Tag Archives: garlic

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

12 Aug

I already have a few versions of this soup posted here on my blog, but today I did it in the slow cooker, and I wanted to write it down to save for the future. This is one of my all-time favorite soups!

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

Slow Cooker Enchilada Soup

What you need:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 onion (red, yellow, or green), diced
4 cloves garlic
4 cups chicken broth
1 15-oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 14.75-oz can whole corn kernels, drained
1 10-oz can Ro-Tel (or 1 can diced tomatoes and 1 small can diced green chiles)
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup masa harina (This is corn flour. You can use corn meal, but it will may have a grittier texture)
2 cups milk or chicken broth
1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese

How to make it:

Place chicken in a slow cooker. Add diced onion, garlic, chicken broth, black beans, corn, Ro-Tel, and tomato sauce. Sprinkle in chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cover with lid and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours, or high 3-4 hours.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil over medium heat and stir in the masa harina (mixture will be thick). Slowly pour in milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is very thick and it reaches a gentle boil. Pour mixture into slow cooker and whisk until smooth.

Shred chicken and stir in shredded cheese. Season soup with salt and pepper to taste, if needed. Allow to cook about 10 minutes until all ingredients are heated through. Garnish with cilantro, lime wedges, shredded cheese, sour cream, or tortilla strips as desired.

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Slow Cooker Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

8 Apr

This past weekend, we had a turkey breast for our Easter lunch. We had some of the meat left, and I decided to make broth with the bones. Knowing that Chicken, Spinach, and Wild Rice Soup is always a hit in our house, I figured that a version with turkey would be good as well. Since this week is busy for us, I wanted to try this out in the slow cooker since I would time to work on it in the morning, but not in the evening at dinner time. It was so easy to throw it all together and just let it sit and cook all day. Although, I ended up picking a day I was actually home all day, so I had to smell it cooking!

This could be done with cooked chicken and chicken broth if you don’t have turkey. You could also use 4 uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts. They will cook as the rest of the soup cooks, and then you would shred the chicken when you add the milk and flour.

Turkey and Wild Rice SoupSlow Cooker Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

What you need:

1 small onion, diced
2 carrots, chopped into thin rounds
2 stalks celery, diced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2 cups cooked turkey or chicken, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning blend OR 1 teaspoon dried thyme and 1/4 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup uncooked wild rice
8 cups turkey or chicken broth
1 cup milk
2 Tablespoons flour or cornstarch

How to make it:

Add all ingredients except milk and flour to a large slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat for 6 hours or high heat for 3 hours.

Whisk together the milk and flour in a small bowl. Pour into slow cooker. Cover and cook for another 30 minutes until soup is thickened.

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Chicken & Spinach Tortellini Soup

2 Mar

We have had a lot of  Chicken & Wild Rice Soup lately, which we love. I recently got a coupon from Safeway for a free bag of refrigerated tortellini, so I figured that I could do a similar soup with the tortellini instead of rice. It turned out really well, and while I don’t get tortellini often, it’s a recipe to keep on hand in case I do.

Chicken & Spinach Tortellini Soup

Chicken & Spinach Tortellini Soup

What you need:

2 tablespoons butter
2 medium carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon seasoning blend, like Tastefully Simple Rustic Herb blend or Mrs. Dash
1 8 oz package mushrooms, sliced
6 cups chicken broth
1 12 oz package refrigerated tortellini
2 cups cooked chicken
2 cups fresh spinach, chopped

How to make it:

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Cook until tender.

Add mushrooms and seasoning blend. Cook a few minutes.

Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil.

Add chicken and tortellini. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until pasta is cooked.

Add spinach, and cook until it is wilted.

Garnish with fresh grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.

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Meatball Soup

16 Feb

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of this soup, but there is a good reason – it got eaten too quickly! This is an easy soup to put together, and ready in about a 1/2 hour.

Meatball Soup

What you need:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 medium carrots, sliced into rounds
2 stalks of celery, diced
6 cups beef broth
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained (or, if you are like me and are out of canned tomatoes, use 1 8-oz can of tomato sauce and 1/2 lb diced fresh tomatoes)
1 15-oz package frozen fully cooked meatballs
1 cup uncooked pasta, such as rotini, penne, small shells, or small elbows
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

How to make it:

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and cook until softened. Pour in the beef broth and diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil for about 5 minutes. Add meatballs and boil another 10 minutes. Stir in uncooked pasta, garlic salt, and ground black pepper, and cook for 6 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and cook another 10 minutes, or until pasta is tender. Stir in parsley. Serve hot. Makes 4 servings.

