Cajun Stew

I was really at a loss for what to call this dish, I know what it is not (a jambalaya) but stew comes the closest to what it really is. I came up with this one all because of some sausage I tasted at a demo table at a grocery store several months ago. I needed to just pick up a couple of things and the parking lot at the store I normally go to was a zoo so I went to the store down the street that I don't go to very often. As I was walking through there was a very nice lady offering up samples of a smoked sausage from a company that I was not familiar with. I tried all the varieties and decided to take a package of the cajun spiced one home with me. Now I needed to figure out how to serve. I thought about it a couple of days and decided I wanted to play around with it a bit.

Since I live a ways from the nearest grocery store I always have stuff on hand in the freezer and pantry. When you live out here you don't run to the store at the last minute to pick up something for dinner. There is also no delivery any where near here. I started to think about what I had on hand. I knew there was some chicken breasts in the freezer (these are always in my freezer) and I had picked up some frozen shrimp a few days before. Hummmm.....

I mulled the choices over for a few days and decided to combine the sausages with both of the above meats. I knew I wanted to go cajun style so that meant onion, celery and green pepper. I had all of these on hand so now dinner was coming together. I wanted the chicken and shrimp to stand up to the sausage so I decided to coat these two items with some of my homemade cajun seasoning blend (I'll add that recipe at the end of this post). I knew it wouldn't take much of the seasoning, a little goes along way but it is so good on almost all meats. I had just picked up a bunch of cans of diced tomatoes and I like a tomato base to this kind of dish so that went on my mental list of ingredients. My fresh thyme was doing well at that time too and since there's dry thyme in my seasoning blend I thought that would be a good addition too (I like to add some fresh herbs in wherever I can)

The rest of the ingredients came about as I tasted the dish as I made it the first time.

Now all that being said the day I recorded this I couldn't get the cajun sausage and used some smoked sausage that was labeled Spicy Italian. It worked just as well. If you want to cut back on the spiciness of the dish use a smoked Polish type sausage. Really any variety of pre-cooked (smoked) sausage will work just fine.

We really love this one and it is really easy to make in a larger batch to feed a crowd. Since the different elements are cooked separately and come together at the end just increase it to fill up your crew. The recipe as written is plenty to fill up my son and myself and have plenty of leftovers for lunch.

On the subject of servings and more importantly how many servings my recipes make. That is a really tough question since I am trying to fill up a growing teenage boy. I swear at this age (14) they can eat enough for an army and still pop up for a snack 5 minutes later. He is currently 6' tall and still growing. So how many normal people will this feed?? You will have to be the judge of that one.

Cajun Stew

½ lb large shrimp (peeled, deveined and thawed if frozen)

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into bite size pieces

1 Tablespoon Cajun Seasoning blend

½ lb spicy sausage Cajun style or spicy Italian smoked sausage

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large onion, sliced

1 green pepper sliced

3 ribs celery sliced

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1 (16 oz) can diced tomatoes

a splash of white wine (optional)

3 Tablespoons of a grainy mustard

1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

Cajun Seasoning Blend

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 Tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano

1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon instant minced onion

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon read pepper flakes

combine and store in a jar in a dark place. 

 

Meat and Pasta Casserole

This has always been a dish that lands on our dinner table on a regular basis. When my oldest son was little he absolutely loved this so that was one reason (we all actually have loved this one from the first time I made it) Another reason I have always made it a lot is that it is just so versatile, it really is what you want it to be each time. Feel like Mexican food this casserole can give you that. What if you want Italian, no problem, this casserole will go there too. The reason is this is really just a basic road map, you fill in the blanks and make it just the way you want it.

First you choose what ground meat you want to use this time. I have made this with all of the following: ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey, ground pork, bulk Italian sausage, bulk pork sausage and Chirizo. All of them worked wonderfully! So whatever you have on hand or in the mood to use.

