super easy chicken stew

No time to cook? No problem! Just spend 15 minutes for preparation and turn the slow cooker on. That's it. Super easy. No need for slow cooker or stew mix. It's a great dish for busy moms. :)

Ingredients: 

Chicken breast or thighs - 1 lb

Carrots - 4 medium
Sweet onion - 1 medium
Potatoes - 3 medium
Mushrooms - 6 medium

Chicken stock - 3 cups
Salt & pepper - 2 tsp each
Basil or Italian seasoning - 2 tsp
Paprika [optional] - 1 tsp 

[Chicken marinade]
Soy sauce - 2 TBS
Pepper - 1 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp

[Tomato sauce mix]
Corn starch - 1 TBS
Water - 1/3 cup
Tomato ketchup - 3 TBS

Rice or bread 

Prep: 

1. Cut chicken into big bite pieces (2 inch chunks). Marinade for 5 minutes.
2. Cut all veggies into big chunk pieces. 
3. Cook rice if you want rice.

Cook:

1. In a slow cooker, put veggies and top with chicken. 
2. Add chicken stock, salt, pepper, italian seasoning and paprika. Mix slightly. 
3. Cook at low for 6-8 hours (depending on how much time you have) or high for 4-5 hours. 
4. 1 hour before done (or 30 min for high), mix 'tomato sauce mix' ingredients together and pour into it. Mix slightly. Let it cook for 30 min - 1 hour. Adjust taste.

Serve: 

1. Serve with salad and bread/rice. 

wild rice soup - version 2

Few months ago I posted a recipe for wild rice soup. This is another version, stuffed with more ingredients. I also added less flour so it's not as thick as last time. We like this version better -- probably because of the 'umami' from mushrooms. (The soup looks like the previous one, so I didn't take the picture. Sorry!)

Ingredients: 

Chicken breast - 1
Chicken stock - 4 cups
Water - 2 cups
Quick cooking long grain and wild rice with seasoning packet - 1 (6 ounce)
Mixed vegetables - 1 cup (or more if you like)
Onion - 1/2 med (chopped)
White Mushroom - 5 large (chopped)

Seasoning for chicken (Taco or carne asada seasoning) - 1 TBS

Butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick)
Salt & Pepper - 1/2 tsp each (or more, depending on your taste)
Flour - 2-3 TBS taken out from 1/2 cup
Milk - 2 cups

Prep:

1. Cook chicken breast for 10-15 minutes in boiling water. Shred it and mix with taco seasoning or carne asada seasoning.
2. Cut onion and mushroom into cubes.
3. Take the seasoning packet from the quick cooking rice box. 
4. Combine flour, salt & pepper. 

Cook:

1. In a 5-quart pot, heat chicken stock, water and chicken until boil. 
2. Turn off the heat once it's boiled. Add in long grain and wild rice (not the seasoning packet). Cover and set it aside. Make sure the heat is off. 
3. In another pot, heat 1 TBS of olive oil. Fry onion and mushroom for 5 minutes. Add to the chicken stock mixture. 
4. Add 1/2 stick of butter on the pot used for mushroom/onion. Once it's melted, add in the seasoning from the rice box. Mix until bubbly. Add in flour mixture all at once. Mix constantly to form a ball. Slowly, add in milk. Keep stirring using whisk so the milk will incorporate well with the flour mixture.
5. Add the milk mixture and mixed vegetable to chicken stock/water/chicken mixture. 
6. Heat for 20 minutes over medium-low heat. Don't let it boil - simmer.

