Chicken and Rice Soup

It's cold in New Mexico. We had a huge snowstorm in December–that's a big deal! Dinner just had to be soup, and it turned out so good that I decided to write it down. Originally I was planning on making chicken noodle soup, but since we were low on noodles and there was no way I was heading out to the grocery store, I opted to go with the rice we had in the pantry. I also dug out all of the leftover random vegetables still hanging out in the veggie drawer from Thanksgiving. I think the key to this soup is the chicken stock. I had a package of 6 boxes from Costco so I didn't feel bad using 3 boxes in one pot. It really made a difference with the creamy flavor. The result was delish!

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 4 small onions (or equivalent)
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 bunch of celery, chopped
• 4-ish cups of chopped carrots
• parsnips would be an excellent addition!
• 1 large red potato, diced
• 1 medium summer squash, diced
• 10-12 cups of chicken stock
• 2 chicken breasts (approx. 1+ pounds), diced
• 2-2 1/2 cups of white rice
• water as necessary
• salt to taste

Preparation

This is all very approximate because it was based on what we had. I suspect you can't really mess this up.

Heat olive oil in a stock pot, add onions, garlic, celery, and carrots as you chop them. Saute until onion is transparent and carrots are clearly cooking. Add potato, summer squash, and chicken stock; bring to a boil. Add diced chicken and let cook through. Add rice. Continue to simmer until rice is cooked. Add enough water until the consistency is what you're looking for. (The rice will continue to absorb liquids for a little while.) Salt to taste, and enjoy!

Note: Typically I would have added dried oregano, thyme, and lemon juice if I was making chicken noodle soup, but the "pure" appearance of the white rice and stock without little dark spice flecks was very appealing to me. I feel like the soup flavor was as "pure" as it looked.. That said, feel free to spice to your own tastes. 

Homemade Chai Latte Concentrate

Mmmm... Yes. Pure deliciousness. 

Are you addicted to iced chai lattes in the summer like me? And hot chai lattes in the winter? Wait no longer, you can now make your own at home and it will taste just like Starbucks. Hooked? Yeah, I thought so.

A member of a naturally-minded listserv at that I am a part of recently posted a chai latte recipe. I've been itching for years to make my own but have never made the jump. Inspired, I followed her recipe, changing one or two things here and there, and wound up making a chai latte concentrate truly as good–or even better–than Starbucks.

Ingredients

• 1 to 1 1/2 gallons of water
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon whole cloves
• 1 tablespoon whole fennel
• 2 whole anise stars
• 8-10 allspice berries
• 1/2 vanilla bean split down the middle
• 1 tablespoon cracked cardamom seeds 
• as recommended by the woman who posted the original recipe, I crack them with my teeth
• optional: 1/2 tablespoon sliced ginger
• 10 bags of black tea
• sugar to taste

Preparation

Pour water into a stockpot and add all the spices (everything except for the tea and sugar). 

Bring to a low boil and continue to boil, mostly covered, for 2 hours.

30 minutes

2 hours

Turn off burner, add the tea bags, and steep for 1 hour.

I used Twinings Decaffeinated English Breakfast, but want try rooibos next time for a truly caffeine free tea.

Strain out the spices.

Add sugar to taste at this point. Last time I made this I used a combination of raw sugar and agave nectar and found that I had to keep adding more. This time I added 2 cups of refined sugar from the start and it was way too much. Ah well. :) ... The best way to gauge how sweet you want the concentrate is to sample it every once and awhile with a ratio of 1:1 to 3:2 chai concentrate to milk.

Bottle up some concentrate to freeze for later.

Now make a cup for yourself!

Start with the concentrate (mine is iced!)..

Add some milk..

And enjoy!

Kara's Overnight Baked Oatmeal

If Dan ever becomes a professor, Kara will be my inspiration. She is Dan's advisor's wife, and no one can host like Kara. She is gracious, kind, always smiling, incredibly interesting, an unbelievable mom, hosts parties with ease, and so much more – simply amazing!

Dan was out visiting Kara's family after they left Champaign a couple of years ago and went on a several-hour bike ride with his advisor. When they made it back home Kara had a delicious brunch prepared, including this Overnight Baked Oatmeal. He loved it so much that he asked her to email it to me. It's really unbeatable and it feeds a crowd with minimal work. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 4 1/2 cups boiling water
• 1/2 cup oil 
• Kara often reduces the oil and adds applesauce to fill its place
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp or less salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup rasins, chopped apples, nuts - all optional

Preparation

Combine oats and boiling water. Let stand until water is absorbed.

Add the remaining ingredients to the oatmeal/water mixture and combine. Put in a greased 9"x12" baking dish and refrigerate overnight.

Bake at 350˚F for 30 minutes.

Serves 6-8 people.

Kara recommends serving with milk. :)

The New Baby Meal List

When I was pregnant with Eland I cooked up a storm. We had lived in Albuquerque for less than a year when Eland was due, so I knew I couldn't count on many meals from friends since we didn't have a whole lot of them yet. Here's the list of what I made, so that whenever the next time comes around, I'll remember.

None of these meals had garlic, onion, or dairy. I replaced onion with leeks whenever I felt it was appropriate. I've heard that avoiding garlic, onion, and possibly dairy makes for a less gassy baby. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but neither of my boys were colicky, so I'm sticking with it.

