Author Archives: cookingwithcandi

Roasted Potatoes with Mustard and Onions

Posted on November 13, 2016 | Leave a comment

I saw this on the Barefoot Contessa TV show and thought this would be so tasty. It was! I made it with chicken and steak, but honestly this would be great alongside any dish. Very easy and pretty perfect. This was how I prepared it. It served 6 very well, and it could probably serve 8 – 10 as a side dish. A perfect dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas or any dinner party.

Ingredients:

2 – 2 1/2 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes

2 medium size yellow onions

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard

Kosher Salt – about 2 teaspoons

Freshly Ground Black Pepper – a few good grinds of the pepper mill

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the potatoes in quarters, and then I cut them again, I found they crisped up better smaller. Place on a very large sheet pan, do not crowd. I actually used two baking sheets for this amount of potatoes. Remove the ends of the onions, peel them, and cut them in half, slice them crosswise in app. 1/4 ” slices to make half rounds. Toss the onions and potatoes on the sheet pan. ( I also sprayed pans generously with Pam cooking spray)

In a separate bowl, with a wire whisk mix the mustard and the olive oil, and pour over potatoes. With clean hands I mixed up everything on sheet pan, then sprinkled 2 teaspoons kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper on the potatoes and mixed again. I baked for about an hour at 400, or until the potatoes were lightly browned on the outside and tender on the inside. I prefer a little crispy, do them however you like. I tossed a few times with a metal spatula during cooking process.

Taste for salt, and you can always add more salt at the end.

Easy Skillet Lasagna

Posted on November 10, 2016 | Leave a comment

This was truly one of the most epic meals! The whole meal in under an hour, and yes that’s lasagna folks. While I love a real lasagna I didn’t have the time to put the whole thing together and deal with it. Once you have the ingredients the prep time is minimal and you aren’t using store bought sauce , this is with sauce you make and I can’t say enough about the way it tasted! This can be done a few different ways and I invite you to play around with the ingredients and spices to your own liking. All I can say is Wow! Delicious! Joel was very happy with our Sunday night dinner, I should have taken a picture of the big smile he had on his face when he saw this on his plate. All in one pot is truly a great way to cook, no fuss, no muss and no having to deal with cooking lasagna noodles!!!!!! Yeah!

This can easily be made with ricotta cheese and spinach or any veggies you like. I would even try it with cut up eggplant!

*You’ll need a large oven proof skillet with lid

Ingredients:

1 to 1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil–I used 1 1/2 you can start with 1 and add more to onions if you need it

1/2 lb. ground beef ( I used 80/20)

3 Italian sausage links, casings removed ( I used Hot Italian Sausage) use what you like , you can use turkey or chicken sausage as well

1 onion, diced

1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 8oz.can tomato sauce

*Italian seasonings , if you have Italian seasonings in a jar that’s great if not use a little dried oregano and dried basil. Italian Seasonings is available in the spice department of all food stores.

*1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

App. 1/4 tsp. Kosher Salt and more to taste

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

app. 10 lasagna noodles, broken into 1/4’s, if it breaks up differently don’t worry it’s a very loose recipe! 8 ounces Farfalle Pasta also works if you don’t feel like using the lasagna noodles. Un-cooked Noodles!!!!!

8 oz. mozzarella balls ( fresh) I used the small ones this time. Use whatever cheese you like but these worked out beautifully. You can always use shredded mozzarella, or just cut a large ball of mozzarella into small pieces ( as much or as little as you’d like) if using shredded mozzarella, you’ll need about 1 cup

2 cups water

Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese for serving

*you can also use 1 cup Ricotta Cheese for a very cheesy version, I would use this if I was making it with spinach and going veggie.

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook till translucent, add garlic towards the end of onion process. Add ground beef to the onions, stirring occasionally till browned. I removed with slotted spoon and set aside in a bowl. I then cooked up the sausage making sure to crumble the sausage as it cooked. I then removed sausage to bowl with meat , onions, and garlic and drained all excess fat from pan.

Pre-heat oven to Broil

Return meat to pan, add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, spices, add 1/4 tsp. kosher salt to taste, if you need more add it. Add in the meat mixture and stir, bring to a simmer and add in broken lasagna pieces and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until pasta is cooked through, about 13- 15 minutes for al dente. I stirred it gently a few times just to make certain that the noodles cooked through and didn’t stick together.