Serve:

1. Serve with butter-garlic-toast: Heat 1 TBS of butter onto frying pan. Fry bread for 2 minutes on one side, turn with more butter. Sprinkle garlic powder on top. Fry until edges are nice and brown. Serve while it's hot.

sweet & sour meatballs

There are many recipes for sweet and sour sauce. You can also make it with any meat of your choice. This time round, I tried with meatballs. It turned out pretty good and my daughter loved it -- she loves balls, so it's a fun dish for kids. :) 

Ingredients:

[Meatballs]
Ground meat - 1 and half cups ** see TIPS
Breadcrumbs - 1/4 cup
Egg white - 1
Parsley (dry or fresh) - 2 TBS
Green onion - 1 TBS (chopped)
Salt & pepper - 1 tsp each
Soy sauce - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp

[Other ingredients]
Onion - 1/2 med (chopped into 1-inch cubes)
Green bell pepper - 1 small (chopped into 1-inch cubes)
Red or Yellow bell pepper - 1 small (chopped into 1-inch cubes)
Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)
Sliced Pineapple - small can (drained)

[Sweet & Sour sauce]
Tomato Ketchup - 2 TBS
Plum sauce - 2 tsp
Rice vinegar - 1/2 tsp
Worcestershire sauce - 1/2 tsp
Oyster sauce - 2 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp
Corn starch - 1 tsp
Water - 2 TBS  

Prep:

1. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Mix well.
2. Cut vegetables, mince garlic and drain pineapple can. 
3. Mix meatball ingredients in a bowl. Use hands to mix - it's fun! Make a 1-inch balls (smaller or bigger, depending on your preference).

Cook: 

1. In a wok, heat 2TBS of oil in a wok. When it's hot, fry the meatballs until they are nicely browned (3-5 minutes). Take it out on a plate. **see TIPS
2. In the same wok, heat 1 TBS of oil. Fry garlic and onion until fragrant (about 2-3 minutes). Add in green and red/yellow peppers. Fry for another 2 minutes. 
3. Add the meatballs in and mix well with onion and peppers. Fry for another 3-5 minutes.
4. Add in the mixed sauce. Uncover the wok and mix the sauce with meatballs and veggies. Simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Add in pineapple slices. Fry for another 2 minutes.

Serve:

1. Serve with rice and Chinese veggies. 

TIPS

• For ground meat, you can use pork, chicken or beef or combination of meat. I like to use chicken and pork. 
• You can also deep-fry the meatballs. Just lightly coat them with flour/corn starch mixture (1:1 ratio) and deep-fry until golden brown.

cashew cranberry chicken sandwich

Here's another post for the leftover rotisserie chicken. Cashew nuts give a nice crunch to the sandwich. It can be served as a salad or as sandwich. All the main ingredients start from "C" so it's easy to remember. :)

Ingredients:

(makes 3 big sandwich or 4 smaller ones)

Rotisserie or grilled chicken - 3 cups 
Celery - 1 stalk (chopped)
Cashew - 1/2 cup (chopped or halved)
Cranberries - 1/2 cup

Mayonnaise - 3/4 cup (or more, depending on how much you love mayo)
Lemon juice - 1 tsp (or more, depending on how you like it)
Salt & Pepper - to taste
Garlic powder - 1/4 tsp

Bread or croissant - enough for 3-4 sandwich
Lettuce leaves and tomato slices - optional 

Prep:

1. Chop cashew nuts in half or smaller, depending on your size preference. 
2. If you are like me and don't like the stringy thing that celery comes with, then peel the outer layer of celery off. Chop and set it aside. 
3. Shred the meat into bite size pieces. Heat up in the microwave for 1-2 minute. Set it aside to cool down a bit.
4. Wash lettuce leaves and slice tomatoes if you are adding them.

Cook:  

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Use a spoon and mix well. 
2. Toast the bread if you like it warm and toasted. 

Serve:

1. Spread some mayo on each slice of bread (or inside of croissant). Add in lettuce and tomatoes. Scoop about 2 big spoonful of chicken salad in the sandwich. 
2. Serve with nice cup of hot soup. 

costco rotisserie chicken

Costco Rotisserie chicken, I think, is great value. It's $4.99 and there's so much you can do with it. It's so versatile and so yummy, it's hard not to buy. This time, I'm going to 1) eat as it, 2) use bones for soup, 3) make chicken wild rice soup, and 4) use leftover meat for cashew chicken salad croissant sandwiches (recipe coming soon). I'm collecting more recipes for rotisserie chicken, so if you have any ideas for how to use the leftover rotisserie chicken or bones, please leave me a comment/recipe below!