The canned soup: any of the condensed cream of whatever soups, cheddar cheese soup, nacho cheese soup, or tomato soup. Just so it is a condensed soup (you know the ones you would add water or milk to) and it has a creamy base.

Seasonings: dried herbs, (whatever goes with what you have in mind) some ideas: basil, tarragon, dill, oregano, Italian seasonings, etc

Spices: chilli powder, cumin, caraway seed, etc

Pasta: whatever shape you have on hand elbows, ziti, egg noodles just about any shape.

Crumb topping: dry bread crumbs (mix with a bit of melted butter), Parmesan cheese (mixed with bread crumbs), fresh bread crumbs (mix with a bit of melted butter) crushed tortilla chips, crushed potato chips, chow mien noodles (crushed)

So you see you really can go anywhere with this. I love to do the following combinations:

Ground beef, chilli powder, cumin, cheddar cheese soup and top with crushed tortilla chips.

Any ground meat, Italian seasonings, tomato soup and topped with a mixture of dry bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and butter

Meat and Pasta Casserole

4 oz pasta

1 pound of ground meat

1 onion, diced

2 ribs celery, sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

(1 clove garlic, chopped optional)

1 (10 to 11 oz) can condensed soup, cream based

½ cup sour cream

½ cup milk

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

½ to 1 teaspoon seasonings of your choice

Crumb topping, about ¾ cup total or to cover your casserole dish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

Cook pasta according to directions on package, drain when cooked

Brown meat until cooked through and set aside. In the same skillet sweat the vegetables until slightly tender.

Combine canned soup, sour cream and milk until mixed well. Add seasonings, cooked meat. Cooked pasta and vegetables.

Pour mixture into an 8” x 8” casserole dish

Top with topping

Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes until heated through and top is browned.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

This is yet another of my recipes for chicken in the slow cooker. I know a lot of us are always on the look out for new ideas for both chicken and slow cooker recipes. I will say that for my taste this is really too sweet but I know other family members that absolutely love it. I have a feeling a lot of the sweetness level also depends on the brand of sweet and sour sauce you use. My grocery store only carries one brand and it is very sweet. Also you can always add some heat to this too.

Since this recipe requires you to pay a bit of attention at the end of the day plan it for a day when you have some time before dinner. Also it gives the perfect opportunity to out some brown rice in the rice cooker while dinner finishes up.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

1 ½ to 2 cups carrot sticks

1 green bell pepper, sliced

1 medium onion sliced

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 jar (about 9 oz) sweet and sour sauce

1 (20 oz) can pineapple chunks

Place the carrots, bell pepper and onion in the slow cooker. Top with the chicken and sprinkle with the pepper flakes.

Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours until cooked through.

Drain off and discard the liquid that has accumilated in the slow cooker.

Add the sweet and sour sauce and the pineapple chunks to the chicken and vegetables in the slow cooker and heat on low for an additional hour.

Serve over rice

Cajun Chicken

It always seems like once the month of September rolls around I get way busier. After all school has started which translates to lots more driving and planning. And then all the late summer produce it getting ready and begging me to do something with it. With all that going on some days I just don't feel like making a big dinner. Unfortunately, my son still thinks he needs to eat (didn't I just feed him yesterday?? just kidding) Days like this need quick and easy dinners from the slow cooker.

And this brings us to today's recipe. Yes it is yet another chicken in the slow cooker recipe. I love these because I can put them on to cook and then get other stuff done. Also like a lot of my favorites this goes over some rice at the end of the day. That means all I have to do is get my rice cooker to cook the rice portion of the dish and I am done. If I choose to make a salad or cut up some raw veggies great if not, what the heck this has some veggies in it and we tend to snack on fruits and veggies a lot anyway. Some days you just need to have a one dish meal that you don't have to fuss over.