Remove from the heat . I placed my Mozzarella on top and placed in oven under broiler for about 5 mins. Check on it because you don’t want it to blacken. All ovens are different, in mine it needed about 6 minutes to just start browning without burning, but you don’t want to burn this up so set timer and keep an eye on it!

Remove from the oven and let it sit out for a few minutes. Plate it up and let everyone add their own parmesan cheese! Enjoy! you will.

Plated up and ready to eat

Finished Product

adding mozzarella before placing under broiler

placing un-cooked noodles into sauce

This would serve 4. It’s tough to double because you would need a super large pan.

This makes for an amazing leftover!

Veggie Soup with Rotisserie Chicken – Perfect Winter Soup

Posted on November 7, 2016 | 3 comments

This is a soup, and a little like a stew, and I think Rachael Ray calls it a stoup, because it’s a little bit stew and a little bit soup. I combined a lot of different recipes for this one, and used a lot of ingredients from the pantry as well. I served alongside a toasted baguette with goat cheese. A perfect ending to a chilly day and just in time for soup season! And did I say filling? it is a meal in itself. There are a lot of ingredients, but it really did make this soup wonderful. I enjoyed the prep, it’s very therapeutic and it’s not difficult at all. I find it is very very important to read through a whole recipe before starting to cook, because you don’t want any surprises 1/2 way through and I always set out all of my ingredients before I start cooking, don’t want to be running around looking for an ingredient. You can also substitute wherever you’d like in this recipe using ingredients you would prefer. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 whole Rotisserie Chicken ( skin and bones removed and shred meat) (store bought is perfect here) unless you are in the mood to roast a chicken.

Olive Oil

1 4 oz. package of diced pancetta

1 medium yellow onion ( diced)

3 carrots , peeled and diced

3 stalks of celery , diced

2 1/2 cups of diced peeled butternut squash

4 cloves garlic minced

2 teaspoons fresh thyme

1 28 oz. can chopped tomatoes

1 15oz. can cannellini beans , drained and rinsed

1/2 cup dry white wine

baby spinach leaves ( I only used a little bit, but feel free to use whole 8 ounces) Kale would also work beautifully here

1 cup small pasta , like ditalini. I used small elbows because that is what I had on hand.

2 Tablespoons Pesto , I happen to have some frozen, but buy the store bought one if you don’t happen to have this on hand.

1 baguette or crusty type bread

6 cups of chicken broth, hold on to the extra 2 cups because you may need them

2 bay leaves

Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

*freshly grated Parmesan Cheese ( optional) for serving

Directions:

Heat 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil in a large heavy pot ( Le Creuset) or any Dutch type Oven. Add the pancetta and cook for about 6 – 8 minutes over medium low heat, stirring occasionally , until lightly browned. Add the onions, carrots, celery, squash, garlic and thyme, and cook over medium heat. I cooked for about 12 minutes till everything started to break down and soften.

Add the can of tomatoes, 6 cups of the chicken stock, bay leaves, I added 2 teaspoons of Kosher Salt and about 1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. You can taste later and add if you need more. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for app. 45 minutes to an hour.

I cooked pasta separately till al dente.

Discard bay leaves, add pasta , beans and shredded chicken to soup. Heat through. Soup should be quite thick and if it’s too thick add some more chicken stock or some water. Just before serving if you’re using it add in the spinach a little at a time, I used very little because Joel really doesn’t care for it, use as much as you’d like, keep stirring. Stir in the white wine and pesto. Check for salt and pepper.

Serve in nice large shallow bowls, with bread on the side. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese if you’d like.

I sliced a baguette on the diagonal and brushed olive oil on both sides, Baked in the oven at 425 degrees, turning bread once , total cooking time about 8 minutes, took bread out and spread some goat cheese on each slice and put back in the oven for about 4 minutes. Delicious!

