Chicken Barley Chili

My mom introduced me to this delicious and easy recipe that makes great leftovers. And she found it on the back of the Quaker Quick Barley box. I had a couple friends over to sample it and they approved. So give it a shot yourself.

Ingredients
1 (14 1/2 oz) can tomatoes diced, undrained
1 (16 oz) jar/can salsa or tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2 oz) can chicken broth
1 cup QUAKER Quick Barley
3 cups water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 1/4 oz) can whole kernel corn
3 cups chicken breast cooked and diced (about 3 chicken breasts)

Directions
1. Cook chicken in the oven for 30 minutes at 350. Dice into cubes and set aside.
2. In a large soup pot, combine the first 7 ingredients (tomatoes, salsa, chicken broth, barley, water, chili powder, and cumin)
3. Over high heat bring to a boil; cover and reduce heat to low.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add beans, corn, and chicken. Increase heat to high until chili comes to a boil. 

6. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for another 5 minutes, or until barley is tender. 

Top with shredded cheese and sour cream and enjoy. 


Credit to Quaker Oats for this recipe

Beef Stew

Well it's back to work after the holidays. Personally, I'm feeling a little bummed...I took all of my Christmas decorations down yesterday (sad) and I have no scheduled time off of work until Memorial Day (unless I take vacation...and I just might, hehe). Oh and it was 11 degrees this morning on my way to work (yuck!).

BUT, one of my Christmas presents helped to cheer me up yesterday. I've never owned a crock pot until now (thanks mom and dad!). I feel super old getting as excited as I did about a crock pot, but oh well, I'm excited. So of course I tried my awesome Christmas present out yesterday. I figured, what better recipe to try out and help me warm up from the cold than this beef stew recipe. It was my mom's originally, but I've modified it a little to fit my tastes. Enjoy!

 Ingredients
1 pound beef cubes/stew meat
1/2 cup flour (split into 2 1/4 cups)
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 can diced tomatoes
2 medium potatoes cubed with skin
1 can low sodium beef broth
1/2 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Place meat, 1/4 cup of flour, and a couple dashes of pepper and salt in a ziploc bag. Seal the bag and shake it to cover the meat in the flour mixture. Set bag aside.

2. Cut up all veggies and place in crock pot.

3. Place meat on top of veggies.

4. Pour beef broth over all ingredients.
5. Cook on low in crock pot for 8 to 10 hours. If you're home you can stir the mixture periodically. If you leave it, that's ok.
6. About 30 minutes before you're ready to serve the stew, mix 1/4 cup of flour with 1/2 cup milk and pour into stew. Stir and let cook for remaining 30 minutes.

Serve with corn bread and enjoy.

Grilled Cheese with Avocado and Chicken

I was hoping I would have a recipe to share with Thanksgiving leftovers, but my family finished them off already! We didn't have much to start with...apparently we were all really hungry on Thanksgiving :). So instead, I'll share this really quick lunch or dinner idea--I had some leftover chicken in the fridge that I wanted to use and I found avocados at the store that looked delicious. So I decided to combine them both into this delicious grilled cheese sandwich.


Ingredients
2 slices wheat bread
2 slices provolone cheese
Half an avocado, sliced
Half a cooked chicken breast, sliced
1 tsp butter

Directions
1. Butter one side of each slice of bread. Place one slice on a skillet, butter side down and set the other slice aside. 
2. Slice chicken breast into this slices. Slice avocado into wedges. 
3. Place one slice of provolone on the bread slice in the skillet. Layer chicken slices and avocado slices on top. Add the next slice of provolone followed by the second slice of bread.

1st slice of break with cheese slice, chicken, and avocado

4. Grill each side of the sandwich in the skillet over medium heat until each side is golden brown and the cheese is melted.
5. Slice in half and enjoy the warm and delicious sandwich.

Potato Chowder

Every year when the weather gets colder, I end up making a lot of soup...it tastes good, helps warm me up, and makes for great leftovers. Potato Chowder is one easy and delicious soup recipe I got from my mom. And I just made that today. Here's the recipe, I recommend giving it a try:

Ingredients
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
1 can (8 oz or 15 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 tsp thyme
Dash of pepper
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Directions
1. Combine potatoes and broth in large soup pot with tight-fitting lid. Bring to boil, then simmer until tender (about 10 minutes). 
2. Use fork to slightly mash up potatoes. You don't have to mash them up a lot, just break them apart a little.
3. Stir in carrots, corn, celery, and thyme. Cover and simmer until veggies are tender (about 15 minutes).

