Chicken, Kale and Quinoa

I know I have been talking about this all week, so I finally centered on what to do with these ingredients. As I have mentioned before, I am not really able to eat pasta anymore. This makes me a little sad because I really like chicken noodle soup. I have been learning that high protein carbs are much easier for me. Today, I decided to make chicken soup with quinoa instead of noodles.

 Chicken Kale Quinoa Soup

•  3 cups cooked chicken*, shredded
•  4 cups homemade chicken stock*
•  4 cups homemade vegetable stock*
•  3 medium carrots*, sliced
•  1/2 large turnip*, diced
•  1 large bunch kale*, washed and torn
•  2 cups cooked quinoa

 Place first 5 ingredients into Crockpot. Cook on HIGH about 3 hours or until turnips are almost cooked. Add kale and cook until leaves are bright green. Add quinoa and heat through.

*CSA ingredients 

Cabbage and Sauerkraut

About once a year, I get both cabbage and sauerkraut in the share. When that happens, it is time to make Kapusta soup. Kapusta is the Slavic word for cabbage. In my husband's family, when they say kapusta, they are generally talking about sauerkraut. John's grandmother made a kapusta soup when he was a kid from cabbage, sauerkraut and yellow split peas. This is the recipe I am using today. I wasn't sure of proportions for the sauerkraut, so I thought maybe I could find a recipe online. What I found was that this is a very traditional Ukrainian recipe. The only difference being the addition of fresh cabbage. I think the cabbage adds a freshness and heartiness to the soup, so I completely understand why his grandmother added it. It is cooking now on the stove and smells heavenly.

 Kapusta Soup

•   1-1/2 cups dried yellow split peas
•  water
• 1 large onion*
•  1 stick butter*
•  1/2 large head cabbage*
•  2 1-lb bags homemade sauerkraut*
•  64oz chicken stock

 Soak split peas overnight in water.
 

Peel the onion, cut in half and then slice thinly.  Melt butter in large Dutch Oven; add onions and saute until translucent. While onion is cooking, coarsely chop cabbage. Add the cabbage to  the onions and cook until cabbage wilts.

Add stock, sauerkraut, peas and soaking water.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.

 Simmer until split peas are cooked.

*CSA ingredients 

Eggplant

We actually seem to have gotten more eggplant this year than last.  If you have followed my blog, you know that I love ratatouille, however, because of my dietary needs due to gastric surgery, that is no longer a dish that I can enjoy as an entree.  So I have been trying to find ways to use eggplant in dishes that are higher in protein and more appropriate for my dietary needs.

As I was perusing eggplant recipes, there seemed to be a theme of tomato based eggplant stew recipes.  Many with beef, a couple just vegetarian, and even a couple that had chickpeas in them.  The one combination that I DO like is eggplant and lamb.  I have loved moussaka since I was a child, but that type of casserole seems to be difficult for me these days.  However, I did have some ground lamb in my refrigerator and decided to take all of the eggplant stew recipe ideas, but use lamb and garbanzo beans for my protein.  I am happy to say that I was able to share this lovely stew with my mom who had come to visit for the night.  It was kind of neat to have the stew fresh with crostata and boursin cheese on the side and then to be able to send some of the stew home with her so Dad could enjoy some too.  The recipe that became the base of the stew will be referenced below:

Eggplant Stew with Lamb and Garbanzo Beans
Adapted from: http://teriskitchen.com/soups/eggplant-b.html

• About 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion*, chopped
• 1 red pepper*, chopped
• 2 medium rainbow carrots*, chopped
• 8 oz button mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves*, minced
• 2 medium eggplants* 1/2" dice (I used one purple and one white)
• 2 cans (28-oz) whole tomatoes in juice, hand-crushed
• 1 can (28-ounces) crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups homemade chicken stock*
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon dried marjoram leaves
• 1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1 lb ground lamb, sauteed
• 1 (15-oz) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• Freshly grated Romano cheese

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add onion, pepper and carrots, stir and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add mushrooms and garlic, toss and cook about 2 minutes.  Add eggplant, tomatoes, stock, water and spices.  Heat to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.  Saute lamb in a skillet, drain and add to the stew.  Rinse and drain the garbanzo beans and add to the stew.  Cover and cook about 30 minutes, or until eggplant is cooked through.  Adjust seasoning as needed.  Serve with fresh Romano cheese.

*CSA ingredients

Minestrone

I will be the first to admit that despite my Italian heritage, I have never dabbled in trying to make a minestrone.  However, I ended up with many of the ingredients to do just that with this past week's CSA, so I decided to play around and see if I could manage to do the soup justice.  Let me first mention here that I love making soups in my Crockpot.  It just makes life easier because I don't have to watch it and stir it every few minutes, etc.  So, while this is a minestrone-like soup, I wouldn't call is a real minestrone.  I am not sure than most people would know the difference, so in the end I could probably call it minestrone, but I do feel a little strange putting it out there as such.  You can be the judge.  Oh, yeah, and there is one other thing.  The recipes all call for carrots, which I did not have.  I did, however, have golden beets, so I chose to substitute those for the carrots.  It seemed to have worked, although, again, normally, you do not have beets in a minestrone.

