Chicken Noodle Soup

I love soup in the winter. Actually, I like soup all year round, it just feels cozier in the winter. I came across a recipe for chicken noodle soup and made just a couple of changes to jazz it up a touch.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2 cans chicken, drained (I use Member's Mark from Sam's Club) (if you use small cans, use 3)
26 oz can condensed cream of chicken soup
2 boxes chicken broth
1 cup celery, sliced
1 cup carrots, sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Pinch rosemary (rub between fingers to break up)
1 package egg noodles

Place all ingredients except noodles in crock pot, stir well and cook on High for 2 hours or on Low for 4 hours.

Cook your noodles separately and add when soup is done.

* I like to add noodles to each bowl instead of into the soup. This prevents the leftovers from having mushy noodles and also not everyone likes the same amount of noodles. You can also use rice (our favorite). I use the brown and wild rice mix from Whole Foods in their bin area.  Change things up for variety. Try using leftover rotisserie chicken. Try putting in some of the wonderful dried mushrooms from Whole Foods. (Rehydrate first). Make it yours! Enjoy!

Stewed Chicken

Wow! It's been a while since I posted!

Bob bought me a Fagor Multi-Cooker a couple of months ago and I have been putting up food ever since! I like to cook a big batch and put portion sized servings in freezer bags. Then if I'm tired, or more often, have a headache, we can just defrost a bag of beans or chicken or whatever! If you are thinking about getting a new pressure cooker, definitely take a look at my Fagor.  It's also a slow cooker and rice cooker.

This stewed chicken is something I just made up. It's based on my Mom's smothered chicken, but since the drumsticks were frozen some of the steps were eliminated. Not to worry...it's absolutely delicious!

Stewed Chicken

1 bag frozen drumsticks
32 oz box chicken broth
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup frozen mixed peppers
Salt, pepper, garlic powder

Place frozen chicken in electric (or regular) pressure cooker. Add the rest of the ingredients, close the lid and set to cook on high for 25 minutes. When cooking is done, let it cool naturally for about 20 minutes. That's it! Enjoy!

Chicken Packets

Here's a great idea I read about a long time ago on a wls forum and forgot about until last week. I made some up Saturday and cooked one today. Oh yummy! I did some packets with fish too!

Chicken Packets

Chicken tenderloins or breast pieces (no need to defrost if frozen)
Vegetables (onions, peppers, squash, carrots, etc.)
Salt and pepper to taste
Other seasonings to taste
Heavy duty aluminum foil

Lay a sheet of aluminum foil on the counter. Place a chicken tenderloin and your vegetables in the middle. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and/or whatever other seasoning you want to use. I used Montreal Chicken on some, dry Italian dressing mix on some, and Southwest Sweet and Smoky Chicken on others. Fold aluminum foil over on all four sides and label. Put your packets in the freezer. To cook, just throw on the grill until done. I put mine on indirect heat until almost done then moved it over to direct heat for a couple of minutes. I also used one of those baskets that you put hamburger patties in, close the basket and then flip the basket instead of the burgers. That worked really well. I was able to remove it from the grill to check for doneness. Hey! You could also make a packet of just vegetables (hmmm...marinated veggies!) ready to throw on the grill! This is not necessarily fast, but it sure is easy...like when you get home from the gym and don't feel like cooking!

15 minutes from frozen packet to cooked and ready to eat! I cooked the fish on direct heat and high.

Chicken & "Rice" Soup

I remember on cold days (well, as cold as it gets in Louisiana anyway) my Mom would sometimes heat up a can of Campbell's Chicken & Rice soup. As a kid, I loved it! And as an adult that didn't think about how much sodium was in there, I loved it. I tried eating some a couple of years ago and...YUCK! Way too salty! And what's with the grease in there anyway? So what to do? Panic? Who me? Noooooo...I played around with it until I hit on the perfect chicken and rice soup!

Chicken & "Rice" Soup

Chicken:
1 bag frozen boneless, skinless chicken breast pieces, defrosted
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, and the herbs and spices into a paste. Rub well onto the chicken then place chicken on baking sheet. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until chicken temperature reaches 165F. (FYI: If you're not making soup, this is terrific baked chicken; just make sure you don't over-bake so that your pouch won't tolerate it). Remove from oven and let cool.

