It probably comes as no surprise that I go through a lot of dishes when I cook in my kitchen. But the last thing I want to do after making a delicious dinner is to do a bunch of dishes!
As the weather turns cooler, it seems like everyone around me is fighting a cold. My husband is currently feeling a bit under the weather, so I wanted to make him a nice comforting soup. Cooking Light had this recipe for Turmeric Chicken and Chickpea Soup in their November magazine and their timing is impeccable!
This soup is packed with antioxidant-rich ingredients including turmeric, ginger, and garlic. It also substitutes in chickpeas for noodles for added texture and fiber.
The chicken broth in the recipe is further enhanced with the addition of coconut milk at the end.
Even better, this soup comes together really quickly, and has a bunch of ingredients that you may already have on hand in your fridge and pantry.
Ingredients: (serves 6)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1 large red bell pepper, seed and membranes removed, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups unsalted chicken stock
1 (15 oz) can unsalted chickpeas, rinsed and drained
You’ve probably noticed that I’m a huge fan of slow cooker recipes; I have almost 50 slow cooker recipes on this blog! Slow cooker meals work great for make ahead meals, feeding a crowd, and getting that “cooked-all-day” flavor.
I was sent Phyllis Good’s latest cookbook Stock the Crock, which is right up my alley. The cookbook has 100 delicious, tried-and-true recipes, plus 200 easy to follow variations for any dietary preference, such as gluten-free, paleo, vegan, etc.
There are a ton of awesome sounding recipes, but a recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala caught my attention. Gotta love a make-at-home takeout favorite!
This recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala is incredibly simple but really delivers on flavor.
A while back, I was given the chance to taste test some of the Cheesecake Factory‘s new menu items, which they do twice a year (who knew?) I was able to sample some cocktails and bites from across the menu. I, naturally, also wanted to try to make one of the recipes at home.
Cocktails included:
Cucumber Mojito – Gin and St. Germain with cucumber, basil and mint
Blood Orange Martini – Vodka, blood orange liqueur and blood orange juice
Irish Coffee Manhattan – Jameson Irish coffee served ice cold and straight up
Espresso Martini – Vodka with cold brew coffee
Other new menu options included:
Korean Fried Cauliflower – crispy cauliflower tossed in a sweet and spice sauce, topped with toasted sesame seeds and green onions
Chicken Taquitos – Crispy corn tortillas with grilled chicken, green chile, corn, onion, cilantro and cheese. served with avocado cream and salda verde
Skinnylicious Chicken Pot Pie – Sauteed chicken breast, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, peas and carrots in a light cream sauce, topped with puff pastry
Chicken Mango and Avocado Salad – Mixed greens, fresh pineapple, tomato, cucumber, red peppers, crispy wontons and almonds
Pasta Napoletana – Italian sausage, pepperoni, housemade meatballs, mushrooms, peppers, bacon, onions and garlic in a tomato sauce served over parmesan cream pasta
Seared Ahi Tuna – Served over white rice with sriracha aioli, stir-fried vegetables and wasabi butter sauce
Truffle-Honey Chicken – Fried chicken breast with truffle-honey, asparagus, and mashed potatoes
Chicken Riesling – Chicken breast, mushrooms, bacon, onions and garlic in a white wine Riesling cream sauce with buttered parmesan pasta
Carne Asada Steak Medallions – Certified Angus beef with sauteed peppers, onions and cilantro, served with a creamy ranchero sauce, fresh corn and white rice
Chicken Parmesan “Pizza Style” – Chicken breast coated with breadcrumbs, covered with marinara sauce and melted cheese. Topped with angel hair pasta in an alfredo cream sauce
Crispy Pineapple Chicken and Shrimp – Crispy chicken and shrimp with snow peas, mushrooms, onions, garlic, peppers and cilantro in a sweet and spice sauce, served with white rice
(The lighting in there is very dim so please excuse the quality of these photos)
The Cheesecake Factory has over 250 items on their menu, so there is sure to be something for everyone’s taste buds.
I tried my hand at recreating the salad we were served, with some adjustments to try to make it a bit more “home cook” friendly to make this Chicken Mango and Pineapple Salad.