Crockpot Vegetable "Minestrone"

• 2 cups chopped cabbage*
• 1 bunch Swiss chard*, stems and leaves chopped
• 6 Roma tomatoes*, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 3 golden beets*, quartered and sliced
• 1/2 medium Cousa zucchini*,  cut in thirds and sliced
• 4 cups chicken stock*
• 1 (15-oz) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15-oz) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 Tbsp dried basil
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• Kosher salt, to taste
• Fresh grated parmesan cheese

Place all ingredients, except parmesan, into crock of Crockpot.  Cook on HIGH for 1 hour, then reduce heat to LOW and cook for 6-8 hours or until cabbage is tender.  Adjust seasoning.  Serve sprinkled with fresh parmesan.

*CSA ingredients 

Using Up Summer Produce

One of the advantages of moving is that you can get a really good look at what is in your freezer.  Yes, I am one of those people who puts things in the freezer and forgets about it.  In the move, I discovered that I had an uncured smoked ham hock.  I also had bags of homemade chicken stock.  So, I again decided that I needed to make a soup.  The nice thing about the end of summer is that we get quite a hodgepodge of produce.  I have been trying to decide what to do with certain items: zucchini, the excess of tomatoes, a pattypan squash, etc.  So, last night, I put the stock, the ham hock, and some of this produce into the crockpot and made a vegetable soup.  Please note, this soup will work with whatever produce you might have available, however, if you would like to use Swiss chard, spinach, kale or beet greens in place of the collard greens, save them until the last hour of cooking.  Collard Greens require longer cooking than the other greens. 

"Potluck" Crockpot Vegetable Soup

• 4 cups homemade chicken stock*
• 1 large uncured, smoked ham hock*
• 1 medium pattypan squash*, cut into 8 wedges and then sliced thin
• 1 medium zucchini squash*, cut in quarters lengthwise and then sliced thin
• 2 medium slicing tomatoes*, diced
• 2 cups fresh corn kernels* (from approx 2 cobs)
• 1 Tbsp dried marjoram
• 1 tsp dried thyme 
• 1 Tbsp dried basil
• Kosher salt, to taste
• 1 small bunch collard greens*, stems removed and cut to bite-sized pieces

Place all ingredients in crock of Crockpot.  Cook on HIGH for 1 hour.  Reduce heat to LOW and cook 6-8 hours or until vegetables are cooked.  Remove ham hock; cool.  Pull meat from ham hock and shred; return to Crockpot.  Heat through.  Adjust seasoning as needed.

*CSA ingredients

Winter Vegetable Soup

To use up even more of the winter vegetables I have received over the last couple weeks, I decided to try my hand at putting together a winter vegetable soup. My husband ordered me an immersion blender for Christmas and apparently, it is in Troy, but I didn't go this week, so I had to use my regular blender this time.  I can't wait to have that wonderful tool in my kitchen!

"Creamy" Winter Vegetable Soup

• 1 ½ cups diced turnips*
• 3 cups cauliflower florets*
• 3 medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced*
• 1 large sweet onion, cut into thin wedges*
• 2 (32-oz) pkg chicken stock
• 4 cups water
• Fresh ground pepper
• 1 cup farm fresh yogurt* (optional)

Wash, peel and dice turnips and potatoes.  Peel onion and cut into thin wedges.  Place all vegetables with chicken stock in a large Dutch oven.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and cook until vegetables are all fork-tender. Add 4 cups water (to replace what evaporated off), season with pepper and allow to cool.  Add to a blender and puree until smooth.  Repeat until all vegetables are pureed.  Serve with a tablespoon of yogurt if desired.  Makes 12 1-cup servings.

*CSA Ingredients

Double Duty Chicken and Vegetables

Since this was the last week of the summer CSA and the winter CSA starts this coming week, I knew I had to cook the last chicken that I received.  I was watching reruns of The Chew (as I do not have DVR to record it) and during one of the episodes last week, they mentioned using root vegetables as a base to roast chicken which prevents the chicken from boiling in it's own juices.  I had potatoes, turnips and cauliflower left from the last couple packages, so I decided to give this a try:

Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

• 1 cup tiny red potatoes, washed*
• 1cup fingerling potatoes, washed*
• 2 cups cauliflower florets*
• 3 medium turnips, peeled and diced*
• 1 med tomato*
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 Tbsp mixed dried herbs
• 1 4-lb chicken*

Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare vegetables and place in a large ziploc bag.  Drizzle with olive oil and add herbs.  Close bag and shake until vegetables are coated.  Pour vegetables into bottom a roasting pan, making a single layer. Place chicken on top of vegetables and season as desired.  Roast in 375F oven for 1 hour.  Stir vegetables and return to oven.  Raise heat to 425F and roast until thermometer inserted into thigh reads 175F; about 15 minutes longer.

When I checked the vegetables, I noticed that the turnips were still quite al dente.  I also needed to use up some squash and cider that I received in previous packages.  So, I decided to take the vegetables and some of the chicken and make a cider stew.

Chicken Cider Stew

• Chicken breast and thigh from above recipe*
• Vegetables from above recipe*
• 1 ½ cup chicken stock
• 1 ½ cup apple cider*
• ¼ cup cider vinegar
• 1 small acorn squash, peeled, seeded and cubed*
• 2 medium apples, peeled , seeded and wedged*

Remove skin from Chicken. Carve chicken breast and thigh meat, then shred into a large Dutch oven. Pour vegetables and drippings into Dutch oven as well.  Add  stock, cider and cider vinegar to pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  In the meantime, peel and seed the acorn squash.  Cut into 1 inch pieces.  Add pieces to stew, cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes.  While squash is cooking, peel, seed and wedge two tart apples.  At the end of the 10 minutes, add apple wedges, cover and cook another 10 minutes or until apples are becoming soft.  Makes 12 1-cup servings.

*CSA ingredients