From Our Kitchen: White Bean Chicken Chili

In honor of the first day of October, which is when it really starts feeling like fall to me, I thought I would share one of our favorite crockpot chili / soup / stew recipes (not that this qualifies as all three, just that I tend to lump the three together in my mind). This is about one of the easiest things to make, and it is ridiculously good! Whip up a batch tonight, and thank your lucky stars that we are back into the crunchy loveliness that is fall!

What You'll Need:

• 1 1/4 lb frozen chicken breast (i used tenders)
• 2 cans great northern beans, drained
• 1 can white corn, drained (or half a bag of frozen corn)
• 1 can heart healthy cream of chicken soup
• 14 oz lower-sodium chicken broth
• 1 packet taco seasoning (i personally prefer hot & spicy)
• 4 1/2 oz can diced green chiles
• 1/2 cup fat free sour cream
• Cheese for topping!'

What You'll Do:

1. Spray the sides and bottom of your crock pot
2. Place your chicken in the bottom of pot
3. Pour beans and corn on top of chicken
4. In a medium bowl, combine soup, broth, taco seasoning, and chiles
5. Pour soup mixture on top of chicken/beans/corn
6. Cook on high for 5 hours, or low for 8 hours
7. Once cooked through, shred chicken with two forks (should fall apart pretty easily)
8. Add sour cream and mix thoroughly
9. Serve hot topped with cheese! Additional topping suggestions: sliced avocado, cilantro (if you can get over the stinky feet smell - hate cilantro!), salsa
10. Enjoy!

From Our Kitchen: Gnocchi Chicken Marinara

Prior to last week, we had never tried gnocchi before. Now, let me be real with you here for a hot minute - 1. I really wasn't too terribly sure what gnocchi actually is, and 2. I was also incredibly not sure on the proper pronunciation. You know kind of like that whole quinoa debacle that happened a couple years ago (the one where where people were saying key-no-ah, or the like, you know, that one). At any rate, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and found a recipe on Pinterest (duh) that combined gnocchi with marinara sauce, cheese, and chicken. Seemed like a no-brainer except the person who wrote the recipe didn't do such a hot job of giving amounts, or even listing all the needed ingredients, so I took the basic premise, and concocted this little gem. I think we were both pleasantly surprised! It's really very easy, and comes together quickly. It makes plenty for several meals too, which is a bonus!

What You'll Need:

• 1 package gnocchi (I used the sweet potato version)
• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 package steamfresh asparagus (or fresh asparagus, but I like the short cut sometimes)
• 16 oz marinara sauce (homemade or jar)
• 8 oz ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 5 slices mozzarella cheese

What You'll Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Place chicken breasts in a small baking dish sprayed with pam. Drizzle olive oil over chicken, sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic seasoning on each piece of chicken. Roast for 25 minutes. After chicken is cooked, cut into bit-size pieces.
3. Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of water to boil. Add gnocchi, and cook for 2 - 3 minutes, or until gnocchi rises to top of pot. Drain, rinse, set aside
   
4. Steam asparagus. Cut asparagus into pieces. Set aside.
   
   
   
   
5. Combine marinara sauce and ricotta in medium bowl.
6. Spray A 9x9 baking dish with pam. Spread 1/4 cup of sauce mixture on bottom.
   
7. Add gnocchi, then asparagus, then chicken to baking dish.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Top with sauce mixture, then Parmesan, then slices of mozzarella.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Broil for 4-5 minutes, or until mozzarella is browned on top. 
   

From Our Kitchen: Thai Red Curry Lentils

As you may have figured out by now, we really, really love Asian and Indian food (although, Indian is definitely a new found love!). Thai food, especially, has definitely been one of my very favorites for many years now - probably since the days of Cha De Thai in Boone (any other Boonites out there remember that little gem?). I stumbled across this recipe when making my grocery list for the week, and trying to find a good vegetarian Thai dish. I made some modifications, and volia! - a new dish to add to the rotation! We tend to like things spicier than most, and this was nowhere near spicy enough for us, even with the addition of the red pepper flakes, so I just caution you to judge your taste preferences wisely!