This is called Cajun Chicken for a couple of reasons, first off you start off the dish with the Cajun tradition of the holy trinity (bell pepper, onion and celery) and secondly the dish utilizes one of the commercial brands of Cajun Seasoning available in the grocery store. Use whatever brand your store carries (there are probably a ton of recipes online for a dyi version too)

This dish does require a few minutes of prep time to cut up the veggies, cook the bacon, sweat the veggies and brown the chicken, it took me about 15 minutes to get all that done. Once the dish cooks all day in the slow cooker (at least 8 hours) it really needs nothing else done to it so other than getting the rice cooked you are set to sit down and eat.

Cajun Chicken

3 slices bacon, chopped

½ cup chopped green bell pepper

¼ cup chopped onion

¼ cup chopped celery

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning blend

1 (14 ½ oz) can diced tomatoes (with the liquid)

Cook bacon in skillet until crispy. Add the bell pepper, onion and celery and cook just to soften.

Place bacon and veggies in the bottom of a 3 ½ to 4 quart slow cooker.

Sprinkle chicken on both sides with about ½ the Cajun seasoning. Brown the chicken in the remaining bacon fat in skillet.

When chicken is nicely browned (not cooked just browned on the outside) add it and any drippings in pan to slow cooker.

Stir the remaining teaspoon of Cajun seasoning into the canned tomatoes and pour over chicken in slow cooker

Cover and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours.

Serve over a bed of rice

Serves 4

Curry Chicken

This is definitely one of the recipes that falls under the heading “torture by slow cooker” because it just smells wonderful as it cooks. The house will be filled with the wonderful warm aromas of curry by day's end.

This is a fairly quick cook as slow cooker recipes go, about 6 or 7 hours so it is more for one of those days when you are busy running some errands or such rather than a day off at work. If left much beyond the 7 hours the chicken will dry out. You might give it a try with chicken thighs in place of the chicken breast if you want to let it sit longer.

Be sure to pair this with a nice bed of rice, you don't want to loose any of the wonderful sauce this cooks in.

And speaking of that wonderful sauce, the base of it is a jar of mango chutney. I usually find it in jars that hold about a cup and that is perfect for this recipe.

Curry Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 2 pounds total)

1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1 medium onion sliced

1 red bell pepper chopped

1 cup fresh sugar snap peas

1 jar mango chutney (about 1 cup)

¾ cup water

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 ½ teaspoons curry powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Layer the chicken, beans, onions, bell pepper, and sugar snap peas in the bottom of your 3 ½ to 4 quart slow cooker. I usually do 2 layers of each

Combine remaining ingredients stirring to combine and pour over chicken mixture in slow cooker.

Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or until chicken is cooked through.

Serve over a bed of rice.

Beer Can Chicken

We make this chicken several time every summer and it is really popular every time I start just like I do every time I cook a whole bird, I brine the chicken. If you have never brined a bird check out my blog post on roasted chicken (here) to find my brine recipe. I use the same brine whether anytime I cook a whole bird everything from a Cornish game hen to a turkey. For a small bird (like the Cornish game hen) I only brine for an hour or two, the chicken today for 4 to 6 hours and for that turkey overnight. It really does make a difference in the not only the flavor but the moistness of your finished bird.

For beer can chicken I buy a 12 pack of beer in 12 oz cans at the beginning of every summer. These are reserved as my “cooking beer” and by summer's end they will be gone. I use them in a lot things from the this chicken to BBQ sauce.

So on the morning you want to cook your beer can chicken get that chicken into the brine solution and let it hang out in the fridge soaking up the brine all day. About 3 hours before we want to eat we get the charcoal grill started up, I want that charcoal to burning really well and have a chance to get the grill nice and hot. I do only cook on charcoal and in a typical week we can go through 20 to 40 pounds of charcoal in the summer, especially if it is hot and I want to avoid my kitchen. We started using a charcoal chimney several years ago and I haven't bought lighter fluid since. We find we can taste the lighter fluid in the food so we are much happier with this method.

