Indian Chicken and Rice

The other night, I asked Hubby what sounded good for dinner. He was craving Indian food and wanted  brown rice and slightly crisp vegetables. With that in mind, I came up with this.

Indian Chicken and Rice

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, cut into half-moon slices
2 medium zucchini, cut into half-moon slices
3/4 cup of chopped mushrooms
2 cups fresh broccoli florets
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups shredded chicken (from the freezer)
Big splash of soy sauce
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp onion powder (or a small onion, chopped)
3 cups cooked brown rice

In a large saute pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add broccoli and carrots. Cook about 5 minutes. Add other vegetables and garlic and cook for 3 minutes more. Add chicken, soy sauce, and spices. Stir and cook until vegetables are at desired tenderness. (I cooked it for about 8 minutes.) Mix in brown rice. Serve warm.

I was amazed at how much the boys liked this. They each had 2 plates full and cleaned their bowls at lunch the next day!

Italian Chicken Casserole

Dinner has become more stressful since starting my internship. I've found myself compromising my ideals for our diet for just getting something on the table. I've let it slide for the first month until we get into our new routine, and that's fine, but it's time to get back to "real food." My new challenge is to make real food, real fast. Casseroles are the ideal weekday supper. They're delicious and require few pots and pans. Once mixed, they get put in the oven for about 30 minutes (enough time to get kids transitioned, bags unpacked, and the table set).

Here is a casserole I came up with on the fly using what I had on hand. (Sorry about the lack of pictures. It was a crazy night, and I didn't know it would be so good.) It's not a prefect dish, but it's darn good and more "real food"- like than what we've been eating. Fair warning, this makes a big casserole. We had leftovers for both Hubby's and my lunch for 2 days. Next time, I might make it 2 casseroles; one for dinner and one for the freezer.

Italian Chicken Casserole

1 box of whole wheat pasta (rotini, penne, ziti, or some other short pasta)
3 cups shredded chicken (from the freezer)
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 medium bell peppers, chopped (I had a red and a yellow on hand, but any color will do.)
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
2 jars of pasta sauce (I'll use my sauce from the freezer in the future.)
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Cook pasta, leaving it slightly undercooked.
2. In a separate pan, cook the onion until it begins to soften. Add the peppers and the mushrooms to the pan. Add chicken. Season with salt, pepper, oregano.
3. Add the sauce to the chicken and vegetables.
4. Drain the pasta and combine with the vegetable mixture.
5. Pour into a 13X9 that has been sprayed with oil. Top with mozzarella cheese, and bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes, until the cheese is melted and lightly browned.

Babyzilla and I made a quick salad (I cut the vegetables, and he added them to the bowl), and dinner was ready. It was a huge hit with the kids and the adults! The leftovers were great, even cold.

Hamburger and Potato Casserole

This is one of Hubby's favorite dishes from his childhood. I made a few changes from the original to make it more health and budget friendly. Serve it with a salad or some green beans for a complete meal. This recipe makes enough to feed 2 adults, 2 hungry toddlers, and leftovers for lunch.

Hamburger and Potato Casserole


6 medium gold potatoes, cut into 1/3-1/2 inch slices (Any kind of potatoes should work, but we use golds.)
2 cups cooked ground beef (from the freezer) OR meat-free crumbles if you don't eat meat
1/2 pound (2 cans) of pinto beans or white beans, such as cannellini 
2 cans of tomato sauce - 14.5 oz each (I get organic tomato sauce from Costco.)
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a 13X9 dish, layer potatoes, then meat and beans. Top with tomato sauce. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and top with cheese. The heat from the casserole with melt it. Let it stand for 5-10 minutes to let it set and cool slightly.

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.

Strawberry Bread

For the first time ever, our 4 pound clam shell of strawberries from Costco started getting mushy before we'd eaten all of it. There's a popular adage in our church: Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. This was a time to use it up. I searched through my cookbooks for a good way to use up strawberries. I found this recipe in my Food Storage cookbook from the LDS cannery. It was SO good!

Strawberry Bread

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 1/4 cup vegetable oil (I use melted coconut oil.)
2 cups sliced strawberries

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, oil, and berries. Mix until just moistened. Spoon into 2 prepared (greased and floured) loaf pans. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool in the pans for several minutes. Remove from pans and finish cooling on a wire rack to cool completely.  