3 Comments

Posted in soup, vegetables

Tagged Goat Cheese Baguettes, Rotisserie Chicken in Soup, soup, Vegetable Soup with Rotisserie Chicken, Winter Veggie Soup with Chicken

Mustard Roasted Chicken

Posted on November 2, 2016 | 3 comments

I just bought the newest cookbook from Ina Garten titled “Foolproof” . I love her recipes and couldn’t wait to try them. I made her Crispy mustard Roasted Chicken and while it was amazing, it was super super salty. Even for Joel who loves a lot of salt. I went back and read the recipe again and noticed that she never said anything about what kind of Panko , just 2 cups panko. Her recipes while amazing can be a little salty but this was crazy salty. I finally figured out that it should be Plain panko crumbs and I would add 1 teaspoon of salt and taste crumbs and then add the other teaspoon. I think if you start out with plain panko crumbs you’ll be fine following the rest of the recipe. I remade it with plain panko and it was delicious. I also think that if you use seasoned panko you can just omit the salt all together. I was gun-shy about the salt though, so I added 1 teaspoon at a time as I said. Go for it, and her book is fabulous as ever.

Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves ( I used a teaspoon of dried thyme)

2 cups Plain Panko Crumbs ( Japanese bread flakes)

2 teaspoons kosher salt ( make sure if you’re adding salt you are using plain panko)

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest ( 2 small lemons)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup Dijon Mustard

1/2 dry white wine, if you’re buying to cook with use Pinot Grigio it’s the dryest, if not use whatever is open unless it’s super fruity

1 3 1/2 – 4 lb. chicken cut up in 8’s

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Place the garlic, thyme, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until the garlic is finely minced. Add the panko, lemon zest, olive oil, and butter and pulse a few times to moisten the panko. In a shallow bowl, whisk together the mustard and wine.

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Sprinkle chicken with salt and peppr ( I omitted this step or it would have been way to salty) using the plain panko it would be fine, but the 2 teaspoons of salt should be enough. Taste the crumbs before salting the chicken . Dip each piece in the mustard mixture to coat on all sides, and then place skin side down only into the crumb mixture, pressing gently to make the crumbs adhere. Place the chicken on a sprayed cookie sheet crumb side up. Press the remaining crumbs on to the chicken pieces.

Bake the chicken for 40 minutes. Raise the heat to 400 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes, until the crumbs are browned and the chicken is cooked through.

*if you’d like to make in advance, prepare the chicken without baking it. Refrigerate till ready to use and then bake before dinner.

Serves 4 nicely

3 Comments

Posted in chicken

Tagged crispy mustard roasted chicken, easy chcken with mustard and panko

Sausage and White Bean Soup

Posted on October 30, 2016 | 4 comments

It’s Soup Season time again and I find myself craving a nice hearty soup either for lunch or dinner. This soup will satisfy that craving for sure.

This was an absolutely delicious dinner soup I made the other night. I like my soups to simmer for a while on the stove top, I made this soup about 2 hours before we were going to eat it. This soup can be made rather quickly or you can allow it to simmer for a few hours. It’s even better the next day. If serving the next day you will most likely need to add liquid, I added a little bit of water or you can add stock. Just add a little at a time.

There is a little effort involved here but mostly chopping and prepping.

I used my mini-processor for chopping carrots because I wanted them finely chopped.

The fresh herbs tasted wonderful and I wouldn’t omit.

You can use turkey or chicken sausage or any kind of sausage you would prefer.

I served alongside a crusty bread, manchego cheese and a beautiful red wine.

*this soup can easily be frozen

*will serve 6-8 easily

Enjoy this !

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 pound spicy turkey sausage, Italian sausage (casings removed) chicken sausage, whatever you prefer, chopped.

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

3 carrots, finely chopped– to obtain this chop I used my mini processor

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 Tablespoons finely chopped sage

1 Tablespoon finely chopped rosemary

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt –which was enough

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes–clearly this is optional but it adds a little kick

4 cups Chicken / Vegetable Stock –low sodium or regular it’s you’re call

1 14-ounce can petite diced tomatoes

3 15-ounce cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

app. 1/2 lb. baby spinach–or any greens you’d like. You can eyeball it to see how much you’d like to use. You could use heartier greens, like kale or collard greens–just be certain to cook them in the soup for at least 5 minutes prior to serving. You want them to wilt and break down a bit.

