Chicken Tortilla Soup I never used to make soup. Good grief! What was I thinking? Soup is so simple to prepare and satisfying to eat. You just saute some vegetables, add other ingredients and seasonings, pour in some broth, and simmer until all the flavors come together. It can also be really economical, as soup is a great place to combine leftover meat, beans, or vegetables, adding broth to stretch them as far as possible. If I had to pick only one soup to make for the rest of my days, this recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup would be the winner. The ingredients are simple, but the flavor is outstanding. Make enough for dinner and eat the leftovers Read More
Rice Bowls with Teriyaki Chicken and Ginger Slaw
Rice Bowls with Teriyaki Chicken And Ginger Slaw I have actually never read Ladies' Home Journal before or after college (apparently it no longer exists, did you know??), but my college library housed a fantastic collection of magazines. I used to take frequent "study breaks" holed up in the periodical section. Who wants to be reading dusty reference books when you could be reading recipes for the perfect layer cake or tips for carving your first turkey? Perhaps I would have been a good candidate for a home economics degree. In the end, I made it out with a teaching degree and a thick stack of recipes copied in the library lobby. Years later, this Read More
13 Meals Using Rotisserie Chicken
Rotisserie chicken that you buy at the store or make at home is incredibly versatile. Obviously, you can eat it straight off the bone but did you know it can be used in recipes as well? Here are 13 easy, delicious recipes from around the web. Homemade Chicken Stock - Dougasyu Easy Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas - Living Sweet Moments Chicken Ricotta Pie - Living Sweet Moments Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie - Retro Housewife Goes Green Healthy Chicken Salad with Grapes, Apples and Tarragon-Yogurt Dressing - Two Healthy Kitchens Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad - Two Healthy Kitchens Chicken Quesadillas - L'il Read More
Rice Bowls with Peanut Sauce & Chicken Satay
Rice Bowls with Peanut Sauce and Chicken Satay Today's rice bowl features my all-time favorite Peanut Sauce recipe. I have tried several others in the past, but they either tasted too acidic or called for ingredients that required a separate trip to the grocery store (Looking for obscure ingredients, with help from a well-meaning but confused clerk, is one of my least favorite activities). This sauce is creamy, peanuty perfection, and uses ingredients I almost always have on hand. I could eat it by the spoonful, which is why I usually double the recipe. The original recipe comes from lettuce wraps in Cooking Light's magazine years ago. That's a Read More
Chicken Lettuce Wraps (PF Chang’s copycat recipe)
Chicken Lettuce Wraps (PF Chang's copycat recipe) My garden is exploding with greens right now. We have been drinking more green juices and eating more salads than I can count. Sometimes when we're out in the backyard, my ever-hungry kids will even climb into the raised bed and start munching on kale leaves like overgrown rabbits! I don't say anything, for fear of startling them off and losing the magical moment. I had two beautiful heads of butter lettuce last week, so I used them to create one of my favorite copycat recipes for PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps. There are several versions of this recipe floating around the Internet, but in this one I Read More
Simple Roast Chicken recipe
d Simple Roast Chicken In my former life (the one where I worked full-time outside my home and had no one calling me "Mama"), those tasty little deli rotisserie chickens made a regular appearance on our dinner table. Weeknights were busy, and a dinner that required no more effort than popping a steamy little bagged chicken into the grocery cart seemed like a great deal and an easy meal. I almost never bought those whole raw chickens from the meat department because the very thought of dealing with all that raw poultry and those freaky little giblets was a bit overwhelming and intimidating to me. When I accepted my position as full-time homemaker, Read More
How to Make Homemade Chicken Stock
Homemade Chicken Stock Making homemade chicken stock is a super simple, versatile skill to have in your kitchen tool belt. In fact, if I had to pick just one frugal habit that consistently saves a significant amount of grocery money, while delivering a superior product, making homemade chicken stock would be it. If you are on a tight budget, trying to figure out how to cut back on expenses, food is a tough category. Your family is probably kind of attached to the whole 3-meals-a-day routine and beans & rice only get you so far. To make those grocery dollars stretch as far as possible, try this: At the beginning of the week, roast 2 chickens Read More