Tag Archive for 'chicken'

Chicken and Biscuits Florentine

Published by Hal on April 6, 2008 in recipes. 1 Comment

So, what’s the worst thing a food blogger could do (besides not cook, or write about it)? Not have batteries in the camera to take a picture of the food s/he is writing about. Ooops.

Well, anyway, I don’t have pictures to share, but I thought I would provide the recipe anyway, just in case I forget (because I am prone to do that, now). I came up with this because I needed to use up a lot of things: I had a can of cream of chicken soup that we bought for some reason, and I had a ton of vegetables in fridge that were calling out to be eaten. I thought I might could do a chicken primavera, but then I didn’t haven’t enough farfalle pasta. I thought linguine would be too much. So I opted for rice. But as I was eating this with the rice, I realize that the chunkiness of the veggies and the sheer volume of the spinach was calling for something else–a biscuit! So, there you have it.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely diced
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 3 ribs of celery, diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
  • 4 chicken tenders, cut in to bite sized pieces
  • 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
  • 1 can of milk
  • 1 box of frozen spinach, thawed and very well drained
  • 1/2 green pepper, diced
  • 1/2 red pepper, diced
  • salt and pepper

Procedure

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the onion, celery, and carrots, and a dash of salt and pepper, and cook until the vegetables are tender. Add the garlic and chicken, stirring just until the chicken is nearly cooked, about 5 minutes. Add the soup and milk and stir to combine. Then, add the spinach and stir to evenly incorporate everything. Once the mixture has come to a bubble, add the peppers. Spoon over a split biscuit and serve.

One final thing to note: I upgraded my WordPress installation tonight–if something doesn’t look right, please contact me at blog [at] commonculinarian [dot] com.

South-Western Inspired Chicken & BLT Salad

Published by Hal on February 25, 2008 in Frugal Friday, recipes and rotisserie chicken. 1 Comment

Stacie and I really like food, and I really enjoy cooking (that’s part of how this blog came about). But, sometimes I just don’t want to cook, or I say “the kitchen is a disaster after last night and we need to clean it before we can prepare dinner tonight.”

This, my friends, is how Stacie and I managed to spend just over $400 on going out to eat last month. Now, to our credit, we also spent about as much money on grocery food. But, of course, we hosted a large party at the beginning of the month… And, then, we had a $130 grocery bill Sunday–but $40 was because of meat; almost enough to make me go vegetarian, really! (I should also note that $400 is really easy to hit–neither of us have been particularly diligent about not going out during lunch, though we really should be bringing or eating leftovers. We’ll be watching it a little better in March).

So, I’ve been looking at making some of the food that we enjoy when we go out to eat. There have been two amazing salads that are sort of the same thing, one from Chili’s, the other from a local pub here called “Yogi’s.” The Chili’s version is called a South Western Cobb salad; it’s not a true Cobb salad, since the cheese isn’t marbled. That’s fine with me, however, because I don’t really like marbled/moldy cheese. The Yogi’s version is called a Yucatan Salad. Basically, it’s a romaine based salad with black beans, corn, avocado, salsa, and cheese. Delicious.

So, knowing that Stacie and I spent a small fortune on food last month, tonight I decided to recreate this favorite from these two restaurants. But, not before I watched this:

Yes, that’s exactly right :) This “salad” is probably a loose interpretation of the word, but it was still pretty tasty. And, it’s definitely better than a taco salad. So, I’m okay with it. Again, this is probably an occasional treat (unless you leave out some of the bad stuff), but just as tasty and definitely cheaper than the restaurant version.Big Salad FrontIngredients

  • 1 head of romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
  • 1/2 cup of tomato salsa, pico de gallo, or 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 8 slices of bacon, crisped and crumbed
  • 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar, or blended, cheese
  • 1/2 cup of thawed, frozen corn kernels
  • 1/2 cup of drained and rinsed black beans
  • 1/2 cup of rotisserie chicken, shredded
  • 1 avocado, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
  • 3 medium eggs, hard-boiled

Procedure

Layer half the lettuce on a dinner plate. Then, in rows, layer half of the remaining ingredients. Repeat for the second serving. Toss and serve with your favorite dressing.

It won’t get me a mention in a Bud Light commercial, but darn it, it was a valiant try!