Directions:

In a large stockpot heat the olive oil over medium-heat.

Cook Sausage, stirring occasionally and breaking up any large pieces as it cooks. Cook until browned, app. 10 minutes or so. Transfer sausage with a slotted spoon to another plate.

Add onions, carrots, and garlic to pot and cook in the oil from sausage. Stir frequently, until onions are tender. App. another 10 minutes.

Add sage, rosemary, salt , pepper and red pepper flakes. Stir in chicken stock, tomatoes and their juices, and reserved sausage. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until flavors have melded together, at least 15 minutes. I let it sit and simmer for about 2 hours on a very low simmer, stirring occasionally.

Before you’re ready to serve you will do this next step: this will add 15 minutes more of cooking time, you can always simmer longer.

Coarsely mash beans from 1 can of rinsed , drained beans. You can use a fork for this or a potato masher. Then add this mash to soup. Stir in the almond milk and remaining 2 cans of rinsed, drained beans. Let simmer for another 15 minutes at least. Taste for salt and pepper at this point. I didn’t need to add any.

I added the spinach a few minutes before serving, just eyeball out about 1/2 cup of baby spinach or whatever greens you are using. The heartier greens like kale will take a little longer to break down.

You can top soup with freshly grated parmesan if you’d like.

4 Comments

Posted in soup

Tagged fall soups, sausage and white beans, soup, soup season, white bean and sausage soup, white bean soup with sausage

Easy Chicken Soup with Orzo and Lemon

Posted on October 27, 2016 | 2 comments

I literally started this soup at 5 p.m. and app. one hour later I was eating it. Now that’s always a good thing in my book. Usually I slow cook my broth etc. and it takes hours ( Homemade Chicken Soup ) but this time there was no time, I wasn’t feeling great and wanted that homemade flavor without all the work . You can certainly cook your own chicken if it works out for you time wise. This would also be perfect with leftover chicken. I bought a rotisserie chicken and this is what I did. For those of you who saw it on Instagram and Facebook–this one’s for you. One more little thing, the fresh dill is the secret ingredient and gives it that wonderful layer of flavor, don’t skip it. I also squeezed fresh lemon into each bowl of soup , this added yet another wonderful layer of flavor to this soup. This is also a fairly low-calorie soup because whole soup is made with only 1/2 cup of orzo and it was plenty. I used these vegetables this time but feel free to add parsnips, mushrooms, kale or any other veggies you like.

Ingredients:

1 Rotisserie Chicken, skin removed and shredded .

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 leek, white and pale green parts only, halved lengthwise, then sliced crosswise about 1/2″ thick

2 stalks celery, sliced into 1/2″ thick slices (app.)

2 large carrots cut into 1/2″ rounds. I found beautiful organic baby carrots and used them, it’s about 2 large carrots but feel free to use a little more or less.

1/2 cup of orzo

6 – 8 cups chicken broth, if you have homemade broth/stock good for you and use it. If not the box ones are awesome. Low-Sodium is good here if you’re concerned about the salt.

Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

app. 1/4 cup of chopped fresh dill

*Lemon halves for serving

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add the leek, celery and carrots. Cook veggies, stirring often, until vegetables are soft, 10-15 minutes. I threw a little salt and pepper in to vegetables during this period, you can taste for salt and pepper again.

Add 6 cups of chicken broth and bring to a boil. Then lower to a simmer for about 20 minutes, just till carrots are soft.

After about 20 minutes, I added 1/2 cup of orzo and cooked for 8- 10 minutes. Taste for Salt and Pepper.

I then added the shredded chicken and dill and I also added a bit more of the chicken stock at this point since broth cooked down a bit. You can always add a little water if you’ve run out of broth. I heated soup a bit more and served with lemon halves, squeezing a bit of lemon into each bowl of chicken soup before serving.

