Chicken Rice Salad

Evan and I love this meal! It is fresh and easy. I first had it had my friend Kathryn Herring's house and she got it from an issue of Southern Living. I am not sure of what they called it in the magazine. After making it a few times, I altered the recipe to using no dressing. We find that you just do not need it. The salad is flavorful enough without!

Chicken Rice Salad
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tbs gluten free soy sauce
1 box wild rice with seasoning packet (make sure you read the ingredient list if you have a wheat allergy. The seasoning packet can have wheat! Find a brand that doesn't or leave the packet out)
Organic Spinach
Organic Spring Mix Greens
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 tomato, diced
pecans, toasted
blue cheese
green onions, sliced

Cook rice according to package directions.
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add chicken breasts. Boil 10-15 minutes until cooked through. Remove breasts from water and shred chicken. Pour water out of pan if you did not already. Place shredded chicken back in pan and add soy sauce. Heat through.
Place spinach and greens in a large bowl/plate. Top with cooked rice and shredded chicken. Add desired amounts of vegetables, pecans, cheese and onions.
Enjoy!!

The Crockpot strikes again!... Brunswick Stew

I do not know about you, but I get so excited when my monthly Southern Living comes in the mail! I am a Southerner at heart and love to read about the area, the decorating and the food. I do not usually make many of the recipes just because they are not normally my style of cooking. But this month (October 2011) had a few recipes that sounded healthy and yummy. This brunswick stew is one of them. I adapted it to work for me and I will include what I did below. It was absolutely delicious!!! Thanks Southern Living!

CHICKEN BRUNSWICK STEW
Serves: 6 (serving size: 2 cups)

1 1/2 large onions, diced
1 Tbs minced garlic
1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into large cubes/pieces
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
12 oz bottle chili sauce (found in the ketchup aisle)
12 oz package frozen corn
10 oz package frozen cream-style corn, thawed (I could only find a 20oz frozen roll that i had to half)
9 oz package frozen baby lima beans
1 Tbs light brown sugar
1 Tbs yellow mustard
1 Tbs worcestershire sauce
freshly ground black pepper- at least 1 tsp

Place all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook 10 hours on low heat. Once done cooking, I used a large fork to shred some of the chicken. Serve! This is even better left over than fresh. The stew also freezes well in plastic or glass containers. Just thaw frozen soup in the refrigerator the night before you want to eat it.

Loving my greens... Sauteed Kale

Last night was vegetable night! I try to make all vegetable dinners at least twice a week. It increases our vegetable intake and is often cheaper... plus I just love veggies! Some of my favorite vegetables are root vegetables and greens. Last night I made the beet and turnip recipes in this month's issue of Southern Living. They were good. I will probably not make the turnip recipe again just because it did not have tons of flavor. To accompany them I made my favorite kale recipe. As always, it was delicious. I will share it below!

SAUTEED KALE
2 large bunches kale, you can use any variety of kale, torn off stem and washed
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 large tomato, diced
1 tbs minced garlic

In large skillet or pot, heat 1 tsp olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions until tender. Add tomatoes and saute 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Add kale in handfuls, allowing each handful of kale to wilt before you add the next handful. Once all the kale is in the pot, add 1/8 cup water to pan, stir and cook for 10 minutes. Sea Salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Football Saturdays

It is another saturday here in the South, which means Auburn football and food. I am excited to be at home.  I was able to plan our meals for the week, go to the market, cook lunch and workout by 1:00 pm. Now it is time to hunker down for some college football! Lunch was good, Winter Vegetable Soup. I found this recipe in the Atlanta Journal Constitution last year and loved it the first time I tried it. This soup is easy to make and FULL of flavor. Thanks AJC!

Winter Vegetable Soup
Serves: 4
1 Tbs olive oil
4 carrots, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced, approximately 1 tsp garlic
4 cups organic, low sodium vegetable broth
1 14.5 oz can tomato sauce
2 cups butternut squash, diced
freshly cracked pepper
1 tsp ground thyme
1/4 tsp allspice
dash of red ground pepper
3 cups kale, chopped

Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add carrots and onions. Cook 5 minutes. Add garlic. Cook 1 minute. Add broth, tomato sauce, squash and spices. Cook 25 minutes or until squash is tender. Add kale and cook 5 minutes until kale is tender. Serve!