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Katie’s Chili

4 Oct

Katie has been asking me to make chili for the longest time, but I kept putting it off. It’s still warm here in AZ, and hot meals just don’t always sound appealing. But, I have never made it before, so it was time. I know there are a ton of different ways to make it, all based on personal preference. So, we found 5 different versions in the cookbooks that we have, and came up with a combination of our own. It was really, really good! Now, I won’t wait so long the next time she asks.

Katie's Chili

Katie’s Chili

What you need:

1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (optional)
1 15-oz can dark red kidney beans
1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes
1 10-oz can tomatoes and green chiles (Ro-Tel)
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Juice of one lime
Salt and ground black pepper

How to make it:

In a large pot, brown the ground beef. Add garlic, onion, green pepper, celery, carrot, and jalapeno, and continue to cook until vegetables have softened. Next, add kidney beans (undrained), diced tomatoes (undrained), tomatoes and green chiles (undrained), tomato sauce, and beef broth. Stir well, adding more beef broth or water if it seems too thick. Next, stir in chili powder, cumin, oregano, lime juice, and salt and ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer about 20-25 minutes.

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Rosemary Garlic Chicken with Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes

25 Jan

This meal was inspired by an episode of Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals on TV one Saturday morning.  While it’s a little disappointing that cartoons don’t dominate weekend basic cable TV anymore, my kids and I love that there are a couple of cooking shows on to watch since we don’t have full cable TV and the Food Network.  He did the chicken over a pesto pasta with green beans, but I had gotten a lot of cherry tomatoes from Market on the Move, so I decided to make the chicken with green beans and cherry tomatoes.  The rice I cooked separately as a side, but the chicken, green beans, and cherry tomatoes are all cooked  in 1 skillet on the stove top.  This did take more than the 15 minute version from the TV show, but not much more.  We all really enjoyed it, and will be making it again!

Rosemary Garlic Chicken with Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes

 

Rosemary Garlic Chicken with Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes

What you need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin or cut in half through the thickness
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup chicken broth
1 pound green beans, trimmed
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
Olive oil

How to make it:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic, stir and cook until soft and translucent.

Season chicken with fresh rosemary, salt, and pepper.  Add chicken to the skillet and cook for a few minutes on each side to brown both sides.

Stir in chicken broth, green beans, and cherry tomatoes.  Cover and cook 15-20 minutes, or until green beans are soft and chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F.

Serve with rice or mashed potatoes, if desired.

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Easy Appetizers

21 Jan

My sister and I made some yummy, easy appetizers for New Year’s Eve.  The nice thing about these is that one uses crescent rolls and the other uses biscuits, which tend to be on sale fairly often.

Bacon Cheese Pinwheels and Mozzarella Bites

Bacon-Cheddar Pinwheels

What you need:

1 can crescent rolls
4 slices bacon, crumbled
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Open can of dough, unroll, and press into a large rectangle.  Sprinkle bacon and cheddar evenly over the dough.  Roll the dough from one side, and pinch the edge to close.  Cut the roll into about 16 pieces, placing each piece on a baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12-17 minutes, or until golden brown.

Mozzarella Bites

What you need:

1 can Grands biscuits
2-3 mozzarella cheese snack sticks
Olive oil
Garlic salt
Oregano
Grated Parmesan cheese

How to make them:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cut each Grands biscuit in half and cut each mozzarella cheese snack stick into 1-inch sections.  Press each biscuit piece into a circle, and place a section of cheese on each circle.  Pull up sides of the biscuit around the cheese, and press to close.  Place the sealed side of each biscuit down on a baking sheet.  Brush the tops with olive oil, and sprinkle with the seasonings and grated Parmesan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

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Creamy Lemon Garlic Chicken, Spinach, and Angel Hair Pasta

2 Sep

Tonight was one of those nights where I had no idea what to make.  Then, a friend of mine shared a picture on Facebook of a chicken and spinach pasta dish, and since I had the ingredients, I decided to give it a try with a few modifications.  It also gave me a chance to use my new stainless steel cookware that I got last week.  It turned out delicious, and I know I will be making it again, maybe even with some different vegetables next time.

