Homemade Experimental Chicken Soup

 Food  No Responses »
Feb 182011
 

3 T butter
3 T olive oil
3–4 medium-small cooking onions, chopped roughly
6 T crushed garlic (I use a brand that basically amounts to cubes of garlic purée)
2 T crushed ginger (by the same people who do the garlic)
Garlic powder to taste
12–15 black peppercorns
2 Bay leaves
One largish sprig of fresh rosemary
Fresh thyme
2 large (32 fl. oz. or so) containers of chicken broth or stock
2 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into roughly ¾ inch cubes—use whatever chicken you have on hand, between ¾ and a pound or so
One container of “baby bella” pre-sliced mushrooms
One large can of sliced button mushrooms, with liquid
About ⅓ C diced green bell pepper
Two large stalks of celery, diced
About ⅓–½ C diced carrots
About 8 oz. cole slaw mix (add more or less to taste)
Lots and lots of ground black pepper
One Knorr chicken bouillon cube
Various dried poultry-complementing herbs, to taste

I added things in order of what takes the longest to cook to the shortest, cooked on high for about five hours, then low for another two. It’s good day one, but much better on day two and following.

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken

 Food  2 Responses »
May 202010
 

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken

This is a simple recipe, but quite tasty. You can make your own barbecue sauce if you’re feeling adventuresome or just use commercial preparations like I did.

INGREDIENTS

  1. One pound (roughly) boneless, skinless chicken breasts or cutlets (about 500 g), cut into large pieces
  2. One third bottle (approximately 4 ounces) of Kraft Original BBQ Sauce
  3. One 28 ounce bottle to Sweet Baby Ray’s Original BBQ Sauce
  4. One medium white onion
  5. Three Tbsp Yellow mustard
  6. (optional) Three Tbsp Dark maple syrup
  7. (optional) Vlasic mild banana pepper rings

PREPARATION

Slice the onion finely (roughly 1–2 mm thick) and spread the pieces out on the bottom of your slow cooker. Turn the cooker on low. Add maple syrup, mustard, and Kraft barbecue sauce. Note: use whatever flavor and brand of barbecue sauce you like; you’re aiming for enough sauce to completely cover all the other ingredients and stay liquid through the cooking process. Add chicken pieces. Pour remaining barbecue sauce over the top, cover, and let cook for six to eight hours. Add liquid if the sauce gets too thick or looks like it’s burning.

SERVING

This dish should make enough BBQ chicken and onions for six to eight generous servings. I like to use hearty whole wheat buns and sometimes add mild banana pepper rings for a little extra zing. Each serving should be roughly 350 kCal, depending on the richness of the barbecue sauce you use.

Tomato-Beef Stew

 Food  No Responses »
Oct 122009
 

Tomato-Beef Stew

This is another of my “ack! what am I going to do with…” recipes. I have no idea right now how it will taste, but I’m hopeful!

INGREDIENTS

  • One package stew beef pieces, about one pound
  • Four cans of stewed tomatoes (about 44 fl. oz.)
  • One can of crushed tomatoes (about 20 fl. oz.)
  • Four large cloves of garlic
  • One large zucchini
  • One large yellow summer squash
  • One bag of “baby” carrots
  • One package of “baby bella” mushrooms
  • Optional: another package of mushrooms for later
  • Two small white onions
  • Pepper to taste
  • Three ribs of celery, about 16 inches total
  • Salt-free beef bouillon, to taste
  • Worcestershire sauce, to taste
  • Soy sauce, to taste
  • Approximately one T. Italian dried herb mix

PREPARATION

Lightly spray the bottom of your slow cooker with a non-stick spray. Crush and mince the garlic. Cut each small onion in half and cut into thin strips. Slice the zucchini and summer squash into roughly ⅛-inch slices. Put everything up to the celery in the slow cooker, stir until mixed, and turn it on low. Cook for approximately eight hours or until you can’t stand to wait to have some. You may need to add a little broth or water to thin the tomatoes, and if you want to add both packages of mushrooms I’d add the second one about six hours in. At about seven hours’ cook time, add the bouillon, Worcestershire, Soy, and dried herbs. Finely chop and add the celery at about eight hours. Depending on how hot your cooker gers, you may want to turn it off at hour eight and let it cool/keep cooking another couple of hours.

