Ginger Chicken and Rice Soup

Our house has been plagued by a nasty summer bug. At least one of us has been sick for over two weeks. (Mostly me.) Chicken soup always makes me feel better, but I didn't want to go through all of the hassle of boiling a whole chicken and working for hours. I just wanted a bowl of soup. A bowl of this soup was delicious, comforting, and full of nutrients. It was easy and quick because I had shredded chicken, broth, spinach, and ginger in my freezer.


Ginger Chicken and Rice Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 cups shredded chicken
3-4 cloves of garlic, either grated or finely chopped
2 tsp grated ginger root 
Salt and Pepper
1 package of frozen spinach (10 oz)
4- 6 cups vegetable broth or water or a combination of both
1/3 cup of rice

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and carrots. Cook until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken, garlic, and ginger. Stir and cook for about a minute. Add broth and bring to a low boil. Add rice and stir. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Add spinach and stir. Cook until all ingredients are heated through and rice is tender.

Project Sorghum Part 2: The Briquette

Remember that 40 pounds of sorghum we were given? It's still hanging out in our kitchen. The other day I decided to get real about using some of it. One of the uses for sorghum that I found online was to pop it like popcorn. The instructions were pretty simple: A little oil in the bottom of a pot + sorghum grains + heat + some stirring = popped sorghum. Easy right? Wrong.

As I was popping the sorghum, Bulldog started crying, so I turned off the stove and went to figure out what happened. In the 4 minutes it took me to calm him down, the pot of sorghum went from oily kernels to smoke machine. The whole apartment filled with smoke. I got the kids outside and got the pot off the stove. I opened the doors and windows to vent the smoke. I added water to the pot to prevent the kernels from igniting. The contents of the pot had transformed into a large, black briquette. After a minute of hacking because of inhaling the smoke, I shut the doors (leaving the kitchen window open), grabbed the diaper bag, and decided to go for a drive. I took the kids to the park to calm them down. I called Hubby to let him know what happened and that we were okay.

My clothes and hair wreaked of sorghum smoke, so I took a long shower that night. I'm still trying to scrub the charred residue out of my pot. The apartment still has a smokey smell, but it's not as bad as it was. I'm not sure if it's fading or if I'm just getting used to it. Either way, I won't be popping sorghum for a while.

Project Sorghum Part 1: The Challenge

A woman in our local mommy group was giving away a partially full 5 gallon buck of sorghum kernels/ berries/ whatever they're called. I pounced on it. I love using new, real ingredients. If nothing else, we need a bucket to hold the 25 lbs of rice we just bought from Costco. After getting the bucket home, I began to realize just how much sorghum was in that bucket. It's about 40 POUNDS of sorghum. "What they heck am I going to do with this?" I asked myself. "Use it," I answered.

Since the bucket is open, I made it a personal mission to use every bit of it before the end of the year. There was just one problem: I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with 40 POUNDS of sorghum. Naturally, I went where any red-blooded American woman goes when she needs ideas- Pinterest. This is what I learned from my 1 hour of  Pinterest "research":

• Sorghum is a gluten-free grain that grows well in hot climates.
• It can be made into sorghum syrup. (So not happening in my kitchen, but nice to know.)
• It can be ground into flour and used to make breads. (Good thing we have a grain mill.)
• It's easy to cook. Very similar to rice. Cook it in 3 parts liquid to1 part grain for 50 minutes.
• It can be popped in a pot on the stove! (Think of the old fashioned way to make popcorn.)
• It's really good in curries.

I won't lie; The task seems immense, but it also sounds like a lot of fun. The Lord provided us with this bounty, so I intent to make the most of it. That said, if you have any recipes for sorghum, please send them my way. I be here, under the pile of sorghum.

Slightly Spicy Couscous Stuffed Tomatoes

Another Hallee the Homemaker dish. I would have never thought up this flavor combination. It's delicious. If you don't like it spicy, omit or reduce the Tabasco sauce. I ate this all the time when I was pregnant with Babyzilla.