Creamy Lemon Garlic Chicken, Spinach, and Angel Hair Pasta

 

Creamy Lemon Garlic Chicken, Spinach, and Angel Hair Pasta

What you need:

1/2 pound angel hair pasta
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup diced onion
Juice of 2 lemons
3/4 cup half and half (I just used milk)
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups cooked chicken, cut into 1″ pieces
1 cup chopped fresh spinach

How to make it:

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-low heat.  Add garlic and onions, and cook until onions are soft and translucent.  Stir in lemon juice, half and half, chicken broth, and Parmesan cheese.  Continue to cook on medium-low heat until liquid is bubbly.  Stir in chicken, spinach and drained pasta.   Toss and cook for about 5 minutes.  Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes to allow sauce to thicken a little.  Serve.

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“Unstuffed” Cabbage Rolls

14 Aug

Ah, cabbage rolls.  Something I have always enjoyed, but just don’t get to make often enough.  I used to live in Peoria, IL, and there was a little Lebanese restaurant named Haddad’s that made cabbage rolls.  There is also a yearly festival held by the Itoo Society there, and they would sell cabbage rolls with their shish-ka-bob at the festival.  Since moving away over 6 years ago, I haven’t been able to enjoy their cabbage rolls again, so I have tried making them on my own.  I struggle with getting the cabbage leaves ready, so I’ve really only made them a couple of times.  Recently, though, I saw a photo floating around on Facebook with a recipe for Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls, and I thought it was a brilliant idea!  And, kicked myself for not doing it sooner.  I did this on the stove top to avoid using the oven, but you could also make them unstuffed as a casserole, or probably even in the slow cooker.  I think we’ll be having this again, so I may try another cooking method next time.  This still isn’t quite as good as the other cabbage rolls that I’ve had, but it’s still very tasty!

Unstuffed Cabbage RollsUnstuffed Cabbage Rolls

What you need:

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup cooked rice
1 head of cabbage, shredded
1 cup tomato sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper

How to make it:

In a large pot, brown the ground beef.  Stir in the diced onion and minced garlic, and continue to cook until onion is soft and translucent.  Stir in the cooked rice and shredded cabbage.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the tomato sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce.  Pour over the meat and cabbage mixture in the large pot.  Add salt and pepper to desired taste.

Cover and reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 20-30 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.

 

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Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

13 Aug

I got a lucky a few weeks back and was at Fry’s while they were putting out manager’s special whole chickens.  So, I got 2 whole chickens, each just a little over $3.  I put them in the freezer until I had time to get to them.  Since it’s still rather hot here, I decided to try making it in the slow cooker instead of the oven.  It was pure torture smelling this cook a ll day, and luckily, it tasted great.  I used green beans and carrots as the vegetables and ate them as a side to the chicken, but you could use any vegetables you prefer, or just do carrots and celery to add flavor while it cooks.  What’s nice about the slow cooker is that it keeps the chicken nice and moist.  You don’t even have to add any liquid at the beginning, the juices off the chicken will be enough to keep it moist while it cooks.  When it’s done, it just falls off the bone.  Yum!  After I got all the meat off the chicken, I put the bones back in the slow cooker and filled it with water to make chicken broth!

Chicken served with carrots and green beans, plus dinner roll

 

Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

What you need:

1 whole chicken, 3-5 pounds
Vegetables of your choice, I used frozen carrots and frozen green beans
1 onion, diced
1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic
Fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper

How to make it:

Put vegetables and diced onion in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Remove neck and giblets from inside of chicken, and rinse both inside and out.  Generously salt and pepper inside of chicken.

Cut open garlic cloves and rub over all the chicken.  Place inside the chicken.  Set chicken breast side up on top of vegetables.  Squeeze lemon over the chicken and place the rinds inside chicken.  Then, place a few sprigs of rosemary inside the chicken, and place some rosemary leaves on top of chicken, along with salt and pepper.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until a thermometer inserted in the breast reads 180 F.  Chicken should be moist and falling off the bone.  Serve with some of the vegetables, or sides of your choice.

Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

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