Chicken & Corn Chowder

Published by Hal on January 29, 2008 in recipes and rotisserie chicken. 2 Comments

I went to a training today that made me realize that I really should have a privacy policy for this site. Initially, I didn’t because I didn’t think I collected any information about the visitors to the site, but then I realized that’s not so–I use Feedburner for my feed stats and Google Analytics for my site stats. These two programs tell me who is clicking on my material and how they got to this site. So, consider yourself disclosed :) I don’t know exactly who you are, I just know that someone from some where is coming here using some key words typed into Google.

So, the point of telling you all that wasn’t so much to give you notice as it was to share some really interesting things about how it seems you guys are coming by this site. Three of the most popular searches are for “how to chop basil,” “how to cook pin oats,” and “recipes with a rotisserie chicken.” Hating Paula Deen is up there, too, but since I actually like Paula Deen, I’m choosing to ignore that ;)

This tells me that I need to write more “How-to’s” (thinking about what to do next), find a recipe for pin oats besides oat meal (I’m working on it–it’ll probably be a cookie), and write some recipes with that crazy rotisserie bird. Who knew it would be so popular?

Well, I can satisfy one of these needs tonight. My wife and I picked up one of these little guys at the store yesterday for dinner last night, but we got side tracked and made something else instead (hopefully I’ll be able to tell you what in a few days). My wife is also not feeling too great, so I needed to come up with something with some nutrients and simple. Chicken soup came to mind–but, wait, I have all these root vegetables (including little potatoes), some whole milk I’ll probably never get to finish, and a shiny new saucier. Chowder-time!

Before tonight I was thinking that most chowders were potato based, but in doing a bit of research, that doesn’t seem to be the case–rather, it’s a thick soup, with heartily cut ingredients, made from whatever a cook had available. We associate it with clams and seafood in the US because of New England, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be so. In fact, I say this dish epitomizes the idea of chowder, since I took what ever I had on hand, threw it in a pot, and called it dinner!

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 celery rib, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 5 small potatoes (1 1/2″ diameter), halved, then quartered
  • 1 cup shredded chicken (from a rotisserie chicken)
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup frozen corn
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon fresh black pepper
  • 1/2 cup of whole milk

Procedure

Combine the oil and butter in the bottom of a 2 1/2 quart saucepan, over medium to medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted, add the onions, celery, and carrots. Cook until the onions are just starting to caramelize, then add the garlic and the potatoes. Cook until the potatoes begin to show color at the edges, stirring occasionally.

Add the chicken, chicken stock, corn, bay leaves, tarragon, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and allow the chowder to simmer for about 30 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender and begin to fall apart. Add the milk to the chowder, then stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Initially, I thought I was going to need to make a roux, but then I remember I was cooking with potatoes. Potatoes have enough starch in them to be a good thickening agent for whatever your cooking, especially if you cook them until about when they fall apart.

This recipe is really as simple as putting the ingredients in a pot and calling it dinner. What I loved about this is that it takes almost no effort, and the payoff is huge! This makes a delicious chowder, and feeds about four. Trust me when I say you don’t need anything else but a bowl of this for your dinner.

Frugal Friday: Making Something From Nothing

Published by Hal on January 25, 2008 in Frugal Friday and recipes. 0 Comments

I came home from work and working out the other night and needed something dinner. Unfortunately, my wife had already eaten with some of her friends, so I was on my own. Rather than revert to a TV dinner, I decided to see what I had on hand. I was feeling something Asian inspired, but it needed to be healthful–so no General Tso’s chicken for me, though it’s actually really easy to make!

No, instead I settled on stir fried (from a skillet, if that’s even technically possible) chicken with a soy-sauce glaze and yellow rice. There’s no reason for me to have yellow rice, and it’s kind of a cheat on saffron rice (which is also yellow)–I just like the color and it’s different than standard rice. You can use saffron, though that’s expensive and probably not a good use of such a premium ingredient for something you’ll just whip up; I just used 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric–hardly any flavor, but lots of color.

To just whip something up, the first thing I needed to do was take an inventory of what ingredients I had. We had just gone to the grocery store the night before, so we had a pretty full refrigerator and pantry; but, some things were off limits because I had other plans for them. I did have plenty of root vegetables which make a good base for any dish. I couldn’t use any of the fresh meat we bought, but I did have some frozen chicken tenders in the freezer. So, chicken and vegetables it was going to be.

Second, I needed a plan. I took a few minutes to think about what I was going to do. I knew it needed to be quick, since it was already 8 p.m., so I opted to dice my vegetables and cut the chicken into bite sized chunks. But, I also needed to season the food somehow. There was some soy sauce, rice vinegar, and rice wine in the fridge from when I made General Tso’s chicken a while back, and I had some sugar on hand, so I thought I whip up a quick glaze from that.