We are going to cook our chicken using the indirect heat method. After those coals get a chance to get going really well, divide them into two piles one of each side of your grill. Add more charcoal to each pile, you need to have enough to maintain a medium fire for about 1 ½ to 2 hours depending on how big your chicken is. In the open space between these piles of charcoal place an aluminum foil pan to catch the drippings from your chicken. Place your rack on the grill.

Now drain the brine off the chicken and rinse off the skin then dry the surface off with some paper towels.

Open your can of beer and make several additional openings in the top with a can opener. Pour off ½ to 2/3 cup of beer from the can and add a couple of peeled cloves of garlic to the beer in the can. Coat the outside of the can with vegetable oil.

When you are ready to grill the chicken carefully place the chicken over the can (inserting the can into the opening in the chicken)

When placing the chicken and beer can on the grill you will have to adjust the balance a bit to make it stand up. This can be tricky the first time but be patient and you should be able to balance the combination. Now carefully lower the lid on your grill and cook the chicken for about 1 ½ to 2 hours or until the chicken is cooked through (meat thermometer inserted in the thigh should read 180 degrees Fahrenheit)

Carefully, using thick hot pads and a spatula (long tongs and an extra set of hands are good too) remove the chicken and the can from the grill. Remember the contents of the can are extremely hot don't get it on yourself. Carefully remove the can from the chicken (you might need to twist it a bit to get it to release) and discard the contents of the can.

Allow the chicken to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting up and serving.

Turkey (or Chicken) Creole

I am always on the lookout for ways to use leftovers, and when I found this little recipe for using up some leftover cooked turkey I had a feeling it would be a great little find. I did some tweaking to it so it was more to our liking and that is what I am sharing here today. This is quick to put together and uses ingredients that I always have on hand. If you are like me and keep some cooked meats in the freezer this dish is easy and quick to pull together.

I left the amount of Tabasco up to you, I used about ½ teaspoon but use as much or as little as you would like. Be sure to taste as you go so you know if you have the seasonings just right or if your palate wants a bit of a change. That is half the fun of cooking, tasting and adjusting to make it just right.

Turkey (or Chicken) Creole

1 small onion (thinly sliced)

1 green bell pepper (thinly sliced)

¼ cup sliced celery

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

1 ½ cups cut up cooked turkey or chicken

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1 (14.5 oz) can stewed tomatoes

1 ½ to 2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Tabasco to taste

Brown rice

Begin by sweating the onion, green pepper and celery in the oil in a skillet until tender, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add turkey and mix into vegetables, add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn down to low and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes.

Serve over brown rice

Lemon Chicken

Things have been pretty rough around my house for the last few months due to a family member being very ill. Thankfully I tend to keep my freezer fully stocked with meals that are easy to fix so we had easy to prepare meals even when I really didn't feel like cooking. Now I do need to restock however. So with an eye toward that I am going through my freezer recipes and I found my recipe for Lemon Chicken which happens to be one of my all time favorite chicken recipes. I was lucky to find an excellent price on chicken parts the other day so I made and froze several bags of this as well as served it to my son for dinner that same day.

The coolest thing about this recipe (other than the the fantastic flavor) is that it is even better after it has frozen and thawed again. The flavor of the lemon gets carried all the way through the meat by the action of freezing and thawing and it is incredible.

This recipe is really easy to scale to the number of servings you need simply by the number of pieces of chicken you put in each bag. I will explain the amounts as we go. The following amounts are what you will need per bag for about 2 to 3 servings. If you want to make bags with more servings (4-6) double the amounts, if you are bagging up single servings use half the given amount per bag.

Lemon Chicken

Chicken parts of your choice (to serve 2 -3 people)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Grated or crushed garlic about a large clove (to taste)

1/3 cup lemon juice

Figure out how many bags of chicken you will be making and line the freezer bags up on the counter. Add the chicken parts to the individual bags. Now add the rest of the ingredients given to each bag. I work mine like an assembly line, adding the chicken to all the bags then the thyme goes in all the bags, then the salt on down the list.