Frozen PB & B Bars

Hubby works for our state's government, and I'm a full-time student and mom. We're not rolling in money by any stretch of the imagination. For the time being, we're receiving food assistance in the form of WIC. In case you aren't familiar with WIC, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, infants, and children up to age 5 receive checks for a monthly allotment of milk, cheese, beans, cereal, etc. One of the things we get a lot of with WIC is peanut butter. The problem is, Babyzilla (who's almost 2 and a half now) doesn't really care for peanut butter. I can eat only so many PB&Js. I use it as a dip for apples and celery, too. Still, I had 5 jars of peanut butter in my cabinets. That's how these beauties were born.

Frozen PB&B Bars

Ripe bananas
Creamy peanut butter
Graham crackers

Mix together bananas with enough peanut butter to make a goopy, yet speadable mixture. (The paddle attachment on a stand mixer is perfect for this.) Spread a spoonfull onto 1/2 of a graham cracker square, and top with the other half. Place the sandwiches in a freezer bag and freeze for at least 2 hours.

The first time I made these, I used 5 bananas and about half of a jar of peanut butter, but use what you have on hand.

Zucchini and Beans with Pasta

One of my favorite things about summer is the bounty of available fresh vegetables at low prices. Our farmers' markets are full of zucchini and yellow squash. The beans and pasta in this recipe make a complete protein and a cheap, delicious meal.

1/2 pound of dried Great Northern beans
6 cups sliced zucchini
2 T olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (any color)
1 large garlic clove, smashed
1 29 oz can of tomato puree
3/4 cup water or vegetable broth
Salt and pepper
4-5 fresh basil leaves OR 1/2 tsp dried basil
Dash of crushed red pepper flakes (more if you like extra kick)
1 pound elbow macaroni or other small pasta
Grated Romano or Parmesan cheese (optional)

Prep: Soak beans overnight
1. Cook beans according to package directions. Drain, reserving 3/4 cup of the cooking liquid.
2. Start heating heavily salted water for pasta.
3. In a large pan, on medium heat, cook the onion in the olive oil until it begins to soften. Add garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook until the garlic becomes fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add zucchini and saute, until slightly softened.
4. Add tomato puree, water or broth, reserved bean broth, salt and pepper. Bring to bubbling. Simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add beans and basil. Cook 5 more minutes. If it is too thick, add water.
6. Place cooked and drained macaroni into a serving bowl. Spoon 3/4 of the sauce over the pasta and mix. Pour remaining sauce over the top and sprinkle with grated cheese, if using.

Hawaiian BBQ chicken

Hawaiian BBQ chicken

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can crushed pineapple (cubed works fine too)
1 16 oz bottle of barbeque sauce (any brand will do, but try to find/ make one with as few preservatives as possible)

Place chicken in a 3-5 qt slow cooker. Dump in pineapple and barbeque sauce. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8.

Mexican Pita Pizza

I was getting sick of PB&J and tuna salad for lunch, so I came up with this.

2 Whole wheat pitas
1/2 cup salsa
2/3 can of beans (black, pinto, kidney, whatever)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 F

Drain and rinse beans.


Place pitas on a baking sheet. Spread half of the salsa on each pita.


Top each pita with half of the beans and half of the cheese.



Thinly sliced cheese works just as well.

Bake for 5-8 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the pita is crisp.


Makes 2 pizzas. Enough for 2 people or one very hungry person. :)


Yum!



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.

Cranberry Pork Roast

When we got married, Hubby had a book called 101 Things to do with a Slow Cooker. Almost every page has casseroles made with cream soups or packets full of MSG. I try to avoid using preservative laden ingredients whenever possible, so I considered throwing the book out. Then I read through it. I found two recipes that I use fairly often. Cranberry Pork Roast is one of them.

Medium pork roast (2.5-3 pounds)
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 can of natural whole berry cranberry sauce (NOT jellied)
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp grated orange peel
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1) Place roast in greased cooker. Season with salt and pepper.
2) Combine other ingredients and pour over roast.
3) Cover and cook on low heat 6-8 hours or until pork is fully cooked
4) Let stand 10 minutes before slicing

This should work with chicken as well, but I've never tried it.

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.