Soup:
1 bag carrots, peeled and sliced
6-8 stalks celery, sliced
2 quarts chicken stock
1 envelope beef bouillon
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste

Place all the vegetables in a Dutch oven. Cut the cooled chicken into cubes and add to the vegetables. Add the herbs and spices and finally the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, cover and lower heat to simmer. Cook until the vegetables are tender and the chicken starts to shred a little when you stir.

"Rice"
3/4 cup medium barley
4 cups water
dash salt

Cook barley according to package directions. Drain if there's water left in the barley. Add barley to soup and stir. The longer the barley sits in the soup, the less you can tell it's barley. It begins to feel like rice.

Note: Don't try to save time by throwing the barley into the soup to cook it. It will just absorb up all that lovely chicken stock!

Chicken Fajita

I love fajitas. Yummy yummy yummy! But if you get them at a restaurant they are loaded with fat, calories, and sodium. So let's make our own and eat great fajitas the healthy way!

Chicken Fajita

2 chicken tenderloins (defrosted if frozen)
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced thin
1/2 onion, sliced thin
1 clove garlic, minced
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
garlic powder, to taste
1 Flatout Flatbread
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons salsa
1 tablespoon taco sauce
2 teaspoons olive oil
Mrs. Dash Southwest Sweet 'n Spicy Seasoning

Preheat oven to 400F. Lay the flatbread on a cookie sheet or flat griddle. Place in the oven and warm for about 5 minutes. Take out of the oven and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.

Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Heat the oil on medium low to medium in a skillet and start cooking the chicken. Sprinkle Mrs. Dash seasoning on the chicken, add the bell pepper, onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder and garlic and continue cooking. You can sprinkle some more Mrs. Dash if you want to. Continue cooking until the onion and bell peppers are soft.

While the chicken mixture is cooking, mix the sour cream, salsa, and taco sauce. You can change the ratios to make it thicker or thinner, add some Mrs. Dash, etc.; it's all up to you.

When everything is ready, place the flatbread on your plate and spread the chicken mixture on it. Drizzle the sour cream mixture over the chicken. Roll up the flatbread, cut in half and enjoy!

Note: If you want to eat this with a fork, drizzle some of your sour cream mixture over the top for even more flavor!

Butternut Chicken Marinara

Bob and I have been watching The Biggest Loser from the beginning of the series on Netflix streaming. Mark Kruger from season 5 prepared this dish for his family after he was sent home. I tweaked it just a bit to suit our tastes and made it for dinner tonight. Bob, who's not that big a fan of squash, loved it!

Butternut Chicken Marinara

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into small/medium chunks
8 chicken tenderloins, cut into pieces
1 large purple onion, sliced
salt and pepper
Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon olive oil
Pam spray
1 jar/can marinara sauce (I use cheapo Hunt's Traditional spaghetti sauce)

Spray Pam in a large skillet. Add chicken, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Cover and cook on medium heat until almost done. Uncover and finish cooking the chicken. When chicken is done, take out of the skillet and set aside.

Spray more Pam into the skillet.  Add onions and squash. (You will probably not use all the squash...just save and freeze or cook tomorrow) Add the olive oil, cover and cook on medium-low heat. Add a little water if needed to help the squash cook. When the squash is cooked, uncover and let it saute a bit. Add the chicken back into the skillet and let everything cook together for a couple of minutes. Pour in the marinara sauce and stir. Add Italian seasoning, cover and cook until sauce is cooked.

Note: I tasted this before I added the marinara sauce and it was amazing! If you want to eat it like this, let the chicken and squash mixture saute a little longer.

BBQ Chicken Tacos

I was looking around in my kitchen for something to fix for lunch. Yes, I did plan ahead, but then I didn't feel like eating what I had planned. Or rather...Prissy Pouch didn't feel like eating what I planned. And we all know who/what rules our eating now don't we? Anyway, A while back I had found some corn tortillas that fit into our meal plan and they have been sitting in the pantry ever since. An idea burst into my head (no, it didn't hurt)...bbq chicken tacos! Very fast to prepare and very yummy to eat!