• Plum chicken - 4 gladware tubs
• Taco meat - 2 gladware tubs
• Cubed cooked chicken (for chicken salad or salads in general) - 1 gallon bag
• Cincinnati-style chili - 3 gladware tubs
• Italian beef - 2 gladware tubs
• BBQ meatloaf - 4 gladware tubs
• Chimichangas - 18
• Chicken basil sausages - 6 uncooked links
• 1 package of hotdog buns
• Stuffed green peppers - 3 gladware tubs with 2 peppers each
• Nectarine-blueberry crisp - 3 gladware tubs
• Chicken pot pie - 2 pie-sized baking dishes, 2 individual bakers
• Chicken noodle soup - 8 gladware tubs
• Gnocchi (uncooked) - 1 gallon bag
• Beef in red wine sauce - 2 gladware tubs
• Brownies - 2 gallon bags containing 1/2 pan each
• Zucchini bread - 1 loaf cut in half with halves frozen separately
• Date bread - 1 loaf

Yes, this is a lot of food, and ambitious, but it helped so much to have these meals along with a bunch of others from friends to last us until I had the energy to cook again. (Dan did cook a few meals a week, too.) Also, this doesn't include little-prep meals like pasta with sauce from a jar and that sort of thing.

Now I can go throw out the written list that's still on my refrigerator...

Yet to Try: Vegetarian Split-Pea Soup

This looks so good, and it's dairy-free! http://www.girlsgonechild.net/2011/02/eat-well-meat-free-your-split-pea.html

I have my own split-pea soup which I plan on making tomorrow and will hopefully post about, but I do use ham in it. The above recipe looks fantastic.

Pepperoni and Sausage Spaghetti Cakes

It's nearly 3:30pm and I finally figured out what to make for dinner tonight. Yikes. I like to know a little earlier, but I am simply not motivated today. It's hot in Albuquerque, and it's hot upstairs in our house where I took a little nap an hour ago. Ugg.. Of course now I'll be making the house just a little hotter when I turn the stove on for Pepperoni and Sausage Spaghetti Cakes. However, not nearly as hot as if I had to bake. That would be a disaster. :)

The original recipe comes from Epicurious.com here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pepperoni-Spaghetti-Cakes-11560 and I am adding the sausage part since we have amazing apple chicken sausage from the grocery store in our freezer. Not quite sure yet what other modifications I'll be making, but I know I won't be including cheese, and I have green bell peppers in the refrigerator, not red. And I'll have to replace the green onions with chives or white onions... Perhaps add some Kalamata olives? Hmmm...

Ingredients

• 1/4 pound spaghetti
• 1/3 cup finely chopped sliced pepperoni
• 1 apple chicken sausage
• 1/3 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallion greens plus two 3-inch pieces of scallion green for garnish
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large egg, beaten lightly
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• sour cream as an accompaniment

Preparation
This is copied from epicurous.com, but I will be editing it later after I've made the meal:

In a large saucepan of boiling salted water cook the spaghetti until it is al dente and drain it well. While the spaghetti is cooking, in a bowl toss together the pepperoni, the bell pepper, the Parmesan, the sliced scallion greens, the garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss the spaghetti with the mixture, add the egg, and toss the mixture well.

In a non-stick skillet measuring 6 inches across the bottom heat 1/2 teaspoon of the oil over moderate heat until it is hot but not smoking, add half the spaghetti mixture, pressing it evenly, and cook the spaghetti cake for 3 minutes, or until the underside is golden. Turn the spaghetti cake, cook it for 3 minutes more, or until the underside is golden, and transfer it to a plate. Make a second spaghetti cake in the same manner with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon oil and spaghetti mixture and transfer it to another plate. Keeping 1/2 inch of one end of each scallion green piece intact, make lengthwise cuts to form brushes. Spoon a dollop of the sour cream onto each spaghetti cake and arrange the scallion brushes on the cakes.

The Verdict: Coming Soon

Broccoli Chicken Pasta Salad

I've been pretty sick for awhile, again, hence the blogging hiatus. Dan's been doing the majority of our cooking, but I am finally working my way back into the kitchen. I picked up some broccoli thinking I'd use it for an Auggie recipe, but made sure to get enough for the whole family. Why not cold pasta salad? It's perfect for the temperatures we've been having lately, and with chicken and whole wheat pasta you end up with a pretty balanced meal.

This web site was my inspiration after a Google image search: http://koshercuisine.blogspot.com/2009/01/pasta-salad-with-broccoli-and-pine-nuts.html .. I've never seen this web site before, but it had a few key needs, namely no diary and no MSG-laden spice packets or salad dressings. Beyond that, I used my own methods and went with what we had in the fridge, and it turned out wonderfully enough to deserve its own blog post.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb whole wheat rotini or other juice-holding pasta
• 1-2 heads of broccoli, cut into small pieces
• 1 chicken breast, filleted
• 1/4 c olive oil
• 2+ cloves minced fresh garlic
• 1/4 c chopped nuts
• The above recipe recommends pine nuts or almonds, but I only had mixed nuts and they worked splendidly
• 2 strips bacon, finely chopped
• 1/2+ c crasins
• 1/3 c chopped parsley
• 2 Tbsp finely minced red onion
• 1/2 - 1 c mayonnaise
• 1/4 c +/- white wine vinegar
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cook pasta according to directions, rinse with cold water.

Bring another pot of water to boil and blanch broccoli. I made sure it was still firm and bright green when I was done - so no longer than a minute and a half. Scoop out broccoli and rinse with cold water.

Bring the broccoli water back to a boil and add the halved chicken breast. Poach until cooked through, rinse with cold water, and then chop into 1/2" pieces.

Heat olive oil in the pasta pot, saute minced garlic and chopped nuts for a few minutes over medium-low heat. (I didn't brown the garlic.)

In a large bowl mix the following ingredients together: Pasta, broccoli, diced chicken, olive oil/garlic/chopped nuts, diced bacon, crasins, minced parsley, and minced red onion. Add mayonnaise, white wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.