When all the ingredients are added seal each bag getting out as much of the air as you possibly can. Then kind of massage the bags to thoroughly mix the ingredients and make sure the chicken is coated well. Label and freeze the bags.

When you want to serve the chicken thaw in the fridge overnight. Place the contents of the bag into a glass baking dish (2-3 serving fit nicely in an 8x8) arranging the chicken pieces skin side down. Bake at 450 degrees (Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes, turn chicken over and cook an additional 15 to 20 minutes until done.

This goes really well with a nice serving of brown rice (which will cook in your rice cooker in just about the same amount of time as the chicken cooks)

Chicken Caesar Wraps

If you love a good chicken Caesar salad this is the wrap sandwich for you. I have been making this recipe for at least the last decade and it is one of my go-to sandwiches for packing when we have a busy day.

In fact since my daughter is an ice skater and she is competing this weekend; this is what I am packing for us to eat during our busy day. It is super easy because you use one of those pre-packaged salad mixes that has the Caesar dressing, croutons, and romaine lettuce in it, just adding a few ingredients that are normally on hand.

Chicken Caesar Wraps

1 (7 ½ ounce) Caesar salad kit

1 cup chopped cooked chicken

4 flour tortillas (8" to 9" size)

2 Tablespoons freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

Begin by crushing the croutons that come in the kit and setting them to the side. In a large bowl combine the remaining contents of the salad kit and the chicken.

Divide the chicken/salad mixture between your tortillas sprinkle with the crushed croutons and the Parmesan cheese.

Roll up and wrap in wax paper or foil. Keep cold until lunch time

Makes 4 tasty wrap sandwiches

Greek Chicken Pizza

This pizza came about simply because I needed to figure out dinner and I really didn’t feel like driving to the store. I was in the mood for a pizza and I happened to have some things on hand that led me down a path to a Greek inspired pizza.

You could use your favorite pizza crust, I am including the one I used (it is the one I use most often) but feel free to substitute your favorite. At our house we like a chewy crust on our pizza and to accomplish this I par-bake my crust before I top it. This particular crust is made using my bread machine, so if you have one this is a good place to use it.

You will find that I didn’t use a canned pizza sauce; instead I used an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce which I seasoned up with some herbs and spices from my spice cabinet. I do this on most of our pizzas since I almost always have tomato sauce on hand.

Pizza Crust from the Bread machine

½ cup milk

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

¼ teaspoon garlic salt

¼ teaspoon fennel seed

1 teaspoon yeast

Layer the ingredients in you bread machine in the order directed by your owner’s manual. If your machine has a Pizza Dough cycle choose it, otherwise choose the regular dough setting.

At the end of the cycle remove dough to a floured surface, cover and let rest 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit

With oiled fingers pat dough onto an oiled pizza pan. Use a fork to poke holes in the dough to prevent it from over-rising while baking.

Bake the dough for about 10 minutes or until browned. You can use it immediately to make a pizza or set it aside until you are ready for it.

Greek Pizza

Baked pizza crust (you favorite or the one above)

8 ounce can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

¼ teaspoon fennel seed

1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

½ cup thinly sliced red onion

½ seeded chopped tomato

½ cup crumbled Feta cheese

¼ chopped Kalamata olives

1 teaspoon dry oregano

Have oven heated to 450 degrees Fahrenheit

Mix the tomato sauce with the Italian seasoning and fennel seed and spread over baked crust. Top with remaining ingredients in order given.

Bake directly on oven rack for 10 minutes or until hot through and cheese is melted.