Today's dinner: Rotisserie chicken, Hawaiian sweet rolls, Spinach with mushroom, potato wafers and sweet corn (All bought in Costco. What woud I do without you, Costco!)

chicken enchiladas

One of my favorite things to do is to look up recipes of one dish and do a mental cooking. I take what sounds good to me and mix up the recipes. I also like to read reviews of the recipes. This dish is a combination of three different recipes. It turned out better than I expected. :)

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts - 4
Taco seasoning packet -1/2 packet
Onion - 2 small or 1 med (sliced)
Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)
Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Sour cream - 1 cup
Cream of chicken soup - 2 cans
Milk - 1/4 cup
Diced Green chili - 1 (4oz) can
Salt & Pepper - dash 

Green pepper - 1/2 med (chopped)

Whole wheat tortilla (dozen - 6'')
Cheese (Mexican/cheddar) -1 cup or more

Prep: 

1. [Chicken] Defrost chicken breast. On a microwave safe dish, place chicken breast with 1/3 cup water. Cover with microwave safe cover or wrap and cook it for 4 minutes. Let it cool for few minutes. **see TIPS
2. Slice onion into thin slices and mince garlic. 
3. Mix soup and sour cream. Add in milk,1/4 cup of water and salt & pepper. Add in diced green chili. 
4. Chop green pepper. Set it aside for later use. 

4 Chicken breasts + 1/3 cup of water

Shredded chicken breasts

Cook:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. 
2. When the chicken is cooled a bit, shred it using forks. 
3. In a wok or frying pan, heat 1 TBS of butter or olive oil. Fry onion slices and garlic until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Stir consistently to avoid burning. 
4. Add in shredded chicken to onion. Fry for about a minute. Add in lemon juice and 1/2 packet of Taco seasoning (or more if you like stronger flavor). 
5. Add in 1/4 cup of soup mixture to chicken. Let it simmer for couple of minutes. Turn off heat and set it aside. 
6. Use 13 by 9 or 12 by 8 baking safe dish (glass or metal ones are fine). 
7. Spread 1/4 cup of soup mixture on the bottom of the pan/dish. Line it with one tortilla.  
8. You'll use two 6'' tortilla for one roll. You put about 1 TBS of soup mixture between the tortilla so it will stick to each other. Put another 1 TBS of soup mixture, followed by a cup of chicken &onion. Wrap/roll the tortillas and place them in the pan, the open side facing down. Repeat for the rest of the tortillas. 
9. Pour rest of the soup mixture on top, top with lots of cheese and chopped green onion. 
10. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven, leave enchiladas in the oven (turned off oven) for 10 minutes. Take it out, let it cool for 5-10 minutes. 

I used smaller dish (about 12 by 8) so only made 5 rolls

Serve:

1. Serve with salsa (the recipe will be on the blog soon!) and lots of chopped lettuce.

TIPS

• To cook the chicken, you can also boil them for 4-6 minutes. 
• Leftover Rotisserie chicken? You can use it for this recipe.

chicken & wild rice soup

The weather is changing and it's flu season again. We were all sick at home the past few days and we were tired of eating porridge, so we decided to explore into this famous Minnesota wild rice soup. It turned out really good and hearty. Not feeling well? This soup will make you feel better. :) 

Ingredients: 

Rotisserie Chicken - 1/2 (about 1 lbs) or chicken breast (2, cooked)
Chicken stock - 4 cups
Water - 2 cups
Quick cooking long grain and wild rice with seasoning packet - 1 (6 ounce)
Broccoli - 1 head (cut into small pieces)

Butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick)
Salt & Pepper - 1/2 tsp each
Flour - 1/2 cup
Milk - 2 cups **see TIPS

Prep:

1. Shred rotisserie chicken or cooked chicken breast. 
2. Cut broccoli into small pieces and blench for 2 minutes in the boiling water. Set it aside.
3. Take the seasoning packet from the quick cooking rice box. 
4. Combine flour, salt & pepper.