Ingredients (serves 2):
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce (store bought, or recipe below)
5 oz baby lettuce mix
1/4 cup fresh pineapple chunks
1/4 cup fresh mango, cut into chunks
2 tablespoons julienned carrots
2 tablespoons tortilla strips, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/4 cucumber, cut in half lengthwise and sliced thin
1 tablespoon almond slivers, toasted
1/2 tsp black sesame seeds
1 teaspoon fresh mint, thinly sliced
Dressing
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
pinch of salt and pepper
juice of 1/2 an orange
Teriyaki Sauce (makes 1/2 cup – you’ll need ~1/4 cup for this recipe):
You can never have too many weeknight meals, especially chicken recipes! For this dinner, I combined two Cooking Light recipes (Pesto Chicken with Blistered Tomatoes and Orzo and Herb Pilaf) to make one dinner, and served it with a simple salad on the side.
Any recipe that uses pesto is a winner in my book. This particular pesto uses spinach, basil, and parsley to deliver a more complex flavor.
Chicken Yassa is a popular chicken dish originating from Senegal. This meal is the epitome of comfort food: marinated roasted chicken with onions, lemon juice, olives, garlic, and broth served over rice. It has a subtle heat to it as well that really makes for a flavorful meal.
This recipe makes quite a bit of food, a good 8 servings. However, in my house, leftovers this good don’t last very long!
I am still working through my supply of pomegranates; I’m having so much fun finding different ways to use the arils!
This recipe caught my eye immediately during my search for pomegranate recipes. It uses both pomegranate molasses (made from pomegranate juice) and pomegranate arils.
Fesenjan is a Persian stew made with ground walnuts, pomegranate molasses, and typically chicken.
And, well, it’s not the prettiest dish I’ve ever made but the flavors are absolutely fantastic!
I am always looking for a new and different slow cooker meal. I personally could eat a tomato-based sauce with meat over rice, pasta, polenta, you-name-it every day. My husband would prefer something new every now and then, which is fair.
So this time, I attempted to make a takeout favorite — Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken!
This recipe is really simple, but it can become a legit salt lick if you aren’t careful about your ingredients. Be sure to use lower sodium soy sauce and unsalted cashews!
This weekend, I cooked my little heart out. I realized Labor Day is only a couple of weeks away, so it’s time to stock my freezer with ready-made meals for busy nights in the fall, like this freezable Jambalaya!
One of my favorite things to throw on the grill are vegetables, something magical and delicious happens when vegetables are grilled. One night, we were doing a bit of a fridge cleaning meal and ended up with ingredients for chicken cacciatore — mushrooms, peppers, chicken, etc. But, we wanted to use my Coyote OutdoorGrill, so Grilled Chicken Cacciatore was born. I didn’t have 2 big enough grill-safe pots, so this entire recipe isn’t made on the grill, but it can be if you’d like!
(To see some of my other recipes I’ve made using my beloved grill, check them out here.)
I threw in some summer squash and zucchini too, because it’s summer and we had some in the fridge. Feel free to omit.
Ingredients:
For the grill:
2 bell peppers, any colors, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 (8 oz) container sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
1 summer squash, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, smashed
4 chicken breasts (or chicken tenders like I used)
4 chicken drumsticks
olive oil, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
For the stovetop (unless you have oven-safe pots):
Note: I was sent a variety of First Fresh Foods Chicken Sausages. Opinions are my own.
It may be relatively apparent on my blog that I really don’t eat much pork; I tend to gravitate towards other proteins. So, I also rarely eat sausage, and if I’m being perfectly honest, I’m not the biggest fan of them anyways.
So when First Fresh Foods contacted me about trying their chicken sausages, I figured why not! I decided to keep it pretty traditional and try their mild Italian sausages in Sausage and Peppers to make this recipe for Chicken Sausage and Peppers.
The Italian sausages resemble traditional sausages but are made from ground white breast meat, which delivers similar taste with 78% less fat. They are gluten-free, with no MSG and no hormones.
Note: I was sent two jars of Herb ‘n Zest Cooking Sauces in order to make this Pumpkin Curry Chicken with Potatoes and Peas. All opinions are mine alone.
