White Chicken Chili

White Chicken Chili (Serves 4)
1/2 - 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 T cumin
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder
1 t salt
1 c chicken broth
1/2 c jarred tomatillo salsa or 12-15 tomatillos, quartered
2 cans (or 4-5c) white beans, drained but not rinsed

1. Combine chicken, spices, broth, and salsa/tomatillos in a crockpot.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours til chicken shreds easily.
2. About an hour before serving time, add in beans. 
3. Serve with extra salsa or a splash of Tabasco-style hot sauce.

For more crockpot recipes, checkout Crockpot Wednesdays @ Dining With Debbie

Menu Plan 10/31-11/7

Last week actually turned out pretty well as far as following the plan goes.  My favorite meal from last week as Pot Roast w/ Carrot Souffle.  I also served some Rosemary Yukon Gold potato wedges alongside.  The Kale Chips were interesting...I might try the concept again with some other veggies.

Saturday:  Mustard-Maple Salmon w/ Sauteed Spinach & Quinoa
I left this TBD on last week's menu.  Wild-caught Coho salmon is on sale this week.  I like to sautee my spinach with some garlic and a splash of balsamic vinegar.  I think the quinoa will be pretty straightforward...cooked in broth.

Sunday:  Hot Dogs/Sausages & Chips w/ Fruit Salad
There's a block party at church this afternoon where they'll be serving hot dogs.  However since DS's eczema has been bad lately, we're keeping a pretty tight reign on eating out with him.  I'm thinking we'll  bring our own "safe" food and go have a picnic dinner afterward. 

Monday: White Chili w/ Cornbread
I'm thinking the slow cooker for this one -- boneless, skinless chicken thighs, with white beans of some sort and jarred salsa verde.  Maybe I'll mix some mexi-corn into the cornbread for variety.

Tuesday:  Shepherd's Pie
Another quick and easy one.  I may cheat with instant mashed potatoes if I'm pressed for time.  The plain ones are safe.   

Wednesday:  Dinner out
Food allergies are a real pain to deal with at restaurants...so again I'll be packing in dinner for DS -- safe tortillas, refried beans, and maybe some chicken. 

Thursday:  Apricot-Salsa Chicken w/ Rice & Broccoli
This is a super-simple recipe -- chicken breast + equal parts salsa & apricot/peach preserves.  I've seen variations on this all over the place.  It work well as a "dump chicken" recipe for the freezer.  Depending on the texture you want, I've used chicken thighs and done a long slow cook to make them fall apart.  I'm going to double this to take to another family.

Friday: Cuban Pork, Black Beans, & Yellow Rice w/ Mangoes
I'm basing this dish on this recipe.  I'll be using "fresh" beans and homemade yellow rice. 

Saturday: Potato Gnocchi/ Spinach & Cheese Ravioli w/ Salad

For more recipes, check out Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com.

Carrot Souffle

I based my recipe on this recipe from Recipezaar.  Then I started making modifications to it.  So here's my version.

Carrot Souffle (Serves 4)
1.5 lb carrots, peeled & cut into a few pieces
1/2 c coconut milk
2 egg yolks or egg replacer
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 c brown sugar
1 t baking powder
1/4 c non-dairy milk alternative (I used So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage)

1. Steam or boil your carrots til soft.  Then roughly mash them with a fork or potato masher.
2. Preheat oven to 350F.
   
3. Place coconut milk, vanilla, carrots, eggs, and bron sugar in a blender.  Blend til very smooth.  This is going to take a bit.  I usually have to stop and move things around a bit.  It works best too if the liquids are on the bottom.
4. Pour your carrot puree into a glass casserole dish (I use an 8x8 square or smaller with this amount).  
5. Mix in the baking powder.  You can also add in a couple of tablespoons of flour at this point to make a stiffer souffle if you like. 
6. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.  

My younger child loves this.  My husbands says it tastes like pie! 

You can vary the seasoning -- ginger or nutmeg would be a natural fit with carrot.  I was also thinking that some orange flavor would go nicely, so maybe using some orange juice (and less sugar, I bet) or orange extract instead of vanilla.  This is a great holiday recipe too.

Posted to  Our Krazy Kitchen's Fall Recipe Roundup

Pot Roast

Pot Roast (Serves 4-6)
1.5 lb top sirloin, trimmed
1 t ground pepper
1 t paprika
1 t salt
1 c water
2 t Beef Better Than Bullion
1 T Worcestershire sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced/grated
1/2 onion

1. Sirloin and seasonings in a crockpot.  Add liquids and place the onion half on top. 
2. Cook on low for 8 hours.
3. Remove meat & onion from crockpot.  Pour juices into a small saucepan.  Return meat to the crockpot to keep warming. (I usually turn off the crockpot at this point).
4. Boil the pan juices over medium-high til reduced to about 1/4 of the original.  You can add a bit of flour or cornstarch at this point if you want to make your gravy thicker.

Note:  You can include the traditional carrots and potatos as well.  Place them on the bottom of the crockpot and add the meat on top.