4. In a separate bowl, stir together milk and flour. Then add milk and flour mixture to the rest of the ingredients. Stir in cheese. A little bit of the cheese can be set aside to sprinkle on top of the soup; bacon bits are also good on top :).

Now serve and enjoy! 

Credit to my mom for sharing this recipe with my mom.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

One of my favorite things about summer is grilling out. The other night, I grilled out with a couple of my friends and I made spinach and artichoke dip as an appetizer. This dip was a delicious accompaniment to our steak.

Ingredients

2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

2 (8 oz) blocks cream cheese, softened

1/2 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry

Directions

1. Combine 1 1/2 cups mozzarella (set the rest aside), sour cream, 2 tablespoons Parmesan (set the rest aside), and remainder of the ingredients.

2. Spray 8x8 pan with cooking spray and spoon mixture into pan. 

3. Spread the remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan on top of the mixture.

Before baking

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly and light golden brown.

The finished product after baking

Serve with tortilla chips, pita chips, or pita bread.

Recipe adapted from myrecipes.com

Quick and Easy Dinner #3: Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry

My third recipe in my quick and easy dinner series is beef and vegetable stir fry. If you're a vegetarian, have no fear, just cut out the beef. No fresh veggies? You can use frozen veggies. 

Ingredients

1 lb stir fry beef (or any steak cut into strips)

2-3 cups Fresh vegetables, chopped

    Green and red bell peppers

    Broccoli

    Cauliflower

    Carrots

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tbsp corn starch

1 Tbsp cold water 
Cooked rice

Note: You might also consider adding some canned water chestnuts and/or baby corn to the vegetable mixture. Feel free to experiment with what you like.

Directions

1. In 1 skillet, start cooking the beef over medium heat. No need to season it, you'll do that with the soy sauce later. 

2. In another skillet, put a little olive oil in the pan and then add the vegetables. Cook these over medium heat, flipping them over regularly. 

3. As you're doing this, start cooking the rice. Personally I prefer brown rice because it's a little healthier, but you can use white as well. 

4. Once the meat has browned on the outside, drain any grease from the pan and move the meat to the edges. Add the vegetables and continue to cook them if needed. (If you use frozen vegetables instead, add a lid to the pan once you add the vegetables to steam them). 

Vegetables after adding to the meat. They still need some cooking time.

5. As the meat and vegetables cook, mix together the soy sauce, corn starch, and cold water in a small bowl. (If you don't have corn starch, the recipe will be fine without it. The corn starch only helps to thicken the sauce). Once the meat and veggies are done, move both to the outer perimeter of the pan. Next pour the soy sauce mixture into the center of the pan. Once it starts to bubble and thicken, mix it with the meat and veggies. 

Once the rice is cooked, spoon the stir fry mixture onto the rice like below and enjoy your quick and easy dinner!

Thanks to my mom for teaching me how to make this easy dinner.

Quick and Easy Dinner #2: Cranberry Chicken & Parmesan Crusted Asparagus

Continuing my series for the month of May on quick and easy dinners, I've got a great one that requires very little prep: Cranberry Chicken with rice and Parmesan Crusted Asparagus. Both recipes require very few ingredients and will allow you more time to rest your feet after a long day.

Ingredients

Cranberry Chicken

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 can whole cranberries

1 packet French onion soup mix

3/4 cup Catalina salad dressing

Parmesan Crusted Asparagus

1 bunch thin asparagus spears

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Black pepper

Salt
Garlic salt

Directions

Cranberry Chicken

1. Preheat oven to 325

2. Spray 9x9 in pan or pyrex dish with cooking spray and place chicken breasts in dish

3. Mix together cranberries, French onion soup mix, and Catalina dressing in a separate bowl. Then pour mixture over chicken breasts.

4. Cover pan with foil and back for 1.5 hours. Uncover the pan for the last 20 minutes. (If you don't want to wait this long, bump the heat up to 350 and bake for 1 hour). 