Slightly Spicy Couscous Stuffed Tomatoes
This dish works great as a side dish or a lunch entrée.
1 cup regular couscous
6 large firm ripe red tomatoes
dash Kosher or Sea salt
1 tablespoon cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon hot sauce (Tabasco or similar)
1 clove garlic — peeled and minced

Filling:
¼ cup finely chopped green bell pepper
¼ cup finely chopped orange bell pepper
¼ cup finely chopped red bell pepper
6 green onions — finely chopped
1 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
⅓ cup finely chopped fresh mint
3 tablespoons cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (fresh squeezed is best)
Kosher or Sea Salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Prep:
(Can all be done while couscous is boiling and cooling)
Chop, slice, dice vegetables
Top and carefully scoop out tomatoes
Brush the inside of the tomatoes with hot sauce

Directions:
Bring to a boil 2 cups water in a medium-size saucepan. Add couscous and stir. Boil again, lower beat and cover. Simmer until all water has been absorbed. Stir to fluff, remove from heat and allow to stand 5 minutes. Cool in refrigerator.
Cut a ½ inch slice off the top of each tomato from the stem end. Discard seeds, remove pulp with a spoon, and chop pulp into small pieces. Set pulp aside for the filling. Lightly sprinkle tomato shell with salt and place upside down on a cookie sheet for approximately 10 minutes to drain its liquid. Mix together olive oil, hot sauce, and garlic. Turn tomato shells upright and drizzle them with olive oil mixture.
When couscous is cold, toss green, orange and red peppers, green onions, parsley, and mint together with couscous. Add reserved tomato pulp, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss again and taste for seasoning. Cut a thin slice off the bottom of each tomato to keep them from rolling.
Spoon filling into each prepared tomato shell. Garnish with a sprig of parsley and serve

Sugar-free Applesauce Spice Cake a.k.a. Babyzilla's future birthday cake

Applesauce Spice Cake
3 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/4 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped dates
1 1/2 cups ground almonds (optional)
2 Macintosh apples - peeled, cored and finely chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9 inch square baking pan.
Beat the eggs until they drop like ribbons from the beaters. Continue beating and add the oil in a thin stream. Beat in the 1 cup applesauce and the 1 cup unsweetened apple juice concentrate then mix in the flour gradually until well blended. Add the baking soda, ground ginger, ground almonds and apples. Fold together until well mixed.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F about 40 minutes or until the cake tests clean with a knife or toothpick. Cool completely before frosting.

Perfect hard boiled eggs

http://www.halleethehomemaker.com/2011/05/perfect-every-time-hard-boiled-egg/

Hallee the Homemaker strikes again! I made hard boiled eggs last night to have on hand durring the week. (Egg salad, egg on a salad, plain hard boiled egg, etc.) I've never been able to get the timing right and always end up with "over medium" boiled eggs. Not bad, but not what I'm going for. These eggs were perfect! Fully cooked, but the yolk wasn't dried out. They were really easy to peel, too. Throw a few ice cubes into the pot to cool it down faster. Save time and water.

Zuccini Ribbons with Parmesan Sauce

The original recipe can be found here: http://www.halleethehomemaker.com/2011/02/zucchini-ribbons-with-parmesan-sauce/ . I've tweaked it a bit.

Summer is squash season in our neck of the woods. It's cheap and delicious, not to mention healthy. However, squash can get boring. Try this for something different.

4-5 good sized zucchini
3 cloves of garlic (more if you really like garlic)
2 Tbsp EVOO
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
S&P (salt and pepper)

1. Using a veggie peeler, peel zucchini into ribbons. Go all the way around the zucchini, down to the seeds. Mince garlic or use a garlic press.
2. In a medium pan, heat 1 Tbsp of the olive oil and add the garlic.
3. When you can smell the cooked garlic, add the milk and S&P. Turn heat to high and bring it to a boil, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. While the sauce is simmering, heat the rest of the oil over medium heat in a medium pan (large enough to hold all of your zucchini ribbons). Add zucchini and sauté for a 2-3 minutes. Don't let it cook through or it will get soggy. Remove pan from the heat.
5. After the sauce done simmering, remove it from the heat and wisk in the cheese. Toss with the zucchini ribbons.

The first time I made this, we put the zucchini over couscous and it soaked up the sauce! Delicious! We had some left over, so I heated it up the next night and added sliced chicken breasts (also a left over) and poured it over fettucchini. It was even better than the night before! Hubby insisted that I add this into our rotation.

