Chicken Enchiladas

When our younger son and his family came to visit in January, we knew we’d try a new recipe out with them. They are foodies and love to try new things—plus since they’re a family of five, we knew we could make the recipe and have only a few leftovers. As it turned out, we didn’t which was fine by us.

You make the dish in two stages—the first stage is in the slow cooker and can be done well ahead of time. Then you assemble the enchiladas and briefly bake them. Using the slow cooker for the chicken and sauce means you can shred the chicken in the sauce. That makes assembling things easier, and it’s easier to eat, too.

Slow cooker ingredients:

• 2 T unsweetened cocoa
• 2 adobo chilies in chipotle sauce, diced
• 1 batch enchilada sauce
• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Slow cooker directions:

Bear paws shred like a champ

1. Mix the cocoa, chilies and enchilada sauce together. 
2. Place the chicken thighs in the slow cooker and top with the wet mixture.
3. Cook on high for four hour or on low for eight hours.
4. Shred the meat while it’s still in the sauce (Kent likes his bear paws for shredding).
5. Divide in half; after the mixture cools, put half into a freezer bag and freeze for future use. Continue on with the recipe for the reserved mixture.

For the rest of the dish:

• About 2 cups shredded cheddar/Monterey Jack cheese
• 12 to 14 small corn tortillas

Assembling the dish:

1. Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.
2. Grease a baking dish or use cooking spray.
3. Put about half the meat mixture in the baking dish.
4. Place tortillas flat on the meat mixture, and top with about half the cheese.
5. Repeat to create a second layer.
6. Bake until bubbly, 20 to 30 minutes.
7. Enjoy!

Cheater Chicken Soup

Very occasionally, we’ll pick up a grocery store rotisserie chicken for dinner. To alleviate the guilt of not having made dinner from scratch, I stretch that bird to cover a few meals and then use the carcass as the basis for what I call cheater chicken soup. It’s cheating because it’s not entirely made from scratch but boy is it tasty. I prefer pasta in the soup because the pasta ends up behaving like dumplings. Use potatoes if you prefer that instead.

This is not a complicated recipe in terms of hands on time but does take two days just so you can get your broth properly made.

Ingredients: 
The carcass of one rotisserie chicken OR the remnants of a whole chicken you’ve previously roasted
Two carrots, peeled and diced
About half of a medium white onion, coarsely chopped
One small potato, diced into cubes OR a handful or two of your favorite uncooked pasta
Two stalks celery, diced
A liberal sprinkling of Italian seasoning
One bay leaf
Lots of water

Directions:

Day 1
Simmer the carcass and seasonings in enough water to fill a large stock pot for several hours.
Cool overnight.

Day 2

• Strain and discard the fat from the surface of the broth.
• Pick off any meat remnants from your carcass and toss into the broth.
• Add the vegetables.
• If you are using pasta, add the pasta.
• Simmer for another couple of hours.
• Add salt and pepper to taste to your individual bowls.

Chicken and Swiss Cheese Casserole

When my children were growing up, I made a lot of chicken and rice dishes. A lot. So when they hit their teen years, they both basically refused to eat them anymore. Now that they're adults, I think the dislike has worn off and one has even asked for a few of the recipes, including this one.

A few words before I get to the recipe: You can make your rice on the stove if you prefer, but I have come to love my rice steamer. If you don't have one, you can make it on the stove and cook it with the broth and herbs and onions. Either way works.

Ingredients:

Casserole
2 T butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, either minced or put through a garlic press
3 C cooked rice (I use brown rice)
1/8 C sherry or white wine (not cooking wine) or vermouth
Water or broth to deglaze the pan
1 bay leaf
2 t dried thyme or about 1 t fresh
1 ½ C cooked, diced chicken
6 to 8 ounces shredded Swiss cheese

Topping
2 T butter
1 T flour
1/3 C milk
Paprika to sprinkle

Directions:

Casserole

• Preheat the oven to 350F.
• Melt the butter in a large heavy skillet.
• Sauté the onion and garlic in the butter until the onion is clear.
• Add the sherry or white wine or vermouth and enough water or broth to deglaze the pan.
• Add the diced chicken and heat thoroughly.
• Quickly combine the chicken mixture, cooked rice and Swiss cheese and put into a large greased casserole pan.