BBQ Chicken Tacos

1 corn tortilla (I use Mission yellow, extra thin, 6 inch)
3 oz canned chicken
2 tablespoons low sugar bbq sauce (I use Kraft Light), divided
shredded lettuce
diced tomato
pinch of shredded cheese

In a small ungreased skillet, heat the tortilla for about 15 seconds on medium heat, flip and heat the other side for about 10 seconds. Set aside.

Using the same small skillet heat the canned chicken on medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon bbq sauce and stir into the chicken. Heat thoroughly.

Place chicken on top of the tortilla, then the lettuce, tomato and cheese. Top with the other tablespoon of bbq sauce and fold the tortilla like a taco shell and enjoy!

Variation: Spread everything around on the tortilla and eat it like a tostada!

Stuffed Peppers

We love stuffed peppers and I had been getting the ones already made at Publix. But sometimes I had trouble with them...they're all ground beef, no filler or vegetables. Really heavy for Prissy Pouch. So the other day I saw some really pretty green peppers at the store and decided to make up my own stuffed pepper recipe. So tonight that's just what I did!

Stuffed Peppers

2 medium green peppers
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup beef broth
1/2 pound lean ground beef (you can also use ground chicken or turkey)
1/2 cup mixed vegetables (you can use any vegetables you like...I used frozen zucchini, yellow squash, and sliced mixed peppers)
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used Sargento reduced fat Mexican blend)
salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin
ketchup
8 oz tomato sauce, optional
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 350F.

Quinoa: Using the beef broth in place of water, cook quinoa according to package directions. Fluff with a fork and let sit for 15 minutes.

Beef Mixture: In a sauce pot, brown ground beef (covered) until about halfway cooked. Add vegetables and seasonings to taste. Re-cover and continue cooking until ground beef is fully cooked but still very moist and vegetables are soft. Using a wooden spatula or spoon, chop up the vegetables to make stuffing the peppers easier. Remove from the heat. Add cheese and quinoa and about 1-2 tablespoons ketchup. Mix, then taste seasonings. Add seasonings if needed.

Peppers: Rinse and dry peppers. Cut tops off and take out flesh and seeds. If the peppers don't stand up straight, cut a thin slice off the bottom until they're relatively upright. It doesn't matter if you cut through a little. Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil in a glass pie plate or small, shallow baking dish and use a paper towel to wipe the olive oil around the pie plate. Use the oil now on the paper towel to wipe the outside of the peppers. Place the peppers in the pie plate and, using a teaspoon, put the meat mixture into the peppers. Press down lightly after every couple of spoonfuls to get rid of air bubbles. Stuff until you have a rounded top on the pepper. Drizzle a little ketchup on the top of the meat mixture. You can put more, less or none...it doesn't matter! Pour the can of tomato sauce around the peppers and sprinkle some seasoning over the sauce. You really don't need the tomato sauce...I use it because Bob likes it that way. Bake at 350F for about 45-50 minutes. Serve immediately.

Note: If you use ground chicken or turkey, you can use chicken or vegetable broth instead of beef broth to cook the quinoa. You can also make this vegetarian if you want to. Use more vegetables to have the same volume. Steam them with the seasonings then chop and add the cheese and quinoa.

Chicken Stew

I had plans the other afternoon and knew I wasn't going to feel like cooking when I got home. So my first thought was...crockpot! What else?!? So look through my cookbooks. Here's a good one...nope, don't want that. There's a good one...don't have all the ingredients. {sigh} What to do? I know! I'll pretend I'm my Mom and dump stuff into the crockpot and see what comes out! Well, what came out was chicken stew! So delicious that I just have to share it!

Chicken Stew

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (can be frozen)
frozen corn
frozen baby carrots (or fresh)
onions (frozen or fresh)
frozen sliced mixed peppers
2 cups chicken broth
1 envelope beef bouillon (I use Herb-Ox sodium free)
1 capful of Kitchen Bouquet
salt, black pepper, garlic powder to taste

Place chicken in the crockpot then put vegetables on top. If you want different veggies or more veggies, go for it! These are what I had in the freezer, so that's what went in the stew. Add the chicken broth (I just made mine from a couple of packages of chicken bouillon), the beef bouillon and the Kitchen Bouquet. Stir.