5 Minute Breakfasts

So, I posted a mini-rant on Facebook about the evils of Pop-tarts. This sparked some thoughts. Why do parents give that crap to kids? Because it's quick. (And Kelloggs has expensive advertising companies brainwash kids and their parents, but that's another post.) So I though I'd come up with a list of alternatives to the pre-packaged nonsense that some people consider breakfast that take 5 minutes or fewer to make and provide good nurtition for growing children.

• Oatmeal, old fashioned or quick cooking: Cooks on the stove (5 minutes to cook) or in the microwave (1-2 minutes). Kids can add their own flavors with blueberries, cinnamon, honey, nutmeg, etc. High in fiber and vitamins. If you pour milk over it, you get bonus clacium!
• Cold cereal: Takes less than a minute. Get quality cereal (fewer than 6 grams of sugar per serving and made with whole grains) like Cheerios. Add a banana or some berries and milk and voila!
• Eggs and toast: Eggs cook quick. Put the bread in the toaster while the eggs are cooking. Add a few grapes (cut up for younger kids) or oranges on the side. Great for families with multiple kiddos.
• On the run? Try homemade breakfast sandwiches. Fry eggs, top with cheese and put on toast, an English muffin or bagel. Wrap it in a paper towel and grab a box of raisins, preferably organic. You're ready to head out the door, and there's no need to stop by a drive thru.
• Smoothies: Also great for on the go! I discovered the beauty of smoothies durring my crazy month of June. Green smoothies are great for sneaking veggies in. Berry smoothies are full of antioxidnets. There are a million combinations out there. There's bound to be one that works for your family. I love my Berry, Banana and Peanut Butter Smoothie! Make leftover smoothies into ...
• Breakfast popsicles: They take almost no time because they're already in the freezer, and the kids think they're getting a treat.
• Frozen waffles/ pancakes: I'm not talking about the ones you buy in the freezer section. They're full of hydrogenated oils and other gunk. When you have a pancake/ waffle morning on a Saturday, make a double batch and freeze them. A cup of fruit salad on the side or strawberries on top go great. Maybe an egg or some sausage (cooked when you make the pancakes, so they're heat-and-eat style) for protein? Another option for protein is to top the waffles/ pancakes with peanut butter. Yum!

Any other suggestions?

Cucumber and Tomato Salad

When I was growing up, my family ate this at least 2 nights a week in the summer. My grandfather grew the best tomatoes ever! Lucky for me, I married a guy that grows awesome tomatoes AND cucumbers.

Cucumber and tomato salad

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch rounds or half-moons
2 plum tomatoes cut into 1/2 inch half-moons
1 & 1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar ... add an extra tsp if you love vinegar like I do :)
1/8 tsp black pepper (fresh ground is best)
Pinch of salt

Stir together all ingredients and chill in the fridge for at least 10 minutes.

Salsa chicken and peppers

This is a great busy day dish. I'm a very busy lady, so my slow cooker is one of my best friends in the kitchen.

Salsa chicken and peppers

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch strips
Flour for coating chicken, about 1/4 cup
2-3 bell peppers, cut into 1 inch strips (any colors will do but red and green are a very good combination)
One yellow onion, sliced into 1/2 inch slices (half moon style)
1 & 1/2 cups of tomato salsa (Type depends on your family's tastes. We use medium.)
1 & 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (optional)

1. Coat chicken strips in flour and place in bottom of slow cooker.
2. Cover with peppers and onion.
3. Stir together salsa and spices. Pour over chicken and peppers. Cover with lid.
4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
5. Stir before serving and top with cheese, if using.

I usually serve this over brown rice, but it is also great in tortillas. Corn or black beans would be a great addition to this!

S&P Chicken

S&P (salt and pepper) chicken is a staple in our home. It's easy and delicious.

Ingredients:
1 boneless, skinless chicken breasts per person
Salt
Black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F

Cover a baking sheet with foil.
Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken breasts and place on foil.
Cook for 20-25 minutes or unti chicken is cooked through.

Variations:

• Add herbs such as rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc
• You can squirt some lemon juice or top chicken breasts with a slice of lemon.

Tips:

• Make extra for chicken salad, chicken stir-fry or to go on homemade pizza.
• Forgot to thaw the chicken? Just cook it for an extra 20 minutes. Still tastes great.