2 Comments

Posted in chicken, soup

Tagged Chicken Soup with Lemon and Orzo, Chicken Soup with Orzo, Homemade Chicken Soup made easy

Pasta with Sausage, Beans and Greens

Posted on October 25, 2016 | 3 comments

I love pasta and am always on the lookout for new and delicious ways to prepare it. This recipe is the real deal and reminded me of many a pasta dish I enjoyed in Italy. If Joel liked greens more I would have added more kale and as it is he always wonders why I contaminate the pasta with all the beans and green stuff. If I were making for myself I would have added more kale or whatever greens you like. It’s not the most simple recipe as it has a few steps but thoroughly worth the effort involved. I loved the way the beans gave it so much flavor. I used Paccheri Pasta — I was able to pick up a homemade version of this pasta. It’s just a smooth, giant rigatoni with thinner walls . It soaked up the beans and broth ! I used a can of cannelinni beans but fava beans would be a nice change or chickpeas. I used Italian spicy sausage but you can try spicy lamb sausage as well or any sausage you would like.

Now if you leave out the sausage it can be made completely vegetarian!

Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil

8 oz. spicy Italian sausage, casings removed — if you don’t like spicy use sweet

1 15 oz. can cannellini beans (white kidney) rinsed and drained. You can use fava or chickpeas as well .

1/2 cup dry white wine if no wine in the house try chicken broth

12 oz. paccheri, rigatoni or any tubular pasta–try a homemade pasta from your local market

6 cups (lightly packed) torn escarole, baby kale, regular kale, Swiss chard leaves, regular kale even spinach will work–whatever you like

Kosher Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1/2 cup + 1/4 cup of finely grated Parmesan

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot over medium-heat. Add sausage to pot and cook breaking up with a wooden spoon, stir occasionally until browned and cooked through, app. 10 mins. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a separate plate.

Add white beans to pot (drained and rinsed) and cook tossing occasionally, I mashed some beans with the back of a wooden spoon. So about 1/2 the beans mashed and the rest I left whole. Cook beans till slightly browned for about 5 minutes. Transfer 1/2 of this mixture to plate with sausage. Leave the other 1/2 in pot. Add the wine to the pot, bring to a boil and cook until liquid is almost gone–about 2 minutes. I sprinkled a little kosher salt in to the bean mixture at this point. You’ll taste again for salt .

Meanwhile, cook your pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, cook until very al dente, a few minutes less than you would normally cook. Don’t overcook!

I used a pasta insert to cook my pasta . I reserved a few cups of the cooking water –you’ll need it. Don’t throw it down the drain. Drain Pasta and then transfer pasta to pot with beans and add your greens and 1 cup of pasta water . Your heat should be on low under the pot just so it’s cooking without burning. Cook and stir often until greens are wilted , pasta is al dente and sauce is thickening up probably 5 minutes or so. Stir and Stir. Add another 1/4 cup of pasta water, then gradually add in 1/2 cup of grated cheese, tossing until melted and cheese dissolves into a beautiful glossy sauce. Thin out the sauce with more pasta water if too thick. Taste for salt and I put a little freshly ground black pepper in at this point.

Now add in reserved sausage and beans. Delicious pasta right here right now in your pot! and so professional looking and tasting.

Sprinkle with extra cheese if you’d like and crushed red pepper if you’d like.

Pasta was rich and tasty served hot off the stove.

3 Comments

Posted in pasta

Tagged pasta with greens and beans, pasta with sausage beans and greens

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting–Fall Treats

Posted on October 21, 2016 | Leave a comment

There are a few things I really love to eat. Mostly anything sweet and mostly dessert. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have an incredible sweet tooth. Funny that my name is Candi and I love candy, cookies, cakes and ice cream so very much. I would probably pass on most entrees and just cut to dessert if I had my way . When I was a kid I would gladly trade a sandwich for dessert any day of the week. Some things never change. I’d like to believe that my tastes in dessert have changed a wee bit and that I have a bit more of a sophisticated palate now but not when it comes to candy, I still love junky candy as much as I did when I was 6. However my taste in cake has definitely improved with age. I don’t think I would have enjoyed pumpkin cake as a kid but I really love it now. Anything baked with pumpkin gets high marks in my book and if you put cream cheese frosting on it it’s off the charts. It’s just the right amount of sugar and spice! Perfect Fall Cake and it may just find its way to my Thanksgiving Table. It really is a very easy recipe to follow , I made cupcakes but you can easily make this in a Pyrex 9 x13 inch pan as a sheet cake and frost it and decorate with candy corn or those little candy pumpkins!

