Soup and Scones!

Man, I keep falling behind.  I still want to make the Indian dish, but I have no idea when.

I did, however, make up the Chicken Tortilla Soup and the Bacon Cheddar Scones.

First, the soup.  Things started off with a nice mirepoix (although I guess in this case we should call it a sofrito, eh?)

And ended up with a really delicious soup!

Like ringy we couldn't find any mexicorn, so I just used a can of corn.  And, what I thought was a can of green chilli's was actually salsa verde, so most of that went in instead.

We chose to garnish the soup with some sour cream, fresh grated cheese, avocado (because they are my favourite) and the leftover salsa verde.

When I asked Derek what he though his answer was "It's soupy".  Um, yeah.   Despite that comment we both really enjoyed the soup.  The avocado got a bit lost with all of the other flavours, and Derek needed the sour cream to tone the heat down to a level he was happy with, but I'll definitely be making this again.

Now, on to the bacon.

This was my first experience making scones, and while I wasn't sure if my dough was right, they were amazing.  I followed the directions exactly and ended up with this pan of delicious for Sunday breakfast.

Because we are gluttons, we had these, topped with some MORE butter and coffee for breakfast.  There was 1 left.

I will 100% make these again (but maybe cook up the bacon the day/night before) and am quite interested in experimenting with different scones in the future!

Now, who's got recipes that use up butter milk?

Soup for a cold day

I finally got a chance to make the chicken tortilla soup. It was great!

I'm always a little surprised when these recipes call for cooked meat, but don't instruct you to brown the meat and deglaze the pan. But anyway, I started off by browning the chicken.

Then I made the roux in the same pot, cooked the base veggies as instructed and threw everything else in. I couldn't find Mexicorn so I just used canned corn. I may have overdone it with the fajita seasoning... actually, I used the whole pack. Next time, I think I would also throw in some rice.

Fire burn and cauldron bubble

I garnished it with some sliced avocado and cheddar cheese. The avocado balanced the seasoning in the soup really nicely. Sour cream would have been great too, but I don't use it often so I didn't want to buy it just for this. Actually, I really liked how all of the ingredients in the soup balanced each other out.

I liked the recipe! I'll probably make it again, but I would have to plan for it (as opposed to it being a quick throw-together meal) because some of the ingredients aren't on my usual grocery radar.

Indian Food

This was my first attempt at making Indian food and I loved it. However, something in the flavor profile didn't work for J, so I may not do this one again. He said it smelled great when he came in and he couldn't tell me what the taste was that he didn't care for, so I'm not sure what I could do to fix it.

I was a little afraid of the amount of cayenne pepper in the marinade, so I cut it down a lot, and I think this was a mistake. The finished dish could have used some more heat.

I used the George Forman to cook the meat, rather than the broiler since I have a horrible habit of burning things to a crisp in the broiler. A note for future reference, small chunks of meat in a heavy marinade will stick to the top of the grill when you open it. I swear, it looked like all my chicken pulled a Houdini.

I served the dish over brown rice.

Soup Time

My husband loves soup; we have it once a week. This one was so quick and easy, it's going into the recipe file.

The only changes I made were to the seasoning. I tasted it as it was simmering and decided it needed some more heat, so I added chili powder. As I was eating it, I decided that it was too smoky for my taste, so next time I will cut the cumin down and up the chili powder.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Down here in South it finally feels like Fall. I've been waiting for it and the weather here after a blistering summer has become cooler. This makes it the perfect time of year for making soup. This recipe is one of my favorites because of its ease and tastiness. It's also reasonably healthy which makes it even more of a plus. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup diced sweet onion

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

 3-16  oz chicken broth boxes 

1 (10-ounce) can Mexicorn (corn and bell peppers), drained and rinsed

1 (14-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (-ounce) can green chiles, drained (the smallest can possible I can't recall how big but the can is tiny)

1 tablespoon minced garlic (or 1 teaspoon garlic powder)

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or sliced ( If you have a carnivorous husband use 3)

2 teaspoons fajita seasoning blend or to taste

2 tablespoons ground cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnishes, see below

In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add celery, carrot, and onion. Season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until veggies begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables, and stir. Flour will form a paste; allow paste to cook for at least 2 minutes. Gradually add chicken broth, whisking. Heat the mixture until it begins to simmer and thicken, approximately 7-8 minutes.

