Meals for Monday: Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

So...I guess I haven't been as deliberate about keeping up these posts. Therefore, don't be surprised if there are a few more recipe posts this week, but also don't be surprised if it doesn't materialize either.
...blah...blah...blah...here's a recipe for today.
Creamy Chicken Noodle soup

• ¼ c butter
• ⅓ c flour
• 3 T minced onion (dried onion flakes)
• 1 t chicken bouillon
• 2 c milk
• 1 cup cooked chicken, diced/shredded
• 1 ½ cups egg noodles (uncooked)
• 1 qt canned carrots, partially drained
• 1 ½ t black pepper (ground)

1. Melt butter in saucepan
2. Add onions, flour, and bouillon, constantly stirring to avoid burning
3. Once a paste is formed, add milk.
4. Cook on med/med-hi until thick and bubbly
5. Add cream mixture to crockpot (~3qt) with the remaining ingredients.
6. Cook on “high” for ~1 hr or “low” for at least 2 hours.

I sort of made this dish up as I went, meaning I read a recipe (Tuscan Chicken Soup), which spawned the idea for this final product. Ideally, I would have added celery too, but I didn't have any on hand. Regardless, this dish was DELICIOUS, especially if you like black pepper (if you don't, I advise you dial it down a bit).

Meals for Monday - Recipe: Shepherds' Pie

Most of the time my cooking is rooted in using what I (we) have. Sure there are times where I go to the grocery store specifically to buy something for a recipe I want to make, but that's atypical (I'll save details about this story for another post). Anyways, my husband and I were having company, and I was planning on making Shepherds' Pie using the supplies we had on hand: vegetable orzo soup (instead of vegetable beef), ground goat burger (instead of ground beef/hamburger), homemade canned vegetables (instead of frozen veggies), and flavored instant potatoes (instead of homemade/real mashed potatoes). So, here's the directions for what I put together and our company has since requested (of course you can make the reverse substitutions that I mentioned above).
 
Shepherds' Pie

• 1 lb ground burger
• 1/2 onion, yellow, diced
• 1 can (10.75 oz) vegetable orzo soup
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• If I had vegetable beef soup, I would not have used this
• 1 tsp beef bouillon 
• 1 pint (or ~12-16oz) canned green beans, drained
• 1 pint (or ~12-16oz) canned carrots, drained
• 1 pint (or ~12-16oz) canned corn, drained
• 6 cups prepared mashed potatoes
• I used 2 pkgs, ~4oz/pkg, of flavored instant potatoes (I would have used 3 if I had them)
• I used less butter than what it called for since there is plenty of salt and fat in the meat-vegetable mixture and the cheese.
• Make homemade if that is what you prefer.
•  2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Fry burger in a large fry pan, and drain grease.
• I don't use any oil/fat to fry the burger. Sometimes I add water to make the burger cook faster.
2. Add onions
• If you want the onions to soften, add some water to the burger-onion mixture, cover, and steam for ~3 minutes.
3. Add soup, tomato paste, and bouillon, and stir.
• Again, if using vegetable beef soup, that latter two can be omitted.
4. Add vegetables and cook until the desired consistency is reached, adding water as needed.
5. While the meat-vegetable mixture is cooking, prepare mashed potatoes.
6. Divide meat-vegetable mixture in half, placing each half into a 2 qt casserole dish (or place all of it into a 9x13" glass dish).
7. Top each dish with prepared mashed potatoes
8. Cover each dish with cheese
9. Microwave covered on "hi" for 10 minutes
• Or bake in conventional/normal oven at 350F for 10 minutes, or until heated through
• Can also broil to make top crisp
• Or bake in a nuwave oven for 10 minutes on 60% Power, or until heated through
• NOTE: Uncovering the dish in oven or nuwave oven will result in a crispier top. You can uncover the dish in the microwave, but the top won't achieve the same crispiness as the other cooking options (and it's more prone to make a mess in your microwave).

Mmmm...I like Shepherds' Pie because it is super easy, nutritious, and delicious (unless you're one of those people who prefers not to have their food mixed).

Meals for Monday- Recipe: Jerked Leg of Goat & Sweet Potatoes

I came across a variation of this recipe when I was perusing the web for ideas on how to use goat meat. Cabrito is goat meat from a young goat, typically less than six months old. Chevon is meat from an old goat (older than six months). Personally, I prefer cabrito because of the chevon is typically gamy, having more lanolin-like flavor.  Goat meat is usually consumed by those in the Middle East, meaning there are a ton of goat curry dishes. This dish, on the other hand, is more like a Moroccan dish (ok...maybe it's still Middle Eastern, but I'd argue Moroccan dishes are different), which uses a form of Ras el hanout.  If you're not a fan of goat meat, feel free to adapt this recipe to your favorite red meat (or even white meat).