Now you can make these without frosting and just eat like muffins with a little smear of cream cheese which wouldn’t be too bad either.

Shopping List:

1 can Pumpkin ( not pumpkin pie filling just Pumpkin) 15 oz. size

cream cheese and paper liners for cupcakes

Staples: (things you should have in your Pantry and fridge all the time)

all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ground cloves, salt, vegetable oil, eggs, confectioner’s sugar, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, and milk

Ingredients:

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 cup of sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves if no ground cloves you can substitute with pumpkin pie spice or nutmeg. I prefer cloves.

1 tsp. salt (regular table salt)

1 cup vegetable oil

1 can Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) Pure Pumpkin

4 eggs ( room temperature please)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 cups of confectioner’s sugar

1/3 cup softened butter ( unsalted)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 oz. softened cream cheese ( soften in microwave) not melted just softened or you can leave it out for a bit and it will soften up. I actually used light cream cheese not fat free please. I mean the amount of calories is staggering, but you’re only going to eat 1 cupcake right? how many calories can possibly be in that????? Don’t tell me , I don’t want to know.

1 Tbsp. Milk ( I used skim plus)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. I mixed all dry ingredients together then mixed in eggs ( one at a time) and can of pumpkin and vegetable oil. Mix till combined, don’t overmix. No need to sift, just put dry ingredients in a bowl first and whisk together with a whisk , get some air in there.

Pour into a greased muffin pan about 3/4 full. I always use little paper liners and bake at 35o degrees for 20 – 30 minutes . Be careful not to over bake so the cake stays moist. I baked for 26 minutes. I started checking on them after 20 minutes.

Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. I made my frosting in my electric mixer while cupcakes were cooling.

Frost Cupcakes / Cake and if you’d like decorate with some of those little Halloween Candies like candy corn or those little pumpkin shaped candies sold this time of year. Enjoy!

*should make about 16 cupcakes , I made 12 and a mini loaf.

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup (no cream)

Posted on October 20, 2016 | 2 comments

I decided to re-post this amazing soup as it is one of my most favorite recipes and one of my most popular recipes. So very easy to make with pre-cut butternut squash readily available almost everywhere now. If you’d like a little different flavor you can roast the squash first.

It’s definitely fall and my first soup of the season is almost always butternut squash soup. I’ve simplified the recipe along the way so that now it is just the way Joel and I like it. it’s pretty easy as long as you buy the squash pre – cut (available in every supermarket, and corner produce store). I just made my first batch of the season, and the squash is sweet and delicious. I always add a little butter to it, but you can totally leave it out. It tastes so creamy you’ll swear there’s cream in it, but really, there is none. I love a little freshly grated nutmeg in it too, but you can certainly just sprinkle in a very little bit of already grated nutmeg. I hope your family and friends enjoy this as much as my family does! It’s always on my table for Thanksgiving. A delightful way to start a dinner, or a delicious main dish served alongside a beautiful salad and bread. This can easily be made vegetarian by substituting chicken broth for vegetable broth, which is how I make it on Thanksgiving for Kerri, who is vegetarian.

Ingredients:

4 pkgs. (approx. 4 lbs.) butternut squash (it’s doesn’t have to be exact)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large spanish onion, chopped

8 – 10 cups chicken or vegetable broth

*1 -2 tablespoons unsalted butter (for this serving size, I use 2 but it’s totally optional)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

*use whole nutmeg – you just grate a little in for flavor. I always tend to use whole, but grated will do. It’s just a touch of it–if I had to guess, I’d say 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon depending on your taste

Directions:

In a heavy Le Creuset (or any other ample size large pot), I heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil. When oil is heated, put in onion and about 1/2 tablespoon of kosher salt. Sweat out the onions until they are translucent (approx. 5 – 8 minutes). If you’re using the butter, add it now too. I then add all of the butternut squash and mix the onions, oil and butter as best I can all over the squash. Next, add enough broth to cover the squash (I used approx. 10 cups of chicken broth to cover). I keep the remaining half a box of broth in case I need it later. Return to a low boil, then bring to a simmer. I let it cook a very long time–at least an hour until soft–and then I turn off the heat and let it sit for a while. I like to make it early and let it sit for as long as possible, because the squash gets very soft. Then right before I am about to serve, I use an immersion blender and blend it into a beautiful smooth soup. If you need more broth, add it as you blend. This is also your salt, pepper and nutmeg moment. Season to taste and blend just until smooth. I leave it in the pot until I need it and then gently warm it up. This soup will keep in the fridge for a few days. It can be frozen as well. Upon defrosting you may need to add more broth. Sometimes I serve this soup with beautiful croutons if I can find them in specialty stores, but it is delicious and beautiful on its own, and very good for you! My family loves it , and I hope yours does too.