5. If you don't make the asparagus, 10 minutes before the chicken is done, cook rice to serve with chicken. Personally, I prefer Minute Whole Grain Brown Rice. If you do make the asparagus, refer to the directions below.

Parmesan Crusted Asparagus

While the chicken is cooking, prep the asparagus. 

1. Rinse the asparagus in the sink and then spread out on cookie sheet (it's ideal if your cookie sheet has edges). 

2. Drizzle olive oil over asparagus sheers and toss to coat each one. Then spread them out in a single layer so that no spear is on top of another. 

3. Sprinkle Parmesan over asparagus and season with black pepper, salt, and garlic salt to taste. 

4. After you've pulled the chicken out of the oven, cover it again with the foil to keep it warm. Bump the heat up on the oven to 425 and bake for 12-15 minutes or asparagus is just tender. 

5. Once the asparagus is in the oven, begin cooking rice to serve with the chicken.

The Parmesan Crusted Asparagus recipe is adjusted from one I found on allrecipes.com. Thanks to Rachel and Chad for sharing it with me :)

Quick and Easy Dinner #1: Pork Tenderloin with Grilled Sweet Potato

I don't know about you, but the last thing I want to do after a long day of work is to spend more than 15 minutes in the kitchen getting dinner ready. That's why I'm going to be posting "quick and easy" dinner recipes throughout May. In the spirit of the weather warming up, my first dinner recipe is all made on the grill and only takes 5-10 minutes of prep time: pork tenderloin and grilled sweet potato.



Ingredients
1 pork tenderloin (you can find this in a cylindrical package in the meat aisle)
1 peeled sweet potato
Olive oil
Italian seasoning
Lowry's seasoning salt
Black pepper 


Special ingredients: a grill (if you don't own a grill, no worries, you can also make this in the oven)


Directions

The meat on the grill, uncooked, with seasoning

1. Lightly coat the outside of the pork tenderloin with olive oil. Then sprinkle with Italian seasoning (you can really use whatever you want, basil, thyme, rosemary, whatever you have in your cabinet).
2. Place pork on grill over medium heat for 35-40 minutes or until cooked through. (Often times the meat package will contain directions about how to cook the meat, follow these if they are different. This will also include instructions about baking in the oven rather than the grill).

Seasoned sweet potato wedges before cooking

3. While the meat is cooking, cut the sweet potato into wedges and place on a piece of aluminum foil. Once all the wedges are cut, sprinkle about 1 Tbsp of olive oil over the wedges. Then season them with Lowry's and black pepper. (Again, you can season them with whatever you want, but I really like the taste of Lowry's and black pepper)

The wrapped up sweet potato wedges

4. Wrap up the sweet potato wedges in the aluminum foil and place on the grill over medium heat when there are 10 minutes left for the meat. (If you're making this in the oven, bake the wedges on a cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees or until soft)


5. Once the meat is done, remove it from the grill and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing. It will look something like this:

 6. Periodically check on the sweet potato wedges. They should take 10-15 minutes to cook. You'll know they are done when you can easily stab them with a fork. When they are done, remove them from the grill.

7. Slice the meat and serve with sweet potato wedges and fruit or veggies. I had strawberries in my fridge, so I decided to have those.

The finished product. Enjoy!

Basil Pesto

Ingredients
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts (I used pine nuts)
2 medium sized garlic cloves, minced (if you really like garlic, use 3)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Special Equipment Needed: food processor

Directions

1. Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) 
2. Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.
3. Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on (my food processor doesn't do this, so I just added a little at a time and it worked out just fine). 
4. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. 
5. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
6. Serve with pasta, or over baked potatoes, or spread over toasted baguette slices.

Makes: 1 cup pesto

Emily's Thoughts

When I made this, I used a whole box of spaghetti noodles to mix with the pesto. This was a tad too much spaghetti for the amount of pesto, so I would recommend cutting down on the pasta just a little. I also had some leftover chicken and tomato so I cut up both and added them to the pasta. Lastly, I sprinkled on some parmesan. This was an easy and delicious dinner! 

If you're just cooking for yourself, you can also freeze some of your pesto. From all of the recipes I looked at, you shouldn't add the cheese if you plan on freezing the pesto because the cheese will not freeze well. You should add the cheese when you use it.

Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes