Chicken and White Bean Tostito Soup

 

It's been a while ! It's not like we haven't been eating good food, but many times we're eating just what you find in the recipe archives (see Labels in the sidebar), as who doesn't tend to head for old favorites time after time ? 

This past week, I got a yen for a 'Tex Mex soup' - that Tostito cracker soup that you sometimes find on the menu at your local burrito or taco shop. I've been sicker than a dog and not feeling like doing a restaurant visit, so I patched a recipe together using on-line recipes as a basis to start from. 

Chicken Satay ! Peanut Dipping Sauce ! Cucumber Relish ! Oh, my !

 

Yes, Spring is very much on my mind these days ! Yes, I am having a crisis of seasonal fatigue when it comes to winter weather ! Yes, I have bridled under the yoke of a late winter infection that laid me low ! Yes, I am ready for some fresh tangy food that wakes up the taste buds and zaps my kitchen routine out of the late winter casseroles, soups, and heavy braising.

Roasted Chicken with Arugula Cream

This dish is such a dinnertime lifesaver. It's a meal for a busy day. It's a meal for a time when you want a solid meat and potatoes experience. It's got a killer dipping sauce that is so addictive that you'll be thinking of other meat dishes to make that will incorporate the arugula cream. It comes straight from food writer and 'cooking goddess', Diana Henry. 

Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla Pie

 

What started off as a nimble way using up small bunches of ingredients in the fridge turned into a real revelation.  Meet Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla Pie ! Slide these out of their pie pans and right onto the plate. They hold their shape beautifully ! Side them with baked sweet potatoes.  Have small bowls of sour cream and spicy hot salsa for dolloping on bites of the pie and you have a really delicious meal !

Chicken Stew with Mashed Potato 'Dumplings'

Merry Christmas ! Happy New Year ! Got leftovers ? Me, too !

Honey Soy Chicken Thighs - Instant Pot !

We pulled out the Instant Pot this week to make an easy and really tasty fast chicken thigh recipe. Put some steamed rice and extra sauce on the side with a vegetable and the plate was a great dinner. The whole deal came together within 45 minutes.

Make This Dish ! - Chicken Thighs with Carrots, Fennel, and Orange Sauce

There is so much going on in this dish. I absolutely loved it. Beautiful pearl couscous is a backdrop to a sauce that is bursting with broth and orange juice enhanced by cumin and paprika. Nicely crisped chicken thighs are gently braised in this sauce with sliced carrots and fennel, black olives, and golden sultana raisins. There's sweetness, saltiness, the nasal herb fragrance and flavour of the fennel, and those spices ... oh, yeah and chicken and carrots! The final touch is slivered scallion greens and fennel fronds. The colors are gorgeous, the textures are a beautiful blend. This is a stellar dish.

Chicken with Broccoli and Cashews

Nothing beats a good fast, stir-fry. In the time you can velvet the meat and steam a pot of rice, you can also slice and dice vegetables and aromatics, mix a thickener and get your wok good and hot. Then, it's all slapdash toward the finish - a gorgeous bowl of chicken with broccoli and cashews.
Here's how I did it.

Chicken, Castelvetranos, and Capers

The week after Easter is always about the ham leftovers and the ham bone, and believe you me, SB and I have had our fair share of ham on Sunday and Monday. It's Tuesday now and we have need of a change on the plate! We departed the leftover menu and headed to Italy for a change of pace.

Hot Italian Chicken with Peppers

Anyone who knows me, knows that I absolutely adore Diana Henry's take on cooking - good basic ingredients, not a lot of fussing about, pairing side dishes that create a soul-satisfying meal. It seems to be her trademark. She also seems to be drawn to foods from the cultures that rim the Mediterranean Sea. In that respect, she is my soul sister, I swear to God.

Chicken and Potato Gnocchi Soup

I snipped and hung the bittersweet to dry this weekend.