Next, I set to work defrosting the chicken, dicing the vegetables, and sauteeing everything. While I let the vegetables work, I started the rice. Once everything was started and working, I prepared the glaze.

Finally, everything came together and I enjoyed my dinner. I made enough for two so I could have some at work the next day. Now, I’m sharing this recipe with you so you might be inspired to experiment in your own home.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1/2 medium onion, diced
  • 1/4 green pepper, diced
  • 1 rib of celery, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
  • 1 large (or 2 regular) chicken breast, cut into bite sized chunks
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 1/2 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Procedure

  1. Heat the oil in a medium skillet, over medium heat.
  2. Add the onion and cook until soft.
  3. Add the green pepper, celery, and garlic and continue to cook until the onion begins to caramelize.
  4. Add the chicken and cook until all sides have turned brown.
  5. In the meantime, combine the water, sugar, soy sauce, and rice vinegar.
  6. Pour the glaze over the chicken-vegetable mixture and reduce by about 25%.
  7. Serve over warm rice!

Recipes: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Published by Hal on January 15, 2008 in leftovers and recipes. 0 Comments

Can you see just how versatile are the Chicken Tacos we made Saturday? This is pretty amazing, that we’re on our second dish! My wife loved this, and insisted that I post this recipe. It’s really simple, really tasty, and is a creative use for some left overs.

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) of vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup, plus, of your chicken taco filling
  • 1/2 cup, plus, of your pico de gallo
  • 1 small can of diced green chilies
  • A few handfuls of tortilla chips, some crushed, some whole
  • Chopped cilantro to garnish

Procedure:

Place a two quart sauce pan over medium heat. Into the pan, melt the butter, then add the flour. Stir continuously for about 2 minutes. (Remember, this is the basic recipe for a roux) After you’ve cooked the roux, whisk the vegetable stock into the roux and bring to a boil. Once the liquid has come to a boil, add the chicken, pico, and chilies. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until the remaining ingredients have heated through. Ladle into bowls, then top with the chips and cilantro. You can also serve with shredded cheese and/or sour cream. Serves 4.

Recipes: Chicken Nachos

Published by Hal on January 13, 2008 in leftovers and recipes. 2 Comments

The best thing about making lots of food is that you get to make leftovers! We had Chicken Tacos last night, and since the recipe makes about 12+ tacos, we had plenty left over. This is a really simple way to use these ingredients, and have a quick snack/light lunch.

To make these, simply spread some tortilla chips on a plate and cover them with some of your chicken taco filling. Next, put some cheese over the filling and the chips. Microwave on high for about a minute or two, until the cheese is melted and the filling is heated through (alternatively, you could do this in the oven at 325 for 5-10 minutes, until the same occurs).

Serve with your choice of condiments. You can see from the picture we chose guacamole, lettuce, and pico de gallo. Enjoy the fruits of your labor… twice!

Recipes: Chicken Tacos

Published by Hal on January 12, 2008 in recipes. 7 Comments

My wife and I don’t really plan a menu when we’re going to the grocery. I guess we do this because it allows for some spontaneity, but there comes a problem when we want to actually make something because we don’t always have the ingredients on hand.

On the flip side, this also means that we buy ingredients that we don’t have any clear plan for. By example, this week we bought a pound of chicken breast–no idea how we were going to use it, it just sounded good to me when we were at the market. Fortunately, it was mostly frozen when we got it home, and I don’t thaw things on the counter, so I had a few days to figure it out or refreeze the meat.

Last night, my wife suggested chicken alfredo. An alfredo sauce isn’t that hard to make, but I was tired (I had a great Thursday night!) so we were going to just buy a sauce in a jar and grill the chicken. On the way to store, I bagged out and we went to Fazoli’s instead. So, we still had this chicken that we needed to do something with.

Today, I’m downstairs, paying the bills, when my wife brings up the chicken. “We can make pasta for lunch,” she says (or something like it). I protested that pasta was too heavy, maybe we could make a grilled chicken caesar salad instead. She wasn’t thrilled about that, so I secretly planned to make the pasta and just serve a salad with it. But when we got to the store, something changed in the produce section:

“What about tacos?” she asked.

“What?” That came out of left field! She happened to see some diced onions and had the idea. So, away we went. I didn’t want to buy a packet of taco seasoning, so I took a quick gander to see if I could be inspired, and I was.

Ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/3 teaspoon tumeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 pound chicken breast
  • 7 ounces tomato sauce

Procedure:

Combine the spices in a small cup and set aside. Season the chicken breasts on both sides (I used a liberal amount of seasoned salt–you could use just pepper and salt, and that would be just fine). Heat about two tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium heat and add the chicken.

Cook the chicken until it’s done, turning once. Don’t move it, or it will stick! Turn it once–I’m serious! You’ll be rewarded with some nice, tasty carmelization! This should take about 10-15 minutes (5-7 minutes on each side), depending on how thick the breasts are.

Remove the chicken from the heat and allow it to cool. If you into them right away, the juices will run everywhere (drying out the meat) and you’ll get burned :). In the meantime, go make some rice, tea, wash some dishes, whatever–just don’t touch the chicken. I used the time to make some spanish rice and to prepare some pico de gallo

Once the chicken has cooled enough to handle, tear it into chunks. I used the help of a serrated knife, and chuck the chicken into chunks about 1/4 inch square. After the chicken has been shredded, add it back to a sauce pan, over medium heat. Add the tomato sauce and the spices and stir. Allow the mixture to get hot, and cook for about five minutes to allow the spices to cook and release their flavor.

Add 2-3 tablespoons of the mixture per taco. Serve with fresh pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, or your other favorite condiment! Makes about 12 tacos.

As a side note, this could be another use for a rotisserie chicken! The cooking is done for you, you just need to shred.

Another view (clockwise, from the top, Rice-a-Roni Spanish Style Rice, tortilla chips, and the main event, a chicken taco):

Frugal Friday: 5 Uses for a Store-Bought Rotisserie Chicken

Published by Hal on December 28, 2007 in Frugal Friday and recipes. 2 Comments

Source

When my wife and I plan our out weekly menu and grocery list, often times it includes a rotisserie chicken. The reason for this is because for about $5 and a half an hour’s worth of work, we can get 5-8 good meals out of one of these chickens. Here are some ideas to help you incorporate a rotisserie chicken into your weekly menu.

1. Chicken Quesadillas

Heat a skillet over medium heat and spray lightly with oil (from your Misto sprayer!). Place a soft taco sized tortilla in the skillet, add 2-4 tablespoons of shredded chicken, 1 teaspoon of canned chilies, and about 2-4 tablespoons of mixed Mexican style shredded cheese. Heat until the cheese starts to melt and top with another tortilla. Flip, and heat for an additional 3-4 minutes. Serve with store-bought pico de gallo, sour cream, and/or guacamole.

2. Chicken Soup

Heat a tablespoon of oil, over medium heat, in the bottom of a 3 quart saucepan. Add 1/3 cup each of diced onion, diced celery, and sliced carrots to the pan. Saute until the onions are translucent. Add 2 cans of low-sodium chicken stock, raise the heat to medium-hight and bring to a boil. Add 6 oz of dried egg noodles and 1/2 cup of shredded chicken. Cook until the noodles and vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper, if desired

3. Chicken Salad

Add 2 cup of shredded chicken to a bowl. Add 1/3 cup of mayonnaise, 1/3 cup chopped celery (about one stalk), 1 teaspoon of onion powder, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, and 1/3 cup of chopped walnuts (about 4-6 halves). Mix the ingredients together until combined, adding more mayonnaise if needed. You can also add about 1 cup of halved, seedless grapes, if you desire.

4. Chicken & Macaroni

This isn’t so much a recipe, as a mix in. Prepare a box of macaroni and cheese according to the package directions, or prepare your favorite mac-and-cheese recipe from scratch. Just before serving, add 1/4 cup of shredded chicken per serving. This is an easy way to add some protein to your meal.

5. Chicken and Ramen

I’m going ultra frugal here. Add 1/2 cup of shredded chicken and 1/3 cup of frozen peas to a prepared packet of chicken-flavored ramen soup. This makes a version of chicken soup that will be quicker and easier than the more “homemade version” in number 2.

I know there are lots of other uses for a rotisserie chicken, so let’s have them! Today, I chose to write about some simple and frugal uses, but you can be more gourmet, too, by combining some basic recipes (i.e., Chicken Tetrazzini: shredded chicken, linguine, and a bechamel sauce made into a creamy Alfredo with some peas and mushrooms, topped with cheese and bread crumbs).

What’s your favorite use for a rotisserie chicken?