Note: At this point, you have the base for pretty much any chicken soup you want to make! Add mexicorn, beans, green chiles, and garlic. Mix and return to a simmer. Add cooked chicken and spices, seasoning the soup to taste. Simmer over low heat, covered, for 20-30 minutes.

After flavors have had time to meld, the soup is ready to eat.

Garnish Ideas:
Shredded cheese
Jalapenos
Chopped fresh cilantro
Fat free sour cream
Salsa
Sliced avacado
Corn tortilla chips
Your favorite cornbread

Serve with your favorite garnishes and enjoy!

** disclaimer I don't really use recipes so if something seems a miss and you want to add more go for it. I never really make anything the same way twice.**

~So I've been stewing on my portion sizes all day so I came home and made it. I changed a few things around since this morning. I was to gung ho about posting I guess. Maybe I should also look into writing recipes down. ~

Chicken, Artichoke, Tomatoes, Wine=Delicious!

I finally got around to this week's meal on Wednesday night. My brother-in-law and his girlfriend came over for dinner, so I decided that I would make the chicken for them! I thought the stuffing was pretty easy to make. I didn't really measure anything, just threw in the different ingredients and cooked until the wine was mostly cooked out and then added the cheese. Stuffing the chicken was harder than I thought it was going to be...but it probably would have helped if I had toothpicks rather than having to cut down wooden skewers which really weren't cooperating in the process. The stuffing was also a little oily from the oil the sundried tomatoes were in, but it wasn't noticeable once the chicken breasts were cooked.

I served the chicken with corn on the cob and corn chips with guacamole that my brother-in-law's girlfriend made...and of course, the rest of the wine! It was an odd little combination, but everything was tasty!

The best part was that I ended up with an extra breast to take for lunch the next day! Yum!

Bacon always makes things better

I'm always a fan of stuffed stuff.

A couple of substitutions - white onion instead of red since I always have those on hand. Boneless, skinless chicken thigh instead of breast since it was cheaper. Dried cilantro instead of parsley.

The hubby made oven dried tomatoes (an idea we got from our favourite panini place). They're just as intensely flavoured, but more sweet and less tart than sundried tomatoes. These are pretty simple - just drizzle some olive oil and salt on grape tomatoes and bake them for a very long time at low heat (200F or so)

Other than the onion and parsley, I more or less followed the recipe.

I have to admit at this point, I wondered if I had done it wrong

After the success of last week's recipe, Mr. Ringy insisted on incorporating bacon into this week's recipe. So I wrapped them in pancetta. Then I baked them for about 35 minutes at 400F.

Sorry you can't see the chicken... because it's wrapped in bacon

We had them with potato bhaji (into which we also threw in the extra artichoke stuffing) and a lovely Chardonnay which was a gift for performing Ave Maria at a 40th wedding anniversary last weekend.

Naked - so it must be good!

Mmm, artichokes

I love artichokes, in all their varieties. I like artichoke dip, fried artichokes, artichokes in my salad, marinated ones right from the jar. I even cooked my very own whole artichoke for the first time this year, so I did a little happy dance when I saw this recipe, even though I am totally incompetent at rolling things up in chicken and getting it to stay there.

Nevertheless, I made these last night and they turned out great, even if the stuffing leaked out the ends. My only caveat is that I would not want to make them on a week night again. We don't eat dinner until almost 10:00 p.m. because of J's work schedule, so this was just too much work for that late at night. However, my husband told me they were fantastic about four times during dinner and he ate two of them, so this one goes in the recipe box for sure.

Sun-dried tomato and artichoke chicken

This is the second time I made this recipe so I decided to try something a little different with it. Nothing too drastic, but I decided to put the stuffing into the chicken, bake it and serve it as a "stuffed chicken breast". While it still tasted delicious, it wasn't exactly the best presentation and was pretty messy looking.