Set crockpot for high for 1-2 hours, then turn down to low for the rest of the day. When you're ready to eat, if you want to thicken the gravy, turn the crockpot up to high and add a little cornstarch (mixed in cold water). Stir while it thickens. We enjoy juicy gravies, so I didn't thicken mine.

Crockpot Mushroom Chicken

Busy times for women call for choices...1) eating out, 2) a husband and/or children who will cook dinner, 3) a crockpot, 4) a pressure cooker. I utilize all of the above. Today we're gonna talk about crockpots. I don't know who invented them, but they were a genius and I hope they are living in luxury somewhere. Is there anyone in America who doesn't have at least one? I have three! I know the newest thing is digital and yes, they are really cool looking. That's one of my three. But if I had known then what I know now, I would not have bought it. I thought that since it was digital, you could set it to go from high to low to warm. Not so. I still had to be home to turn it to a different temperature. The digital was really just a fancy timer. Set how many hours to cook at which temperature. It would countdown then just shut off. That's not what I needed! And I had stuff actually burn in my crockpot. They seem to be getting hotter and hotter the last few years. So I got tired of that and got a new one.  Love it! It cooks low and slow! No more burned food in the crockpot! Yea!!! I still have to turn the knob to a different temperature, but at least if I leave it on low all day it won't burn!

Well, now that I've finished my "rant" about crockpots, how about we talk recipe. I was looking around the BariatricEating.com message group and "Mark from Chicago" mentioned he had this in the crockpot and was looking forward to dinner that night. Well, you know of course that I immediately wrote to him asking for the recipe. So here it is! And believe me when I tell you that it is so delicious it will make you drool!
                    
Crockpot Mushroom Chicken

3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 medium onion , chopped
8 ounces canned mushrooms (I slice up a few baby portobellas)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can cream of mushroom with roasted garlic soup

Combine ingredients in crockpot and cook on low all day.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Remember the recipe for Quick Barbecue Chicken? Well, I hope you cooked an extra piece of chicken...cause if you did, you can now make yourself a bbq chicken pizza! Woohoo!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1 piece leftover bbq chicken with sauce

1 flatbread (I get mine at Publix near the deli)

1 slice onion, pulled apart
cheddar cheese, shredded
mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 425F. Place flatbread on baking sheet and spread a couple of tablespoons leftover bbq sauce over the flatbread. Sprinkle some cheddar cheese over the sauce. Cut or pull the chicken apart and place on the flatbread. You can spoon a little more sauce on top of the chicken, if you like. Sprinkle a little more cheddar cheese over the chicken; top with onion pieces. Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese over top and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Slice into six pieces and enjoy!

Quick Barbecued Chicken

Okay, I'm from the South. It's my job to eat barbecue. Really! It is! Would I lie to you? But I don't always want to go outside to cook it on the grill. Yes, sometimes I want that good, smokey flavor. But sometimes I just wish I could make really good barbecue in my kitchen. Well, leave it to Lorna Sass to come up with a pressure cooker recipe. This recipe is from her book, Cooking Under Pressure, which I highly recommend. See the sidebar of my favorite tools for my favorite pressure cooker. Makes my cooking life so much easier. Don't ask where's the picture. It smelled so good when it finished cooking that we just ate it up right away! I had a breast leftover, which I used a couple of days later for pizza. I'll post that recipe in a bit. Next time I make this (which won't be long) I'll take a photo...if I can wait to eat it long enough! LOL!

Quick Barbecued Chicken

2 tablespoons oil
3 to 4 pounds chicken parts, preferably thighs and drumsticks, skinned (I used boneless skinless breasts and some skin on drumsticks)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped onions
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced (optional) (I used 1/2 half green and 1/2 red bell peppers)
2 cups prepared barbecue sauce

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the cooker. Brown the chicken well on both sides in small batches, adding extra oil as needed. Set the browned chicken on a platter. Pour of or sop up leftover oil if needed.

Add the water, taking care to scrape up any browned bits (the fancy cooking term for this is suc) sticking to the bottom.