Jerked Leg of Goat & Sweet potatoes

• goat leg, 4 goat steaks, or favorite cut of red meat (1.5lbs)
• 4-6 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ~2" cubes (rather big)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed (in a garlic press)
• 1 T thyme
• 1/2-1 t salt
• 2 t   black pepper
• 1 T  allspice
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/4 c soy sauce
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper or other favorite fresh/ground hot pepper (optional)
• NOTE: All spices are ground/dried, so adjust as necessary if you are grinding your own spices or have fresh herbs
• water

1. Place sweet potatoes in bottom of crockpot (~3 qt)
2. Add ~1 c water to the bottom of the crockpot
3. Add all of the ingredients together EXCEPT meat and potatoes, creating a paste
4. Rub paste over meat, piercing the meat if desired (useful if you have a goat leg or thicker cut of meat)
5. Wrap meat tightly in aluminum foil
• Myself, I placed some paste on the foil, added a steak, spread some more paste over the steak, added another steak on top, paste...etc.
• paste-steak-paste-steak...etc
• then sealed tightly in foil
6. Place meat on top of sweet potatoes
7. Cook on "low" for ~8 hrs

I hope you enjoy!

Meals for Monday - Recipe: BBQ (AKA- Sloppy Joes)

This recipe was adapted from what I had growing up. It is derived mostly from my grandma's cooking. Mmmm....enjoy!

Sloppy Joes or BBQ

• 1 lb ground meat (beef, venison, or goat)
• 2 medium (yellow) onions, diced
• 1 can (~10 oz) tomato soup & 1 can (~6 oz) tomato paste
• OR 2 cans tomato soup for a little sweeter BBQ
• OR use salsa for heartier BBQ
• 2 T mustard (prepared)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 2 T chili powder
• salt & pepper to taste
• green bell peppers, diced (optional)

1. Cook (fry) meat
2. Sweat onions (like sauteing) with ground meat in a fry pan
3. Add meat-onion mixture to a crockpot (~3qt)
4. Add remaining ingredients to crockpot
5. Adjust to taste (adding more water/oatmeal/spices as necessary)
6. Cook on “low” for at least 1 hour, allowing the flavors to meld together.
7. Serve on buns, with american cheese and sweet relish, and complement it with your favorite veggie.

Meals for Monday - Recipe: Polish Ham Dinner

Mmmm....I made this Polish dish last weekend. Truth be told, I'm not actually sure this is a recipe folks would pass down in Poland, but I do know that generally sauerkraut and Polish generally go hand-in-hand. I got the idea for this recipe from Taste of Home. Regardless, if you're pressed for time, this is a wonderful autumnal crockpot recipe to try.

Polish Ham dinner

• 1 smoked ham hock
• 4 potatoes (red works best, but any variety will do)
• 1 onion, wedged
• 3 apples, sliced
• 2 cups sliced carrots (or ½ pkg frozen or 1 ~14oz can)
• 1 lb sausage (link or ground), optional
• 2 cups / 1 can (~14oz) sauerkraut
• 2 tsp caraway seeds (optional)
• 1 tsp pepper (black)
• 1 can (~12 oz) beer or ~1 ½ cups water

1. Add ingredients to a 3qt (or 6qt) crockpot in the order listed
2. Cook on ‘low’ for 6-8 hours (longer if ham hock was frozen)
• Can use a whole ham if serving more people, but the other ingredients should be adjusted accordingly (should also use ~6 qt crockpot).

 

Cooking basics: Using a crockpot

Like any cooking technique, there are some actions that will lead to a better product. In my opinion, crockpot cooking is one of the easiest cooking styles to adopt; however, there are some dishes that are difficult to make in a crockpot.

Tips:

• Always cover the crockpot when cooking.
• Almost always, you can cook recipes for longer than what they say, unless stated otherwise.
• If you are pressed for time, feel free to check the temperature of the meat, and if it is of adequate temperature and the veggies are at the desired texture, then eat up!!!
• Generally, I put these on at 6 am, and lately, we've been eating them at 9 pm (Thomas' second job in the evenings shifted supper time).
• I flex my recipes, aka, I don't always do exactly what I have written (some of these recipes are my own concoction and others are adaptations I've made to various recipes)
• Most of the time I don't measure the vegetables I put in - they are come from either our frozen or canned preserves.
• If I have some vegetables and not others, I don't fret about it.
• Feel free to change the meat to whatever you have on hand/feel like eating.
• Another idea, you can always assemble all of the items in the crockpot at night, and then put it in the heating element (turn the heating element on too) in the morning.
• Depending on the size of your crockpot, you likely will need to scale the recipes accordingly...or simply cook them in a pot on the stove.
• You want the crockpot to be at least ½ full when it’s cooking

Meals for Monday - Recipe: Pork Chops with Apples & Cranberries

As you may have noticed, I've decided to post a recipe every Monday. So, for those of you who like reading recipes and gathering ideas, look here every Monday for another idea (I intend to do this regularly; however, I might miss a week/Monday).

