Green-Chile Chicken and Bean Stew

I've been in a mood about cooking lately. Can't bring myself to plan ahead. Not craving anything enough to really be excited about making it. The other thing is that I try to work with what's on sale and I guess the sales haven't been too helpful lately either. So... we've been ordering pizza and eating out a little more than usual.

I had a moment of semi-success with this recipe for Green-Chile Chicken and Pink Bean Stew though. I ran across it in Food & Wine, which is a pretty hoity toity magazine--I only started reading it this summer cuz my parents subscribe. Anyway, I swear this was the most useful issue of Food & Wine I've ever seen since they've got a feature on using canned beans. I love canned beans! Haha... So anyway I didn't think pink beans sounded very appetizing so I just used kidneys. And I had a semi-fail in that I forgot to buy garlic and accidentally bought jalapenos rather than green chiles. haha... so it came out super spicy. Still good though... we just ate it with a lot of rice. And then we ended up throwing a can of stewed tomatoes in to ease the fire a little more. And I even forgot to put in the lime every time I ate it.

Chicken Asparagus Pasta

I've been in the mood for a lighter dinner, craving veggies and all that. I felt like pasta, and asparagus was on sale so I googled "chicken asparagus pasta" and here's what I got. Kea thinks it's a little bland but I loved it. It is exactly what I've been in the mood for.

Ina Garten's Mexican Chicken Soup

My husband has developed an obsession with cumin. He puts it in everything. I'm very opposed to this. I think that some flavors match and some don't and you can't go throwing cumin in everything. I also think that cumin smells a bit like body odor, but I still like it--when appropriate.

Anyway, I bookmarked this recipe for him. Well, not only for him. Also because it's easy and it's soup, which it sometimes seems we pretty much live on. Anyway, it turned out great--nice and spicy. I even subbed some pickled jalapenos for the fresh ones because our market had run out. I think because of this I didn't have to add any salt at the end.

I also may have salted the chicken a bit too liberally. I don't know. I can never tell what's what when seasoning chicken. I also considered stewing the chicken rather than pre-roasting it, but the roasting actually turned out to be not that big a deal. I even used boneless skinless breasts and the flavor was still good.

I even like the flour tortillas in the soup, which I was a bit worried about since I am not a big fan of them. I don't know if it is the lard or if I have a mild wheat allergy, but they sometimes make me nauseous. Here though, they are like noodles! (I have tried tortilla soup before, but never met one I really liked.)

Anyway, this one's going into the rotation--especially for when one of us has got a cold.

Oyakodonburi

Oyakodonburi is one of my favorite dishes. It just tastes like home to me. I think the shiitake mushrooms are key. I love them and don't cook with them much. Actually, I guess there are not many Japanese and Chinese dishes I cook--probably because I don't trust national sites for these kinds of recipes and also because it seems like I need to keep a whole other set of ingredients in my kitchen. This dish is pretty simple though and only required me to buy a couple of extra ingredients.

One thing I want to experiment in the future is the way I add the egg. The dish didn't look very appetizing after I added the egg--although it got a little better as it cooked and solidified. I think next time though I want to try and let the egg cook a little more before mixing it in. Maybe this will help...

Fun Fact: "Oya" means "adult," "ko" means "child," "don" means "bowl." Thus, the name of this dish translates to "the parent and child in one bowl." This refers to the fact that this dish includes both chicken and egg. I find this hilarious, in a sort of morbid way. (I'm not sure what "buri" means...)

I got this recipe from my sister and the comments in brackets are hers. Not sure where she got it from.

Ingredients:
1 lb Boneless Chicken Breasts (cut into 1” cubes)
1 C Shiitake Mushrooms, sliced [I use one carton which is… about 10 mushrooms I think]
1 C Bamboo Shoots, sliced [I use one can so two “shoots”]
4 Eggs
2 Green Onions, sliced diagonally into 2” lengths

Sauce:
1/4 C Shoyu
1 C Chicken Broth
1/4 C Mirin
2 T Sugar
[I think you should taste the sauce and play around with it, cause sometimes it’s not salty enough or not sweet enough.]

Heat sauce in medium pan. Add chicken, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots. Bring to a boil, simmer 3 minutes. Bring to boil again, stir eggs in gently until cooked. Add green onions and serve over hot rice.

Chicken Florentine

This is something Kea makes, a recipe from his mom.

chicken
mushrooms
spinach
monterey jack
cream of mushroom soup

1. If you want to do a square pan, use about four pieces of chicken. Season with salt and pepper (Kea also puts garlic but I don't know if this is necessary) and brown.

2. You can use frozen or fresh spinach. Put a layer of this on the bottom of the pan.

3. Layer the chicken next and pour cream of mushroom on top.

4. Slice mushrooms for the next layer.

5. Slice cheese and put on top.

6. Bake for about 15 minutes or until cheese is browned.

7. Eat with rice.

Time: 60-75 minutes

Fresh Spinach, Orzo and Chicken Soup

I don't know who gave me this cookbook--either my mom or mother-in-law. I think maybe I have one from each of them. It's totally hawking Costco products, you know like it'll say "1 pound Grimmway baby carrots," but whatever, I can ignore that kind of thing.

I love soup. It's my favorite thing to make. Except the kind that you have to puree. Cuz we didn't have a blender until like a month ago. And also it kind of grosses me out to put savory things in a blender. We just always used it for smoothies you know? But actually we have a stick blender so that seems okay.

But beyond my issues, I had to cook and then go to Pilates and then come back and be able to eat right away. Cuz Pilates gets out at 7:45 and I am starving by then.

So here's the recipe:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut in 1-inch cubes
salt and pepper
2 T olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 t ground coriander
pinch of ground cinnamon
32-oz chicken broth (I rounded up--way up--and used three cans)
2/3 cup orzo
1 T fresh lemon juice (I used the juice of a whole lemon)
2 c fresh baby spinach
1/3 c grated Parmesan (just realized we forgot to put this)

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper.
2. Heat olive oil in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sear until lightly browned; remove to a plate.
3. Reduce heat to medium, add onion and garlic, and saute until onion softens, about 5 minutes. Add spices and stir for 1 minute.
4. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add orzo and cook until tender, 8-10 minutes.
5. Add chicken, bring soup back to a boil and cook for 1 minute.
6. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Divide spinach among 6 bowls and ladle hot soup over spinach. Garnish with Parmesan.

Kea and I both liked it although I felt it had too much chicken. So maybe more orzo next time. Kea thinks maybe more broth.

Time: 50 minutes. I don't think it's supposed to take this long. I'm slow. I was late to Pilates.

Source: Cooking in Style: The Costco Way. 2006.