Corsican Chicken

I had to look at a map to really get a good understanding of exactly where Corsica is located after I read about the description of this chicken recipe. It comes from a slow-cooker cook book that I have called The French Slow Cooker. It turns out that Corsica is a pretty large island in the Mediterranean Sea that is southeast of Nice, France and west of the Italian coast (and Rome). It has a long history of conquest by everyone from the Romans to the Brits to the Germans, to the French. Nowadays, it is an official part of France ... and the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte. So there.

Chicken with Olives and Capers

Boneless chicken thighs with green and black olives, capers, tomato chunks, and a white wine and chicken broth sauce. Need I say more ?

Nigel Slater's Chicken, Olives, and Lemons

Tucked in under all those olives, onions, lemon and saffron are the juiciest chicken thighs ! They spent the day in a spicy marinade paste that consists of a boatload of smashed garlic, cumin seeds, smoked paprika, turmeric, sea salt, black pepper and olive oil. Oh boy! Can't you just smell the kitchen while these cook?

Giada's Hearty Italian Stew - IHCC's Potluck and Projects

So often, these days, my life revolves around my current sewing project. For whatever reason, sewing has begun to take a more important role in my creative life. I've been sewing to complete a quilting legacy project that I've had in mind for my children and nieces and nephews, but also for different charitable projects that I wish to support. Sewing takes a lot of time, folks ... so I have found myself looking for easy dinner recipes that give SB and I some leftovers for lunches. I've also been using simpler one dish meals that can be knoshed at our spots on the couch or in front of a baseball game or out at the table on the back porch. I'm not sure how SB feels about this departure from our usual formal dining table/candle light experience. He's pretty supportive, though, when I spread a new quilt out before him and ask his opinion or gush at the results.

Cream of Chicken Soup

I've made this soup so many times over the years, but it never gets old. I tend to make it for potlucks and also when someone in the house has been under the weather. It's rich and gives a person a boost of calories when their appetite's been off. It's also especially comforting with a handful of small crackers to scoop up with the silky broth. I know we're all about Springtime and new greens and asparagus and pastel cakes and treats and all, but there will still be days when all you want is a hot bowl of comfort and a hunk of bread or a handful of crackers. Here's a soup that fills the need.

IHCC's Mystery Box - Bacon, Leeks, Thyme

Chicken + Bacon + Leeks + Thyme = Tasty Supper

Happy New Year From the Virtual Supper Club !!!

A new year begins here at The Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club and what better way to celebrate than with small plates - tapas - mezze - hors d'oeuvres ! What ever you call them, they are the perfect way to eat lightly into the new year! A series of these small plate recipes would serve the host or hostess of a New Years celebration really well. The very nature of small plates culture is such that offerings are brought out for friends one or two at a time. There are drinks, usually beers or glasses of wine, and a few bites served up with plenty of conversation - the perfect way to party! This month we have created a spread of small servings and celebratory wines or cocktails to help bring in 2015 with true pizzazz.

Thyme Oregano and Citrus Roasted Poussin - IHCC

There is such satisfaction in taking a beautifully roasted chicken from the oven! Maybe that's why it's the classic Sunday afternoon meal. Just a thought ...

Ottolenghi's Za'tar Roasted Chicken

There's something about the smell of a roasting chicken that I equate with the ultimate of cozy down home comfort. Take this latest Ottolenghi discovery, though, and it makes one feel like you're languishing somewhere on the beach near a Middle Eastern villa. I imagine the smells from this roasting bird wafting across the sands and enticing me back for a dinner on the terrace. The spices and colors are transformed to a crisp, za'atar dusted crust on the chicken. The onions and lemons are transformed to a soft tangy slurry that drapes well over your fork when you stab a slice of chicken and drag it through some of the accompanying green tahini sauce. Sigh ... Ottolenghi's recipes rarely disappoint and this one was utter bliss last evening, as SB and I dined on the cool back porch of our little grey cottage. No Mediterranean villa for us, alas, but the flavours? Oh yes,they were transporting !