Serve with a hearty whole grain bread or crackers; a nice salad would be good, too; though I would avoid acidic dressings, since there is already a lot of acid in the stew!

A visual tour through soup

 Food  1 Response »
Oct 042009
 

I decided to make another batch of “Harvest Vegetable” soup today. The recipe isn’t exactly the same, of course, but that’s the joy of cooking! This time I decided to document the process visually. I hope you enjoy the shots and get inspired to cook some soup!

—❦—

“David’s BoyMeat” BBQ Beef

 Food  1 Response »
Sep 262009
 

(With many thanks to Peter “New York Jew” Dworkin for the name.)

David’s BoyMeat

This is one of the simplest Crock Pot® recipes ever (and, really, no Crock Pot is even needed!), but those of you with a chef’s bent can easily make your own barbecue sauce to substitute.

INGREDIENTS

1 ¼ lb. ground beef, ideally 95% fat free

2 medium yellow onions

1 bottle (18 fl. oz.) Sweet Baby Ray’s Original BBQ sauce (or any favorite barbecue sauce, really)

2–3 T catsup

1–2 T olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Peel the onions and chop them into halves. Dice one onion and add it, the olive oil, and hamburger to a skillet or sauté pan and brown. If you use low-fat beef, cook everything until the juice evaporates; otherwise cook until the onions are translucent and drain off any fat.

While browning the beef, slice the remaining onion into very thin (1/16 inch) slices and add to the bottom of your Crock Pot. Add the cooked beef and onions on top. Pour the entire bottle of BBQ sauce on top of that, along with the catsup. Stir, cover, and cook on LOW for two to three hours. Serve on big whole wheat buns with some spicy pickles or even banana peppers.

NOTES

Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce is very sweet. If you like your barbecue with more tang, try adding some mustard to the mix, or some Worcestershire sauce (or even some Soy sauce!).The basic idea of the recipe is to quickly prepare a hearty “Manwich®”-style meat sauce that can be reheated, so play with it! I think I might add some tomato paste, spicy dijon mustard, or even chili powder to the pot the next time I make this.

Experimental Chicken Stewp

 Food  1 Response »
Sep 202009
 

Experimental Chicken Stewp

This is a recipe in progress—I encourage those of you who are real cooks to give it a try and tell me what you added to give it that extra something that it needs to be “perfect.” I made this in a Crock Pot® slow cooker, but you could probably make it on the stove top.

INGREDIENTS

1 package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 1 ½ lbs

3 large cloves of garlic

2 medium-small or 3 small yellow onions

3–4 medium white or yellow potatoes (thin skinned)

1 can Cream of Celery condensed soup

1 can Cream of Mushroom condensed soup

1 medium package of baby carrots

1 package pre-sliced “baby bella” mushrooms

pepper, to taste

Optional: salt (there should be plenty in the soup, however)

PREPARATION

Spray the bottom and lower sides of your slow cooker with non-stick spray. Smash and mince the garlic. Slice the onions and potatoes about ⅛ inch thick.

DIRECTIONS

Add onions, carrots, potatoes, and garlic to the bottom of the slow cooker. Place the chicken breasts on top of the vegetables and apply pepper to taste. Pour the soup over everything. You may want to add a little (half a can or so) water just to help get things lubricated. Add the mushrooms on top and cover. Turn the slow cooker on LOW and let it cook for about four hours. Stir the contents to ensure everything is mixed and the chicken breasts are covered. Continue to cook for another two to three hours, or until chicken flakes apart with minimal pressure.

The vegetables should be quite tender when the dish is done. The liquid will be somewhere between soup and stew consistency. Serve with whole grain rice or steamed vegetables, or just eat it as it is!

I thought that the dish as described above was good, but it needed a little something extra. Perhaps some dried poultry herbs, or seasoned salt? Please comment if you’ve tried the dish and added something that has brightened the flavors or made it stand out!

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