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 

Stewing Time

I don't think I could tell you the last time I made a beef stew.  It has to have been over a year now.  So, my goal this week was to put together a beef stew in the crockpot.  Stew is such a great dish for using the vegetables that we get in the fall.  Especially root vegetables like carrots and turnips.  I found out today that we are getting rutabaga this week, so I guess I should have tried to put this off another couple days, but I didn't know that last night.  So, instead of adding rutabaga to this stew, I just used up the turnips that I had in my last bag.  I decided on this recipe because it sounded different and interesting.  And I will tell you that my apartment smelled wonderful this morning when I woke up (yes, I do choose recipes for the crockpot that I think will smell good).

Slow Cooker Beef Stew with Root Vegetables
Adapted from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robin-miller/slow-cooker-beef-with-root-vegetables-recipe/index.html?nl=EATS_110409_12

• 1 onion*, chopped
• 4 small Yukon gold potatoes*, quartered
• 2 carrots*, peeled and chopped
• 2 medium turnips*, peeled and chopped
• 2-pounds chuck roast. cut in 1-inch pieces
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1 jar Clark Pope's Tomato Sauce* (16-oz)
• 1 jar Clark Pope's Roasted Cherry Tomatoes*
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Arrange onion, potatoes, carrots, and turnips in bottom of slow cooker. Season beef all over with salt and black pepper. Rub flour all over beef. Place beef on top of vegetables in slow cooker.

Whisk together tomato sauce,roasted tomatoes, brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, mustard powder, and garlic powder. Pour mixture over beef. Cover and cook on LOW for 12 hours or on HIGH for 8 hours.

*CSA ingredients

Boiled dinner

This week we received a nice pork roast in the share. We also received a cabbage, Yukon gold potatoes, turnips, and apples. Since it's snowing outside, and also close to St. Patrick's Day, I figured boiled dinner would be a great comfort meal for today.

 Boiled Dinner

•  1 4-5 lb pork roast*
•  1 large potato*, diced
•  1/2 head cabbage*, wedged
•  1 large winesap apple*, wedged
•  1 large turnip*, wedged
•  1 cup apple cider*
•  7 cups water
•  1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
•  1 tsp sea salt

 Place vegetables and apples in bottom of crock. Place roast on top. Pour cider and water over roast and add spices and salt. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3-5 hours, until roast is 160°F in the center. Remove roast and allow to temper 5 minutes. Turn cooker to LOW and cook until potatoes are fork tender. Slice pork thin and serve with vegetables and apples.

*CSA Ingredients

Winter Vegetables

Today, I need to use up winter vegetables. I also need dishes that will fit into my pre-op diet which is pretty basic. I couldn't quite find a recipe that appealed tome, so I am going to do what we used to call potluck. I am going to take all the vegetables I have and make a fresh vegetable soup. Seems an appropriate dish for a snowy winter day.

 "Pot Luck" Vegetable Soup
 Note: This soup is made with vegetables I had in my kitchen. You may use whatever you have available.

•  1/2 head cabbage*, chopped
•  2 turnips*, peeled and diced
•  1 large Yukon gold potato*, peeled and diced
•  celery heart and leaves (about 4 stalks), sliced
•  6 oz mushrooms, quartered
•  2 cups sweet corn*, frozen or fresh
• 2 cups frozen peas
•  1 small sweet potato*, peeled and diced
•  12 cups water
•  4 Tbsp beef stock flavoring ^
• 1 tsp dried thyme
•  1 Tbsp dried marjoram
•  1 bay leaf
•  1 Tbsp minced garlic

 Prepare all vegetables and place in large Dutch oven or stockpot. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil over med-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until vegetables are well cooked.

^Note:Use a good beef, chicken or vegetable stock if you have one. I did not have one, so I used a stock base.

*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