Cook:

1. In a 5-quart pot, heat chicken stock, water and chicken until boil. 
2. Turn off the heat once it's boiled. Add in long grain and wild rice (not the seasoning packet). Cover and set it aside. Make sure the heat is off. 
3. In another pot, melt butter. Once it's melted, add in the seasoning from the rice box. Mix until bubbly. 
4. Add in flour mixture all at once. Mix constantly to form a ball. 
5. Slowly, add in milk. Keep stirring using whisk so the milk will incorporate well with the flour mixture.
6. Add the milk mixture and broccoli to chicken stock/water/chicken mixture. Heat for 10-15 minutes over medium heat. Stir using wooden spatula until nice and creamy. 

Serve:

1. Serve with freshly baked bread sticks/rolls. 

TIPS

• You can use milk, buttermilk or heavy milk for this. The soup can get pretty thick, so low-fat milk is perfect. 

japanese cream stew

Since my daughter doesn't like the taste of milk, I try to sneak in milk in food. White sauce is the best way to get a lot of milk in. If you have other suggestions for getting milk in the food or snack, please share the recipe with me!

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 breast (cubed)
Carrots - 3 small (cubed)
Potatoes - 2 med (cubed)
Onion - 1 small (cubed)
Broccoli - 1/2 cup (cubed)

[White sauce]
Butter - 6 TBS
Flour - 1/3 cup
Milk - at least 2 cups (or more, depending on your desired consistency)
Salt & Pepper - to taste

Prep: 

1. Cut all veggies. Set aside.
2. Cut chicken breast into cubes. Season with 1tsp of salt and pepper. 

 Cook:

1. In a larger pot or skillet, heat 1 TBS olive oil. Fry onion for 2-3 minutes. 
2. Add in chicken. Fry for another 2-3 minutes. 
3. Add in carrots and potatoes. Fry for 3-5 minutes. Add in little bit of water if it gets dry.
4. [White sauce] In another pot, melt butter. Add in flour. Whisk consistently.
5. Slowly add milk. Whisk consistently and add milk slowly until you get the consistency of the stew.  **see TIPS
6. When you get the consistency you want, add the white sauce with chicken/veggies. Let it simmer for few minutes. Adjust the consistency with milk and taste it according to your liking.

Serve:

1. With rice or pasta. **see TIPS

TIPS

• If you don't like too much milk in the stew, substitute half with chicken stock. 
• If you keep the stew overnight in fridge, you need to add more chicken stock, water or milk when you reheat. 

bacon broccoli pasta

I was having one of those lazy days, my husband stepped in and cooked dinner for us!  He did a great job with this dish and even our little girl loved it. It's great to have a husband who can cook. :)

Ingredients:

Rotini or Penne Pasta - 3 cups (dry)
Broccoli - 1 head
Bacon - 6 slices
Chicken - 1 breast
Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)
Onion - 1 small (sliced) 

[Chicken marinade]
Soy sauce - 2 tsp
Pepper - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Red chili peppers - 2 tsp

Salt & Pepper -to season
Chili pepper - 1 tsp

Prep:

1. Prepare pasta according to the package. 
2. Cook bacon until crispy (or your preference). Save the bacon fat.
3. Blanch broccoli for 2 minutes in boiling water. 
4. Slice the chicken. Marinade chicken and set it aside for 15-20 minutes. 

Cook:

1. In a wok, heat the bacon fat. Fry garlic and onion until fragrant (about 3-5 minutes). 
2. Add in chicken and fry for another 3-5 minutes. 
3. Put back the bacon in the wok, together with blanched broccoli.
4. Combine pasta in. Add in salt, pepper and chili pepper.

