A Red Pot Recipe

 Ok here is another recipe that is low in fat and high in vegetables. Of course it is being cooked in my Red Le Creuset Soup Pot. For us this is enough food for 2 to 3 meals for the two of us when you have kids at home this should hopefully make it through 1 meal.

Chicken Vegetable Soup 

1 3/4 pounds of cubed Chicken, I used white meat chicken   Which is lower in fat.

2 Tablespoons of California Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Oil

1/4 teaspoon of white pepper and salt

1 Very large Sweet Onion or 2 smaller onions 

1 pound each of chopped celery, sliced carrots and mixed mushrooms 

1 pound of frozen mixed vegetables 

In your soup pot add the olive oil and heat on medium heat.  Add the chicken, salt and pepper.  Cover and keep covered as much as possible. Cook until no pink shows. Change your stirring  spoon and spoon rest. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Stirring occasionally and keeping the lid on In between. Add the celery, carrots and mushrooms. Leave on top until there is room to stir them in. Lower the temperature to medium low or number 2. Simmer for at least 3 hours.  I have not added water, but be sure to keep on eye on the broth.  If the level gets to low add water or additional broth.  

30 minutes before dinner add the 1 pound of frozen mixed vegetables. Stir in.  Bring the temperature up to 4 or just below medium heat. Serve when the mixed vegetables are totally cooked. 

The picture is after I stirred in the fresh vegetables. This will have over 4 pounds of vegetables.  You may add more if there is room in the pot   

Of course no one is paying me to share the brand names.  These are products that I use at home and bought out of our household budget. 

Thank You Brandy

 Brandy was one of our favorite aides for Eric. Yesterday she reached out and asked for a favorite family recipe.   Then John goes it’s cold now, we should have that for dinner tomorrow night.  So I got up early to head to the store as early as possible.  Yes, I wore my Kn95 mask and the store was not crowded.  So here is the minestrone soup recipe.  It’s quick and easy.  

I used to make it more with stew beef when the kids were younger   Now that I am on a very low fat diet I use skinless, boneless, chicken breast meat. I have my butcher cut it up in cubes for me about 1/2 square. Both are tasty options   

Minestrone Soup

1 4.5 quart LeCreuset soup pot 

1 package Manischewitz Minestrone Soup Mix

1.5 pounds of diced chicken breast or stew beef

1 large sweet onion diced

1 bunch of celery cleaned and sliced 

1 pound of carrots peeled and sliced 

5 cups of water

2 Tablespoons olive oil 

1/2 teaspoon of salt and white pepper 

1 pound frozen mixed vegetables 

Sauté meat, salt and pepper in the olive oil until the meat is no longer red or pink.  15 to 20 minutes stirring every few minutes.  Add the onion and continue to sauté until tender and translucent.  Add celery and carrots mix in and cook until softened about 5 minutes.  

Add 5 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Add the soup mix. Bring to a boil again.  Lower the temperature to a slow simmer and cook 45 minutes stirring often.  

About 15 minutes before the basic soup is done remove the frozen vegetables from the freezer.  Add the mixed vegetables to the soup once the 45 minute timer goes off.  Stir in well. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes more until the frozen vegetables are cooked.  You may add other vegetables too.  Just don’t over fill your pot. 

Serve with warm dinner rolls.  It is better the second night. This makes about 4 quarts of soup.  Yes you may freeze the leftover soup in individual containers and freeze.  

A Wonky Hand Sorta Day

 It was a weird sort of day for me.  There is a small leak in the roof above my bedroom, with the rains this left the room damp with a funky smell, so I slept on the couch last night.  I know that this has nothing to do with my couch surfing last night, but it took over an hour to get my right hand moving this morning.  I am hoping that this is just the damp weather and not more hand surgery.  My right hand spent the day being wonky.  So no knitting got done.  

I managed to warp the loom and start another scarf.  I was not happy with 2 of the yarns so they made it to the goodwill box.  Better there then me forgetting that I don’t like them and trying to use them again.  By the way that topped off box one and another box is ready to go.  I did manage to get 2 loads of laundry done.  I did a couple more stages of finishing work on the scarf I took off the loom last night.  

Making dinner was interesting tonight.  I made my version of Turkey Taco Meat.  I would strongly suggest that onions not be chopped on a wonky hand day. That onion thought it was on a slip and slide, I even managed to feed the floor some raw onion. Once the onion was in the pot I added everything else with ease.  I just squeaked by on my carbs. John found a wonderful low fat tortilla under the Kroger in house label that was very low fat and tasted great too, so I made my fat by .50 grams of fat   

I even found a great Ganga , which is Tucson speak for a great deal.  I had a handful of coupons from my last shopping trip to the pharmacy, they allow you to stack in house coupons, so I got a 16 ounce jar of Skippy peanut butter for 10 cents plus tax.  I have not done that in a while, it felt good. Yes, I know we pay a lot for our medicine, so the is my version of a mini claw back.  

Well it has been a long day and we are going to get up early to try to patch the roof.  Wish us luck. 

Easy Tri Tip Roast

Teri has requested that I share my tri-tip roast recipe.  It is a very easy 5 ingredient recipe. It takes less than 5 minutes to put together and only 35 minutes to cook.