I also forgot to pick up onions from the grocery store and had to substitute with dried chopped onions. It didn't turn out too bad, but the dried onions darkened up quite a bit and made the stuffing look a little burnt, even thought it wasn't.

My mom is visiting us for a few weeks so I was happy to have someone besides DH to cook for and to be able to treat my mom to some of my homemade cooking. In the past, I rarely cooked and was known for burning things to the point they were ruined, so my mom was pretty shocked at how well things turned out. She absolutely loved the chicken and said it was the "best meal she's had the entire trip". Considering we've had fabulous meals at places in Germany, Paris, London and Amsterdam, I considered this a great compliment. Nevermind, she's my Mom and may be just a little bit biased...I'll still take the compliment.

Here is the finished product. Please ignore my poor attempt at presentation.

Week Five: Sun-dried Tomato and Artichoke Chicken

Sorry I've been so behind, Ladies! Not only did I forget that Thursday was the new recipe post day but I have yet to post my pictures and reviews from last week's menu...which was fabulous, by the way. Hopefully, this recipe will be as good as Rebecca's and you ladies enjoy it. So here it is:

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 3/4 cup chopped marinated artichoke hearts
• 1/2 cup chopped marinated sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup white wine, divided
• 3 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped Italian parsley leaves
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Directions

In a saute pan over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of the oil. When the oil is hot add the onions and saute until translucent. Stir in the artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes. Saute for 3 to 5 minutes, then add the salt, pepper and garlic. When the garlic begins to lightly brown, deglaze with 1/4 cup of the white wine. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the butter, allow it to melt, then toss in the Parmesan and parsley.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool before stuffing the chicken breast.

Rinse, trim and pound out chicken breasts to about 1/4-inch thick. Do not over-pound as holes in the chicken will make it difficult for the chicken to retain the stuffing.

Put 1/4 of the stuffing mixture at 1 end of a chicken breast. Gentle roll the chicken breast folding the ends in to help keep the stuffing from coming out during the cooking process. Secure the chicken roll with 2 toothpicks. Repeat with remaining chicken breasts and stuffing.

Heat the 2 tablespoons of the remaining oil in a medium saute pan over high heat. Add the chicken breasts, with the secured side of the chicken first, to insure the roll with stay together. Brown the chicken on all sides, add remaining butter, and deglaze with remaining white wine.

Reduce the heat to low and cover the pan. Cook until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, about 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken to a cutting board and discard the toothpicks. Slice each breast on a bias into 5 pieces and transfer to a serving platter. Drizzle with remaining pan drippings, garnish with a sprinkle of Parmesan and serve.

Lemon Cumin Chicken

For this week's recipe I was excited to use lamb since I rarely cook with it since my husband is not a big fan. My parents were coming for dinner, so I figured it would be a perfect time to do a couple of different kinds of kebabs and let people eat what they wanted. Unfortunately, the grocery store did not have any lamb that could be used for kebabs...bummer.

Oh well, I made do. Instead I picked up some chicken tenders (which are my favorites for kebabs--super easy!) and some steak tips (to make the picky husband happy). I got up early on Wednesday morning and mixed up the marinade and put the chicken in. I marinated the steak is some spicy BBQ type sauce.

The marinade was easy to make...especially with this handy tool:

For those of you who do not have a microplane, it is one of my favorite gadgets! It is great for grating hard cheeses, nutmeg, and in this case, ginger and garlic!

The chicken sat in the marinade all day and then I skewered everything up. I kept the veggies separate (picky husband strikes again) and did two skewers of chicken and two of steak.

And while I may complain a bit about the fact that my husband is picky, he did do all the actual cooking while I visited with my parents, so I have to give him some credit!

We served everything with a simple salad with balsamic and olive oil and some grilled corn on the cob. The chicken was full of flavor and very tender. The lemon and the cumin really stood out. I LOVE cumin, so I thought it was great. My parents aren't huge cumin fans, but they thought it was pretty good--and even my dear husband had a second helping of the chicken! I think I would definitely use the marinade again--this time with lamb or maybe even the pork tenderloin I have in the fridge right now!