This recipe is another fall favorite of mine, since apples are more prevalent. That said, however, apples are a little more scarce this year due to the frost this past spring.


Pork Chops w/ apples & cranberries

• 2 pork chops (w or w/o bone)
• 1 pkg cranberries (~12 or 16 oz) or 2 cups fresh/frozen
• 4-8 sliced apples (whatever variety you like, can leave skins on) or 1 qt applesauce
• 1/2 c white wine (favorite flavor) or water

1. Add pork chops to crockpot (1.5 or 3 qt)
2. Layer cranberries and apples on top
3. Pour wine or water over solid food
4. Cook on "low" for ~6 hours and serve
• Or "high" for ~3 hours
5.  Serve over rice or potatoes with favorite vegetable 

If you want, here are some suggestions to alter this recipe:

• You can substitute chicken or a pork roast for pork chops
• You can combine the same ingredients in a covered 9x13 pan, cook for ~2 hrs at 300F. 
• I generally use a liberal amount of fruit, so you can easily up the number of pork chops while using the same amount of fruit. 
• Finally, if you want it jazzed up further, add some cinnamon or other spices (cloves, allspice) with some sugar. Personally, I prefer the simple and quick as described above.

Recipe: Spice-rubbed crockpot chicken

Alright, some folks I know have recommended that I post some of my cooking creations on a blog, accessible for others to peruse. Well, in addition to the previous ideological post, here is a post for a recipe (Note: All "Recipe" posts will be titled "Recipe:...", which will allow readers interested in viewing solely my "Recipe" posts to type that in the search bar)

As I go from one chapter of my life to the next, my cooking styles evolve to fit my current style of living. Growing up, traditional cooking methods were employed, cooking most items on the stovetop or in the oven, with almost no worry of leftovers (6 people can consume a lot of food), which almost always promised that I would have the opportunity to once again cook another meal the next day. In college, while I certainly was aware of how much electricity I was consuming, cooking in the oven was practical - I wasn't worried about heating the apartment (I lived in houses where the kitchen was distant from the bedrooms) and I paid a flat-rate housing bill (with that said, I still tried to minimize wasting energy). I could cook lasagna in the oven on Sunday and be set for the week. I also cooked items in my small (1.5 qt) crockpot. Unlike my childhood, meals now lasted all week; instead of 6 people eating 1 dish, 1 person was eating a dish that served 6 (hence the entire week).

Now, I'm finding that I rely almost solely on the crockpot. It is easy to assemble, the dishes are tasty and conveniently ready when my husband and I get home, it doesn't heat our entire apartment, and it is rather energy efficient. Due to this change, I've learned to adapt a good portion of my favorite recipes to the crockpot. There are some dishes that I still love to cook on the stovetop, but we rarely use the conventional oven (this is especially possible due to previous gifts of a microwave oven and nuwave oven).

Here is a nice dish that I recommend all folks should try if you like chicken (adapted from www.food.com).

Spice-rubbbed crockpot chicken:

• 2 tsp salt + more
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder

 

• 1 onion, yellow; wedged
• 1 chicken (~5 lbs); whole & thawed
• 4 apples, any variety; sliced
• 2 cups cranberries (optional)
• 1 cup white wine, favorite variety (or water)

1. Rub the cavity of the chicken with a liberal amount of salt to kill bacteria
2. Rinse cavity out with cold water (to get rid of as much salt as possible)
3. Mix dry spices/herbs together 
4. Rub spice mixture all over chicken 
• This works best if you rub the spices under the skin, doing your best to get spices into the wings and legs. Don't worry about rubbing the cavity with spices.
5. Place ~1/2 of the sliced apples on the bottom of the crockpot (~6qt)
6. Set chicken, back side down, on apples
7. Stuff onion wedges underneath skin, including into places like the legs and wings.
8. Stuff cavity with remaining apples
9. Top with cranberries
10. Pour wine over chicken
11. Cook on "low" ~8 hours

• NOTES: 
• Chicken should be 165F (adjust time accordingly)
• Can cook on "high" for ~4 hours
• If you like it spicier, add more cayenne and less paprika (opposite if you like it mild)
• If you don't want to eat a whole chicken (personally, I think the leftovers are great), then feel free to cut this recipe in half, and use chicken breasts or drumsticks or whatever you like.