1 Tri-tip Roast
Salt and pepper
1 sweet onion sliced thin
1/2 c water
Cooking Spray

Pre heat the oven to 425f

Use cooking spray to spray the bottom and sides of your. Le Creuset roasting pan. Place roast in the bottom of the pan. Salt and pepper lightly.  Cover with the sliced onions.  Pour the water on the side of the roast being careful not to wash the salt and pepper off the top of the meat.   Cover and bake for 35 minutes.

Remove from oven and wrap in heavy duty foil for 15 minutes to the the roast finish cooking and rest. Slice and serve.

Add vegetables and a starch for a complete meal.

An Updated Chicken Soup Recipe

I have updated an old family recipe to include parsnips, which by the way tend to have the taste and texture of potatoes in this soup. A good friend Lisa loves this soup and wanted the recipe so she does not have to wait for me to make it.

This is my families favorite chicken soup. This is a basic recipe that you can change up with the addition of matzo balls, dumplings or noodles or a combination of noodles and dumplings or matzo balls.

1 whole chicken ,washed in cold water.
1 teaspoon salt
water to cover chicken
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
2 pounds of carrots peeled and sliced
1 large celery sliced, this will be about 7-8 cups
1 onion diced
1 Large Parsnip peeled and sliced*

In a large pot add cleaned chicken and salt. Cover with water. Bring to a boil. Skim the pot of any junk that comes to the top, this should take about 30 minutes. While you are waiting for the chicken to boil now is an excellent time to scrub down your sink with your favorite bleach cleanser. It is important to clean the sink and the surrounding area before you chop the vegetables.

Once the chicken is not making any more junk and the broth has been skimmed clear, Add all the vegetables at once and add the pepper. Turn the stove to medium low and and simmer at least 2 hours.

After about 2 hours I carefully pull the chicken from the pot and de-bone the chicken, this is the process where the skin is pulled off and the bones are taken out of the chicken. Smaller pieces of chicken are tossed right back in the pot, I tend to dice the larger pieces before they are put back in the pot.

If you are going to add dumplings this is the point where you add them. For a quick dumpling just use a regular biscuit recipe and spoon into the boiling broth and turn down the temperature and simmer for about 20 minutes. For and even faster dumpling just get your favorite ready to use biscuits and layer them on the top of the broth and simmer for about 20 minutes.

I usually make the noodles separately and keep them separate from the soup. Since everyone has their own noodle preference I let everyone scoop their own noodles and then add the soup. The only exception to this would be alphabet noodles which just taste better when they have more time in the broth.

The soup is ready to serve. I usually serve this with bread and margarine.

Enjoy this soup recipe and add your families favorite vegetables to the soup to make it your own.

Unfortunately I have no vegan or vegetarian options for this soup.

* The parsnips are not in the original version published in 2009.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy your families.

Chicken Stew

My body has been playing catch up with sleep and rest most of the week. I am almost back to 80% of feeling my best. This cold has left Eric and I with a cough that will last another week or two. I am feeling well enough to be tired of frozen meals and take in. So with John being my prep chef, yes he got to peel and cut up all the vegetables for tonight's dinner. He did a wonderful job too.

Chicken Stew

2 large Chicken Breasts diced
1 medium onion peeled and diced
3 cups of celery  cleaned and cut into 1/2inch chunks
3 cups of carrots peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
2 medium Yukon gold potatoes scrubbed and cut into 1/2 cubes
8 ounces butternut squash cubed. it is OK to buy the pre-cut package
8 ounces mushrooms cleaned and sliced
A large splash of White Zinfield or any open white wine you have
1 teaspoon of dried Rosemary
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 1/4 quart Le Creuset soup pot with a cover

In the pot heat the olive oil up on a medium low temperature. Add the diced chicken breast with a little salt and pepper. Cook covered for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Add the Rosemary. Toss well and cook for another 15 minutes stirring every 5 minutes. The chicken should no longer be pink on the outside. This is the time to switch out the stirring spoon and put the dirty one straight in to the wash.  Add the diced onions and cook until translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook down. Added the Butternut Squash and Yukon Gold potatoes. Cover with the carrots and celery. Add the White Wine. Cover and bring to a low boil. Turn down the heat and cook for at least 1 hour. 2 to 3 hours would be ideal for the perfect flavor blending.

If you do not use wine in your house you may substitute water. The flavor will be slightly different.
Serves 6 as a main course.

So as you probably guessed this is dinner tonight.

Succotash Chili

I know it sounds really weird but don’t say yuck till you have tried it.

1 pound of stew meat

1 large can of stewed tomatoes, do not drain, pour the juice in the pan as your cooking liquid.

1 can of black olives, drained

1 pound frozen white corn

10 ounces frozen Lima Beans

1 Tablespoon chili powder

¼ teaspoon of salt and pepper

¼ cup chopped onion

Brown the stew meat, with the salt and pepper. Add the onions when meat is almost browned. Cook the onions until translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn down the temperature and simmer on low for 3 hours. Adjust the seasoning to your preferances. Serve with corn bread.