Lemon Chicken for now and later

One of the things I try to be consistent about is stocking my freezer. I have a huge collection of recipes that are designed for just that purpose. I do this for many reasons, one being it really isn’t convenient for us to go into the grocery store so having things on hand is a necessity and also I like to have healthy meals that are quick and easy to make. By doing part of the work before putting these dishes in the freezer it save me time. Also because I can take advantage of the lower prices offered for larger packages of meat and other items it saves me money. For instance, this morning at my grocery store they had what they were referring to as “grill packs” of chicken on a good price. These were large tray packages of chicken drumsticks and thighs. The package I purchased weighed about 4 ½ pounds and had 8 legs and 6 thighs in it. These were much cheaper per pound than the smaller packages of chicken and in fact I didn’t pay much more for this large package than I would have for a small package that would have been just enough for tonight’s dinner. There are 3 of us here most nights and tonight is no exception to that number. This package of chicken will provide 2 meals for my family one tonight and one at a later date.

This Lemon Chicken recipe is on of my favorites and as much as we love it the first night the package that goes in the freezer is even better. Something happens when the chicken freezes and then thaws in the marinade that draws the marinade deeper into the chicken so it is flavored all the way through.  Simply put all the ingredients into a ziplock freezer bag, let the one for tonight sit in the fridge for a few hours and put the rest in the freezer for other meals.

Lemon Chicken

(amounts are given on a per basis simply make as many bags as you need)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Juice of 1 lemon

About 2 pounds of chicken parts

Combine the seasonings and lemon juice in gallon size ziplock freezer bags using the above amounts of ingredients per bag. Add the chicken and seal bags being sure to get out as much air as possible. Massage the marinade around the chicken so coat. For the bag you are cooking tonight place the bag in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Label remaining bags and place in freezer.

To serve: Thaw if frozen

Heat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit

Arrange chicken skin side down in a baking dish that has been coated with no-stick spray. Pour any liquid in bag over chicken and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Turn chicken over and baste with juices in pan. Return to oven and bake another 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked completely through.

Roasted Chicken

I always try to watch the local grocery store ads for those rare occasions when they have a really good price on whole chickens. If I watch closely I can usually score some at between 69 and 79 cents a pound. My local store seems to always put a limit of 3 on them at this price so I make as many trips to the store as possible that week getting 3 each trip and looking for the biggest of the birds. Last time I was able to bring home 9 and put them all in the freezer. I pulled one out of the freezer yesterday to roast for dinner tonight. Granted, a roast chicken does take some planning especially if it is in the freezer but it is so worth it in the end. This morning I took the thawed bird out of his (or her, I didn't ask) and gave it the spa treatment this consists of a long soak in a wonderfully fragrant bath of brine.

Brine for Chicken
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of herbs and spices (this time I used crushed red pepper flakes, dry basil, dry rosemary,and fennel seeds)
I then add a  couple of cups of water to this and zap it in the microwave to dissolve the salt and sugar. After stirring to make sure they are dissolved I  add ice to make about   8 cups and stir to melt the ice and cool the mixture.

I have an old Tupperware pitcher that we never really liked to use for its intended function. I discovered a few  years back that a whole chicken fits perfectly in it. So I put the chicken in this pitcher breast first and pour the brine mixture over. The only real trick to make sure the brine covers the bird. Put this in the refrigerator for about 6 or 8 hours. At the end of this time pull out the chicken, dump the brine and pat the chicken dry with paper towels.


To Roast the Chicken

Rub some oil (vegetable or olive which ever you prefer) all over the outside of the chicken. Fill the cavity with some aromatic veggies and herbs (usually a carrot, celery, some fresh herbs, onion and some garlic) and a cut up lemon if you have one. Use some kitchen string to tie the bird into a compact package and place on a rack in a roasting pan to cook at 375 degrees for between 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on how big your bird is. Use a quick read thermometer to check the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh, it should read between 175 and 180 degrees when you remove it from the  oven.  Cover the chicken with a foil tent and allow to rest for about 15 minutes before you cut into it.

The brine not only helps to flavor the chicken  all the way through but adds a lot of moisture to the meat. Even the breast will be moist and juicy.