Fruitflies

Here's one for you - I don't care for flies, especially fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster).
Right now, I work in a yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) research laboratory that neighbors a fruit fly lab. Needless to say, there seem to be a few of these critters that happen to escape their homes. To make things worse, laboratory fruit flies normally feed on sources similar to yeast/yeast components. So, not only do these are their escaped fly convicts, but they're attracted to our lab. Then, just when I think I can get away, I go to my office (also on this floor) only to realize that fruit flies are also attracted to the apple I want to eat for lunch (duh!). Finally, at the end of the day, I venture home to find that our produce is inundated with fruit flies. Needless to say, these critters seem ubiquitous, leading me to understand how Redi and others could believe that flies (and life) can spontaneously arise (Redi's discovery is bogus, by the way).

All things considered, this situation is actually not that bad (aside from the minor frustration of having a fly whiz by my head) - I have a roof over my head, heat, food, and water...plus, the people I work with are nice, and I'm glad I'm not responsible for conducting fruit fly research.

Homeschooling

Before you read much further, one should realize this particular post might see me beat around the bush for awhile - all to make a point. With that, I shall proceed.

Yesterday, I received notification of an opportunity to assist in educating the next generation. No, I'm not a parent, but as one who prays to one day enjoy the privilege of having children (making my husband's quiver full), I am deeply concerned with the influences children are exposed to - whether at school, on TV, or even at the mall. In the 1990s, the horizon for Americans and likely most in the developed world, was teeming with hope and aspirations that could be achieved within an apparent universal and inherent moral code. Yes, by the standards of many moral conservatives, the 90s continued to deviate further from this moral code, but at least the push for tolerance did not appear as harsh then as it does now, seeking to eradicate all forms of intolerance (those who are pro-tolerance are intolerant of those who show intolerance....isn't that a paradox...?). If you still are questioning the basis of my argument, well, look no further than the existence of the internet and social media; it was absent in the 90s and very much present in the 00s. So, while it is difficult to pinpoint a distinct difference between the 90s and now, there is a difference and definite progression from then to now (not towards perfection as alluded to in this definition, but towards post-modernism). On top of the scientific progression in the way of technology, biomedical science as rapidly progressed as well. With the advancement of scientific potential, a new field of research and therapies have arisen surrounding the use of embryos. Almost simultaneously, there was an uproar about all the unknowns and ethics surrounding embryonic research. Wikipedia even has a page devoted to this very topic. So, whether you (the reader) believe that human embryonic research is ethically sound or ethically perverse, I hope you can agree that there was and to some degree still is a dispute over how much (and what) research can be performed with these specimens.

So, back to where I started. Why did an opportunity to assist with the education of the next generation spark this tangent? Well, this particular opportunity spelled out a lab being performed in a local middle school that described the students would be engaging in research with fish embryos and testing the effects of various drugs on these embryos. Although this lab holds many beneficial educational components, I would argue there is a subliminal message being put forth - working with embryos is totally 'ok.' Albeit this ideology might not be the intentions of those who designed the lab, I can easily see how a middle school student today, subjecting a fish embryos to chemicals, could easily extend it to doing ethically questionable research on human embryos as an adult medical researcher. I'm not saying fish embryos are the same as human embryos; however, exposing children to these sorts of stimuli help to mold their ideologies and moral convictions as an adult. In a sense, instances like the one at this middle school are contributing to the disappearance of the debate over whether embryonic research is ethical or not. Thankfully, the discovery of how to reprogram adult stem cells is lessening the push to utilize human embryos for human advancement (or decline).

As such, I would encourage all current and future parents to be mindful of not only what their kids and grandkids are learning at school, but how they are learning it. Sometimes I think that this is the very reason children should be home-schooled...

If these topics are of interest to you, here is a link to another issue - The Lorax. ...and a different article on The Lorax.

One Year of Wedding Bliss

So...I've been blessed with marriage for one year now, and I've neglected my blog throughout our entire first year. Expect more posts in the nearer future describing our marital adventures, blessings from the Most High God, motivations for political awareness, some thoughts to provoke conversation from a Christian perspective, discussions on one of my hobbies - cooking, and other random tidbits from my (our) life.

On another note:  Happy 1st Anniversary Thomas!!!