Serve:

1. This dish has everything you need to keep you healthy. :) Yay for one dish wonders.

Thank you for making us dinner!

hidden valley ranch fried chicken

I was looking through my pantry today and found a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix. I thought, "hmm... I wonder if I can make fried chicken out of this thing." So I went to the Hidden Valley official website and found this recipe! It turned out good, but I think it'll go much better with chicken with skin more than boneless, skinless chicken breast. But the taste was great! 

Ingredients: 

Whole Chicken (3 pounds) or 4 chicken breasts - cut into 8 pieces (rinsed and patted dry)
Hidden Valley Original Ranch Salad Dressing - 2 cups
Ground black pepper - 1/2 tsp
All-purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Salt - 1 tsp

Vegetable oil for frying

Prep: 

1. If you are using a whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces, wash and pat dry. If you are using chicken breasts, you can cut into thinner slices (cut in half) or into bite size pieces.
2. Prepare Hidden Valley original ranch dressing if you are making from a packet. 
3. In a shallow pan or in Ziplock bag, marinade chicken pieces with ranch dressing. Let is sit for at least an hour. 

Cook:

1. Remove chicken from the dish. Shake off any excess marinade. Discard any leftover marinade. On a large plate, mix flour, salt and pepper. Roll each piece of chicken in the seasoned flour.
2. In a pot or skillet, heat 1 inch deep vegetable oil. When it's ready (sprinkle some flour in the oil and when it bubbles and floats, it's ready), fry for 4 minutes on one side and 4 minutes on the other - or until golden brown.

Serve: 

1. Grilled veggies go perfectly with the fried chicken. 

butternut squash penne with baked chicken

My daughter and I went to Costco today around noon, which was a perfect time for food sampling! They were having the pasta sauce sample - Dave's Gourmet Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce. My food taster (aka my daughter) loved it! So I bought it. :) It goes really well with Italian breadcrumbs-crusted chicken, which can be either pan fried or baked.

Ingredients:

Penne pasta - 3 cups (measured when uncooked)

Butternut squash sauce - 2 cups

Onion - 1 small (sliced)
Red/Yellow pepper - 2 cups (sliced)
Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)

Chicken - 2 breasts
Italian Breadcrumbs -2 cups **see TIPS
Eggs - 2 (beaten)
Flour - to coat chicken
Salt & Pepper

Butter - 2 TBS

Prep:

1. Flatten chicken breasts slightly. Season with salt and pepper. 
2. Coat chicken with flour, egg and then roll on breadcrumbs. Set it aside. 
3. Cook Penne pasta according to package instruction. 
4. Cut veggies in strips (about 2-inch in length) 
5. If you are baking chicken, line baking pan with parchment paper.  Coat it with olive oil. 

Blending panko with Italian seasoning

 Cook:

1. [Chicken bake] Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bake chicken for 7 minutes, then turn to the other side and bake for another 8 minutes or golden brown. Take it out of the oven and let it sit in the pan. 
2. [Chicken pan fry] Coat pan with 2 TBS of olive oil. Fry one side of the chicken for 3-5 minutes. Turn and fry for another 3-5 minutes, or until golden brown. Turn the heat off, cover the pan and leave the chicken in the pan until later use.
3. On a frying pan, heat butter until melted. Fry onion until fragrant and somewhat transparent. 
4. Add in red/yellow peppers in and fry for another 2 minutes.
5. Add in Butternut squash sauce. Let it bring to boil. Then turn the heat off. Set it aside.

Serve:

1. In a bowl, put penne pasta and top it with baked/pan fried pasta, then pour the butternut squash sauce on top.
2. Sprinkle with cheese if you want. :) 

TIPS

• If you don't have Italian breadcrumbs, but Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) instead, you can blend 2 cups of Japanese breadcrumbs with 1 TBS of Italian seasoning.