What You'll Need:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons (or more) minced garlic (I use more because we really like garlic!)
• 2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 1-13.5 oz can coconut milk
• 1 cup lentils
• 2 - 3 cups water
• 1 zucchini, cut into half moons
• 1-10z can baby corn, drained
• Salt, to taste
• Red Pepper (crushed or flakes), to taste

What You'll Do:

1. Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and saute until onion is translucent.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Add curry paste, and cook another minute.
   
   
   
3. Add coconut milk, water, lentils, salt, and red pepper. Stir to combine.
   
   
   
4. Cook 30 minutes, adding additional water as needed.
5. Add zucchini and baby corn. Stir to combine.
   
   
   
6. Cook additional 10 - 15 minutes, or until lentils are soft.
7. Serve over brown rice or quinoa.
   

From Our Kitchen: Zucchini Lasagna

We really love zucchini in this house, so when I found out several months ago that zucchini is an awesome substitute for pasta in our favorite pasta dishes, I was thrilled! We have made plenty of zucchini "pasta" dishes over the past year, but this was my first attempt at a zucchini lasagna. I adapted it from this recipe over at Skinnytaste.

What You'll Need:

• Pasta Sauce (the Skinnytaste recipe includes a pasta sauce, but we used Harris' homemade marinara sauce - my personal favorite sauce in the world, and vegetarian)
• 3 medium zucchini, sliced 1/8" thick
• 15 oz part-skim ricotta
• 16 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 large egg

What You'll Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Prepare your pasta sauce
3. Slice your zucchini into noodle-like strips. I personally use a vegetable peeler for my "noodles", and this works well!
4. Lightly salt the zucchini, and set aside for 10 minutes (this helps to absorb some of the water from the zucchini). After 10 minutes, blot with paper towel.
5. On a gas grill, or grill pan, cook each of your "noodles" for 1-2 minutes per side.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. In a medium bowl, mix together ricotta and Parmesan cheeses and egg.
   
   
   
7. Spray a 9 x 13 dish, and spread some of your sauce on the bottom.
   
   
   
8.  Top with zucchini noodles, then ricotta mixture, and then mozzarella. Repeat until all of the noodles and ricotta mixture are used up. 
   
   
   
9. Top with sauce and more mozzarella.Cover in foil.
10. Bake for 45 minutes; uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.
    
    
    
    Sorry that the last two pics are sideways - they were very uncooperative in changing positions!

From Our Kitchen: Curry Stand Chicken Tikka

Harris and I are part food-snob, part culinary adventurers. We pride ourselves on trying new restaurants, dishes, recipes, and so on. However, Indian food was a hurdle that we had not yet mastered. Having tried Indian food previously, I don't think either of us ever knew the right things to order, and had just never been impressed with the experience. This all changed during our honeymoon. Now, it surprises pretty much everyone when we tell them that our favorite restaurant at our resort in Mexico was the Indian restaurant - heck, we were even surprised ourselves. We went to said Indian restaurant several times during our two-week stay, and felt pretty confident that we would continue our Indian food exploits upon returning to the states. We were not, however, prepared for how easy recreating some of our favorite dishes would be! I am pleased to report that we have eaten Indian food several times since returning to the states, and not once has it been at a restaurant!

So far our favorite recipe is Curry Stand Chicken Tikka (which is just fun to say if nothing else!). It is so easy, smells amazing cooking, and tastes even better!

What You'll Need:

• 2 tbsp. ghee (clarified butter - I don't take the time to clarify the butter, so I just use regular butter, but, hey, if you want to, more power to you!)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 (14oz) can tomato sauce
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tsp. paprika
• 1 tbsp. white sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil (I used olive)
• 1/2 tsp. curry powder

What You'll Do:

1. Heat butter in large skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir onion about 5 min. Stir in garlic, and continue cooking about 1 minute.
2. Stir in cumin, salt, ginger, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and turmeric. Fry about 2 minutes
3. Stir in tomato sauce, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes. 
4. Mix in cream, paprika, and sugar. Bring sauce back to a simmer, and cook, stirring often, until sauce is thickened, about 10 - 15 minutes.
5. Heat oil in a separate skillet over medium heat. Stir chicken into the oil, sprinkle with curry powder, and sear chicken until lightly browned, but still pink inside, about 3 minutes. Stir often.
6. Transfer chicken and any pan juices into the sauce. Simmer chicken in sauce, until no longer pink, about 30 minutes. Salt and sugar to taste.
7. Serve over rice with garlic naan (easy recipe, over here).