot, we had it often.  Today, it'll be done on my indoor grill.

marinade:
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp black pepper

Combine all ingredients.  Put 4 chicken breasts in a gallon sized ziploc bag with the marinade and let rest for 2-4 hours (or more!)  Grill until done.

Tonight we're also doing a salmon filet for Husband. And E as well, since she has decided she really likes salmon.  Served with mixed steamed veg. and salad.

Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken

This is a favorite of ours.  Everyone loves it except the 5 1/2-year-old, who has to be convinced to retry it every time, and then remembers she likes it.

I use this recipe.

Today it was served over brown rice with green beans and rolls.  Usually I try to match the ethnicity of the sides, but I didn't want to put forth the effort tonight.

Garlic lime grilled chicken

I started off with this recipe, however, I *really* didn't want to cook it in a pan and such.  So I eliminated the butter altogether and mixed everything else into a marinade, which my chicken sat in for 4 hours.  And then I grilled it.  I think next time I'll double the spices, it could have used a tad more flavor.

I served it with mixed steamed vegetables (I've only had the steamer for a week, but I am LOVING it!), and this yummy bread that had garlic baked into it.

I'm going to label this as gluten free, because I'm pretty sure the chicken is, even though the bread definitely wasn't. :p

Chicken and brown rice casserole

I tried out this recipe today.  It turned out pretty well.  I used brown rice instead of wild rice, and soured coconut cream instead of sour cream, and used the chicken and rice soup instead of cream of chicken. Unfortunately I didn't have a non-dairy substitute for Parmesan cheese.  Oh well.  I also forgot to buy celery and didn't realize it until it was too late.  I would have been nice to have had something with a little color in it though! It went over pretty well, as well, except for the 5-year-old.  Can't win them all!

Chicken noodle soup

I guess you can say that this is loosely based on this recipe, but I don't actually even look at it anymore.

Today I put some chicken in the bottom of my crock pot, then covered it with chopped onions, celery, and carrots.  I sprinkled it all with garlic powder (I ran out of cloves of garlic), sage, rosemary, thyme and basil.  I didn't measure, just dumped some in.

Then I added a (4c) container of chicken stock, and let it cook all day.

About 20 minutes before I pulled out the chicken and put in egg noodles.  I cut the noodles up in to bite sized pieces (it mostly fell apart) and then put it back in the soup and let it simmer until the noodles were soft.

No picture today. We've been sick and I haven't gotten myself back together quite yet.

Chicken stirfry with Korma curry sauce

Stirfry is one of my favorite foods ever.  Just sauté a protein and whatever vegetables you want, put on a sauce of your choice, and "Voilà!" you have a meal.

Tonight's rendition is chicken, sautéed in a little olive oil with garlic and onions, and then I added green pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, baby corn and broccoli (I can hear my dad go "eugh!").  Tonight's sauce is Sukhi's Korma Curry Sauce.  I love Sukhi's sauces, they're so yummy.  This particular one called for cream as well, but I replaced that with coconut milk.  From my preliminary tastes, it's actually really good.

It's served over brown rice, which I always forget needs a little more time/water to cook with.  And my way of cooking rice is a little different. I got the directions off the bag of calrose rice, call "perfect sticky rice" and I've done it that way ever since.  Preheat your oven to 400* (yes, your oven).  Put your dry rice in the bottom of a casserole dish with some butter and salt.  Then boil the appropriate amount of water (2c. for every 1c. rice.  With the calrose rice I used a little less, with the brown rice I have to use a little more) in a separate container.  I put it in one of my glass liquid measuring containers and put it in the microwave.  Pour the hot water over the rice, stir until the butter is melted, and place it in the oven.  Stir a few times in the interim, and pull out when all the water is absorbed.

Usually I serve Indian food with naan, but...I forgot to buy some and my one try at making my own did NOT turn out well (I may try it again some day).  I think I've forgotten something with every meal I've posted so far.


Oh! And this meal is gluten free!  I have a dear friend that has celiac, so whenever I turn out a gluten free meal I think to myself "if she ever comes to visit, she could eat this!" (except now she's trying vegan, so the chicken wouldn't fly. :/ )