Maple Syrup Salmon

I am working a lot this week. This is the kind of week where planning ahead, the crock pot and simple meals comes in handy. Monday I put a roast, onions, potatoes and carrots in the crock pot with some spices. 10 hours later, a fresh meal was waiting for me when I got home from work. Evan steamed a little broccoli and we were good to go. Last night I whipped up one of our staples before I went to teach. I have made this salmon recipe more times than I can count, and I am still not sick of it. I originally got the recipe from my mother in law and I am not sure where she got it from. Either way, it is delicious every time! I served it with a yummy salad topped with lots of chopped raw vegetables and raspberries.

MAPLE SYRUP SALMON
Serves: 4
1 lb boneless, skinless salmon
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 Tbs soy sauce
1 garlic clove, minced (if you use the preminced garlic in the jar this is about 1/2 tsp)

Line a cookie sheet with foil. Grease foil with spray or olive oil. Place salmon on foil.
Combine syrup, soy sauce and garlic in a small bowl. Pour over salmon.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Coconut Curry

My in-laws flew in from Las Vegas last night and decided to come up and watch the end of the auburn game with us. It was wonderful! We got to visit and eat delicious homemade curry. This is Evan's favorite dish lately and I am okay with that because it is easy, healthy and tastes awesome! Bill and Dorenda liked it too. This curry recipe is so versatile. You can easily change out the meat and vegetables to mix things up. You can also try green and yellow curry in place of the red. I have tried all three and red curry is my favorite. Enjoy!

COCONUT CURRY
Serves: 4-5
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite size strips
1 1/2 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small head broccoli, chop florets into small pieces, discard stalk
8 baby portabello mushrooms, remove stems, dice heads
2 14 oz cans coconut milk, used full fat
4 tsp red curry paste
salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1 avocado, diced

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tsp coconut oil to pan. Add chicken to pan and cook chicken 2 minutes per side. Remove from pan to a plate.
Add additional 1 tsp coconut oil to large skillet. Add all vegetables to pan. Cook 5 minutes. Add coconut milk and curry. Stir. Bring to a low boil. Cook 10 minutes.
Serve top with cut avocado.

Apple Cake with Caramel Glaze

It is fall!! and time for some fall treats! Today is beautiful, auburn football is on and there is a wonderful fall breeze. The perfect day for apples. This is what inspired the apple cake with caramel glaze that i whipped up this afternoon. I think Evan's words when he tasted the cake says it all, "This is my new favorite cake!"

APPLE CAKE WITH CARAMEL GLAZE

Serves: 12

2 eggs

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup apple butter (can be found in the jelly section of special stores- it is usually a mixture of apples, apple juice, apple cider and spices)

1/2 cup honey

1/3 cup canola oil

2 cups gluten free all purpose baking and biscuit mix (I used bob's red mill. You could easily substitute a non gluten free mix)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Place first 5 ingredients in the bowl of a mixer. Mix. Place rest of ingredients in mixer (flour through salt). Mix until just incorporated. Do not over mix. Stir all ingredients together by hand with a spatula, making sure to scrape bottom and sides of bowl to incorporate. 

Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray. Spoon cake batter evenly into pan.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in pan and then turn cake out onto cake stand. Top with caramel glaze. Wonderful warm or at room temperature!

CARAMEL GLAZE 

2 tbs unsalted butter

1/4 cup light brown sugar

2 tbs evaporated milk or whatever milk you have in your refrigerator (i used skim this time)

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

Combine butter and brown sugar in medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until butter melts and sauce is smooth, approximately 2-3 minutes. Add milk and let icing come to a gentle boil. Stir well and remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla. Whisk until glaze thickens and loses a little shine, approximately 1-2 minutes. Use a spoon to immediately drizzle over cake.