Potato Soup

Potato Soup (Serve 4+)
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3-4 sliced of bacon, chopped
8 sm-med potatos, peeled & cubed (I used Yukon Gold)
1 lg clove garlic, smashed
3c chicken broth
1/4c milk (or milk alternative, I used some coconut milk)
salt & pepper to taste
chives & crumbled bacon (opt)

1. Add onion and bacon to a large pot over medium heat.  Saute til onion is translucent and bacon fat is rendered.
2. Add in potatoes & garlic.  Stir.
3. Cover most of the way with chicken broth.  Cook over medium-low heat til potatoes are tender.
4. Use a stick blender to puree soup to desired level of smoothness.  I like to leave mine a bit lumpy.  You can do this is a regular blender...but be careful!
5. Taste and adjust seasoning.  Add in the milk and reduce to low heat til ready to serve.
   

Menu Plan 10/25-10/31

Last week's menus got made for the most part with a smattering of last minute improvs.

The Ranch Chicken & Bacon Pasta Salad was a definite winner.  I made up a batch of DF-SF Ranch Dressing and thinned it out a bit to simulate the bottled dressing the recipe calls for.  I also added in a couple cups of chopped romaine lettuce.  Will definitely make that again!

The Cranberry Skillet Chicken was decent although I followed the suggestion in one of the comments and used 1 c homemade cranberry sauce, 1 T ketchup, 1 T mustard, 1 T worcestershire, and 1/4c cider vinegar.  Next time I'll omit the vinegar entirely -- not really necessary imo.  Plenty sweet also without the addition of extra sugar or all that ketchup.

I'm not sure what's going to happen this week.  As of Sunday morning, both kids are sick...hopefully we'll be able to get in to see the dr. tomorrow.  Fingers crossed it's not flu.

Sunday:  Potato Soup + Kale Chips + Vegan Pumpkin Cake
This used to be more of a loaded baked potato soup back in our old dairy days, but it's still fun with bacon and onion and good seasoning.

The Kale Chips are an experiment...not sure how they'll turn out.  Stay tuned. 

This is my husband's birthday, so there'll be cake too.  The cake is really a vegan pumpkin bread recipe that uses coconut milk, but I like to make it in a bundt pan to make it more like a cake.  I'll probably do a simple powdered sugar glaze on top for decoration.

Monday:  Roasted Italian Sausage & Antipasto Salad w/ Garlic Bread
I'm thinking rotini pasta with green olives, peas, and chopped pepperoni tossed with one of my favorite dressings -- Brianna's Real French Vinaigrette.

Tuesday:  Pot Roast w/ Potatoes & Carrot Souffle
I'm going to use a pot roast recipe I got from our local grocery store...it uses Top Sirloin (which was conveniently on sale this week) seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, and fresh garlic.  I'm going to do a carrot souffle on the side...I omit the butter and puree it....yum! 

Wednesday:  Pad Thai
This is just a kit from the grocery store...no soy -- woohoo.  I'll add in scallion, chicken, & egg...maybe some peanuts.  Garnish with lime.

Thursday:  Beef & Broccoli Fried Rice
This is going to be something sort of simple thrown together I'm betting. 

Friday:  School Festival -- dinner out
One of our favorite local restaurants is catering...fried catfish....yum.  Really hoping everyone is well by then.

Saturday:  TBD
Probably a make-up of something that didn't get made earlier in the week.

For more menu plans, check out MPM @ orgjunkie.com.

Menu Plan 10/18-10/24

Sunday:  Dinner @ church

Monday:   Ranch Chicken & Bacon Pasta Salad
From the Cooking During Stolen Moments blog.  I'm going to be tinkering with a new product -- So Delicious Coconut Milk beverage -- to see if I can replicate a non-dairy/non-soy ranch dressing.  I'm probably going to have to reserve some of each of the ingredients since the kids object to mixed up foods.


Tuesday: Breaded Pork Chops w/ Roasted Asparagus & Baked Apples
HEB's running one of their 5for$5 specials again this week on whole pork loins.  The last time they did this I bought a 7lb whole loin (for $7) and got two large pork roasts + about 10 thick pork chops out of it.  I'm planning to pick up one again this week. Asparagus also on sale this week....South American maybe since I think of asparagus as a spring crop.  Rounding out the fall theme with some baked apples....I have a new favorite -- Honeycrisps. 

Wednesday: Sausages w/ Grapes & Balsamic Vinegar w/ Couscous & Salad
This is a very interesting dish -- Italian sausages and whole grapes roasted in the oven topped with balsamic vinegar.  Normally I'd serve it with pasta, but in the interests of speed and varying things up, I'm thinking couscous.

Thursday:  Cranberry Skillet Chicken w/ Wild Rice & Green Beans
My in-laws had us over for dinner last week, so this menu got bumped from last week's plan.

Friday: Carnitas w/ Spanish Rice, Tortillas, and Sauteed Squash
The carnitas are frozen from Costco...seriously salty but quite tasty. 

Saturday:  Out or FFYN

For more menus, check out Previous Food Stuffs Menu Plans or visit Menu Plan Monday on orgjunkie.com.