Place the onions and green pepper (if using) in the bottom of the cooker. Add the reserved browned chicken plus any juices that have collected on the platter. Pour the sauce on top. Do not stir.

Lock the lid in place and over high heat bring to high pressure. Adjust the heat to maintain high pressure and cook for 9 minutes. (I cooked for 15 minutes since I had large pieces of breasts) Reduce the pressure with a quick-release method. Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow steam to escape.

Place the chicken on individual plates or a serving platter. If the sauce is too thin, tent the chicken with aluminum foil, and boil the sauce vigorously until reduced. Spoon the sauce on top of the chicken and serve.

Variation Note: There's no reason you can't do ribs this way. Just set your pressure cooker for the time recommended for ribs. Hmmm...this winter might be a big barbecue eatin' winter!!!

Chicken Vegetable Soup

I love soup. I love soup in the winter. I even love soup in the summer. It can be 100F outside and I might be inside eating soup. So you'll probably see a lot of soup recipes here! This Chicken Vegetable Soup is a new one. A few weeks ago I had just made some vegetable stock in my pressure cooker. I had strained it and was going to let it cool then freeze it for future use. It smelled so good it made me hungry for soup. So...I made this soup! It is very tasty and satisfying. Play with the seasonings and see how many ways you can make it (Mexican, Italian, Greek, etc.). You'll notice that there are no measurements for some of the ingredients. That's because this is your soup and you can make it with any vegetables in any amount that you want. Love asparagus with chicken?...throw some chopped fresh asparagus in there! Love broccoli?...go for it! Have fun!

Chicken Vegetable Soup

1 - 1 1/2 quarts vegetable stock

3-5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 medium onion, diced

4 fresh carrots, sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
frozen corn
fresh or frozen green beans
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
various frozen or fresh vegetables, sliced, chopped, or diced
2 envelopes sodium free beef or chicken broth (I use Herb-Ox)
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
seasonings of choice (try Mexican, Italian, Greek, etc.)

Pour vegetable broth in pressure cooker. Add chicken. (If you want to slightly brown the chicken first, your soup will have more flavor. If you do that, brown the chicken in the pressure cooker then add the stock). Add the rest of the vegetables and seasonings. Stir. Turn burner to high heat, cover and lock the lid. When pressure is reached, turn burner to heat sufficient to maintain pressure. (See my pc tip for electric ranges) Cook at pressure for 25 minutes then quick release the pressure. If you want to let the pressure release naturally, you can decrease the cooking time by several minutes. I always cook chicken for at least 15 minutes in the pressure cooker. When the cooker is de-pressurized, remove the lid and take the chicken out. Place on a cutting board and shred, chop, slice...however you feel like eating it. We have found that shredded is easier on our pouches. Put the chicken back in the cooker, stir, and serve up!

Chicken Nachos

Okay, so this recipe can barely be called cooking. It's putting stuff together that was previously cooked or just needs to be dumped out of the can and heated up. What can be easier than that for a quick weeknight meal? I love to cook smothered chicken in my pressure cooker. I will post that recipe in a couple of days. But, listen, if you have had weight loss surgery and don't have a pressure cooker...get one. Any kind of meat comes out so tender and juicy and not stringy. I've had trouble with food out of the slow cooker for heaven's sake! Chicken breast in the slow cooker...forget it! Beef tips in the slow cooker...ha...double forget it! Everything I cook in the pressure cooker comes out flavorful and juicy and tender on tiny pouches.  Anyway, I always cook an extra chicken breast so we can have leftovers for this dish.

Chicken Nachos

1 can chili beans
1 leftover chicken breast
1 Flatout Wrap (or pita bread) (optional)

Place the Flatout Wrap or pita bread on a baking pan and heat in the oven at 400F until slightly browned. Heat up the chili beans. Place the chicken breast in a microwave safe dish and heat. Shred the chicken. For each serving place some chili beans, then some chicken on a plate. Break up the wrap into tortilla chip sized pieces and dip into the chicken and beans.

Note: You can add anything you want. I like mine simple and usually just have the beans and chicken. You can add melted cheese, sour cream, chili, jalapenos, etc. to make your nachos as elaborate as you want! This dish is very satisfying and filling.