Topping

• Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat.
• Stir in the flour ensuring you have no lumps.
• Slowly add the milk and stir constantly until thickened.
• Pour over the casserole and sprinkle the top with paprika.
• Cover and bake about 20 minutes.

Curried Chicken with Rice

Originally this recipe (which came from my mother) was called Curry Glazed Chicken and it didn’t have rice or vegetables in it at all. But I have no problem with altering recipes both to provide more complete nutrition and also to stay within a budget. Meat tends to be pretty expensive compared to vegetables and rice and so this recipe morphed into a mostly meatless main dish.

Also a word about spices—don’t buy into the hype that you must replace all your spices every three days or something silly like that. If you can still taste the flavor, why would you replace your spices? Plus spices aren’t always cheap. We’ve found that if you shop the ethnic aisle of your supermarket you can often find what you need for less than the same product housed in the spice aisle. And don’t overlook online sources. We get a lot of ours from Herbco, including the curry powder I use in this recipe.

As written, this recipe serves two. You can easily double it though.

Ingredients:

1 C cooked rice (I use brown rice and steam it outside in my trusty steamer)
1 boneless, skinless chicken thigh, cooked (sauté it, bake it, microwave it—whatever works for you) and diced
1 inch cube of fresh ginger, peeled and finely diced
¼ C honey
1 T Dijon style mustard
2 T curry powder (adjust for your own taste buds—remember, we like it hot)
½ white onion, coarsely chopped
1/3 C frozen peas
1 small or ½ medium carrot, peeled and diced. Note: I omitted the carrot this particular day because I served the Spicy Carrot Salad with it.
1 T canola oil

Directions:

• Heat the oil in a saucepan large enough to hold all the ingredients. Sauté the chopped onion.
• Meanwhile, in a microwave proof bowl, mix the honey, mustard and curry powder together. Heat in the microwave until the honey is fairly runny.
• (If you are using carrots, add them to the saucepan and continue cooking until cooked through, probably about five minutes.)
• Add the ginger and continue to sauté.
• Add the peas and chicken and heat thoroughly. If the pan gets a bit dry or things are sticking too much, add a little water or a bit more oil.
• Add the rice and the sauce.
• Mix thoroughly and let the sauce heat through.

Chicken and Rice

This recipe is based on one from Pierre Franey's The New York Times 60-Minute Gourmet.

I’ve reduced the meat, increased the rice, substantially reduced the fat and replaced the white wine—which I never have on hand—with a good sherry. This recipe works well with roasted broccoli. Although this recipe may sound similar to the chicken, Swiss cheese and rice recipe I posted earlier this year, they taste quite different from each other.

Ingredients:

4 to 5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 T butter
½ C finely chopped white onion
1 clove garlic, put through a press (more if you like, which I definitely do)
½ pound baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 bay leaf
½ good sherry, not cooking sherry
1 C raw white rice
1 ½ C chicken broth or water

Directions:

• In a large skillet that can hold all the chicken pieces in one layer plus the rice, melt the butter over medium heat.
• Add the chicken pieces and brown for about 5 minutes.
• Turn the chicken, and add the onion, garlic, mushrooms and bay leaf. Make sure these don’t rest on the chicken but are getting sautéed. Cook for another 5 minutes.
• Add the sherry and cook until it’s almost all evaporated. You may want to turn the chicken pieces during this bit so they all get a nice bath in the sherry.
• Add the rice and broth, and make sure the rice doesn’t rest on top of the chicken pieces.
• Cover closely and cook for 20 to 30 minutes over low heat until the rice is done.