As someone who works full-time, my biggest requirement for a dinner option is that it can be made in under 40 minutes. By the time I get home, I’m ready to eat! Although it’s not usually too much of a problem, I rarely get the chance to make dinners with the depth of flavor brought to food when it is simmered over a stove for a while.
A local Philadelphia company, Herb ‘n Zest, is changing that. Their innovative condiments and sauces allow home cooks to add quick flavor to meals in no time. All products are fully cooked and can just be added to dishes as sauces or dips.
I was sent a jar each of Herb ‘n Zest’s two most popular sauces: Chive Tomato Cooking Sauce and Curry Pumpkin Cooking Sauce. The Chive Tomato Cooking Sauce is made with Jersey Fresh tomatoes sauteed with chives and spices in olive oil. while the Curry Pumpkin Cooking Sauce is a savory pumpkin sauce seasoned mildly with curry and sunflower seeds. Both sauces are also vegan, soy-free, gluten-free, dairy-free and use non-GMO ingredients.
I love love love pumpkin, so I knew I had to try that one first! I decided to make a chicken and potato curry with the sauce and serve it over coconut rice, resulting in this recipe for Pumpkin Curry Chicken with Potatoes and Peas. To make vegetarian/vegan, omit the chicken.
Want to try the sauces for yourself? Herb ‘n Zest is offering a great discount through my blog: 25% off the Home Chef Starter Pack with the code get25icancook! Just click the photo of the jars below and enter the code at checkout!
You can also enter their summer giveaway worth $50. Just take a picture of yourself with a jar of Herb 'n Zest, upload it to Instagram & tag the image with #herbnzest. The summer giveaway draw will happen on August 15, 2016, so be sure to purchase your jars soon!
Ingredients:
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
My fiance is obsessed with leftovers. For whatever reason, he seems to think that most food tastes better the second time around. So I typically make a few more servings than we need so that he has his beloved leftovers the next day.
OXO makes cooking and storing food/leftovers super simple with their new 14 Piece Glass Bake, Serve & Store Set (paid link). The set is awesome to prepare foods beforehand, or to easily refrigerate/freeze any leftovers. It includes a Glass 3 Qt Baking Dish with Lid, Glass 2 Qt Baking Dish with Lid, Glass Loaf Pan, Glass Pie Plate, 1 Cup Round SNAP Container, 2 Cup Round SNAP Container, and 4 Cup Round SNAP Container.
For make ahead recipes, this glass bakeware is a huge time saver: they are made of thermal shock-resistant borosilicate glass, which allows dishes to be taken directly from the freezer to the oven or microwave — no need to fully thaw. The glass can withstand up to 250 degrees F of temperature change! Generous handles make removing dishes from the oven super easy, even when wearing oven mitts.
This set is perfect for recipes on the go as well; the baking dishes and SNAP containers come with raised slosh-proof lids for easy transportation. The SNAP Glass Food Storage is also microwave safe for reheating leftovers (just undo the tabs of the lid first), and provides a leak-proof seal, so it’s great for lunches to take to work!
I made this recipe for Chicken Chilaquiles Casserole recently for dinner using OXO’s 3 quart baking dish (9×13). Chilaquiles are actually typically a breakfast recipe, using lightly fried tortillas and salsa. This version is a casserole take on the traditional, and uses grilled corn tortillas baked with a quick homemade tomatillo salsa, rotisserie chicken, and cheese.
Ingredients:
meat from 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded (~3 cups)
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/3 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
1 (26 oz) can whole tomatillos, drained
1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chilies, drained
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 cup finely chopped Monterey Jack cheese, divided
So. This is kind of an autumnal meal. But it’s been raining and chilly for about a week now, so I’ve been making more “comfort food” kind of meals. And this one is a definite go-to of mine, it’s so tasty!
I found the recipes for the Chicken and Brussels Sprouts and the Potatoes both on Cooking Light. The chicken and potatoes both cook at 450 degrees F, so these recipes pair perfectly together for a meal that’s on the table in under 40 minutes!
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
12 ounces halved baby potatoes
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
3/4 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth, divided
1/4 cup unfiltered apple cider
2 tablespoons whole-grain Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons butter, divided (or margarine or olive oil to make dairy free)