*should serve 10 – 12 as appetizer

2 Comments

Posted in soup, vegetables, vegetarian

Tagged Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with no Cream

Happy Cinco de Mayo–Set it and Forget it Chicken Taco Chili

Posted on October 17, 2016 | 2 comments

This is a good way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!!! Super easy recipe and will cook in the slow cooker on high in 6 hours! So set it and forget it.

Slow cookers make for perfect cooking all year round. Nothing better than setting it and forgetting it! Making life easier and less clean up after dinner. I bought all my ingredients yesterday and went to Soul Cycle this morning , came home and by 10 am this was cooking in the slow cooker. I actually put it to high cook for 6 hours and I am sitting here smelling all this deliciousness . I happened to have a package of Taco Seasoning Mix in the house so I used it along with cumin and chili powder. I used dark meat and white meat chicken, you can use whichever chicken you’d like. Just set it and forget it and come home to this delicious meal of chicken . If you don’t own a slow cooker this may be a good time to buy one!

follow me on Instagram @cookingwithcandi and have a happy Cinco de Mayo!

Ingredients:

1 small yellow onion , chopped

1 15 oz. can black beans, drained-you don’t have to rinse the organic beans. If you already have them in the house and they’re not organic just rinse them with water and drain.

1 15 oz. can red kidney beans, drained -you don’t have to rinse the organic beans–same instructions as above

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

10 oz. package frozen corn kernels

2 10 oz. cans diced tomatoes with chilies –available in the Mexican Food aisle in the supermarket

4 oz. can chopped green chili peppers, chopped–also available in the Mexican Food aisle

1 packet Taco Seasoning- *if you don’t like using Taco Seasoning see note below

1 tbsp. cumin

1/2-1 Tbsp. chili powder

Kosher Salt to taste–if using the package of Taco Seasoning you may not need extra salt , wait till 6 hours of cooking are over and taste for salt . I sprinkled a little bit at the end of seasoning to taste.

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts and I added 6 small skinless , boneless chicken thighs and if you cannot find boneless don’t worry because the meat will fall off the bones and you can remove all the bones from the chili before serving.

I don’t know the nutrition information but I have to believe that this is a fairly low-fat , low caloric way to go. I added the dark meat so maybe not as light as you can make it. Enjoy!

*handful of fresh cilantro – chopped if you would like

Directions:

Combine drained beans, onion, chili peppers, corn , tomato sauce, diced tomato, cumin, chili powder and taco seasoning in a slow cooker and mix well.

Nestle the chicken in to completely cover and cook either on Low for 8-10 hours or on High for 4-6 hours. I did it on high for 6 hours.

App. 1/2 hour before the cooking was over I thought I would shred the chicken, when I opened the slow cooker and started to stir the chicken it all just fell apart on its own!!! This was so amazing how I didn’t even have to do that. I guess it cooked so long that it just fell apart! This was just perfect and tasted so delicious! If that is not your experience and you only cook for 4 hours you may want to shred the chicken yourself about 1/2 hour before finished. But mine really did shred itself as I stirred it with a wooden spoon.

Top with fresh cilantro and your favorite chili toppings! I also serve with soft corn tortillas. You can use crunchy taco shells or whatever you’d like, this is totally optional. And some avocado never hurt anyone!

Yum!!!

*to make your own seasoning follow this

1 1/2 Tbsp. Cumin

1 1/2 Tbsp. Chili Powder

1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder

1/4 tsp. Onion Powder

1/4 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. paprika

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

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Posted in chicken, chili, slow cooker

Tagged chili in the slow cooker, cinco de mayo, mexican food, Slow Cooker, slow cooker chicken taco chili

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