Pioneer Woman’s Corn Chowder with Chilies

I can’t take credit for any of this recipe: I followed PW’s recipe to a T. Except I didn’t have enough cream, so I topped it off with about 1/2 c. half and half. Oh yeah, speaking of all that cream, like most of PW’s recipes, this isn’t exactly health food. It is, however, delicious. I love corn chowder, I love the spicy/creamy combo, and I love the bacon and chipotle flavors together. Warning: if you’re not a big fan of spice, you might want to only use one chipotle pepper instead of two; this packs quite a bit of heat.

Ingredients

1. 2 slices Bacon, Cut Into 1/2-inch Pieces (or Smaller)

2. 2 Tablespoons Butter

3. 1-½ whole Yellow Onion, Diced

4. 5 ears Corn, Shucked (about 4 Cups)

5. 2 whole Chipotle Peppers In Adobo Sauce, Finely Diced

6. 1 whole 4-ounce Can Diced Green Chilies

7. 32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Broth

8. 1-½ cup Heavy Whipping Cream

9. ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt (more To Taste)

10. 3 Tablespoons Corn Meal OR Masa

11. ¼ cups Water

Preparation Instructions

(Carefully) slice the corn kernels off the cob. Set aside.

Add bacon pieces to a pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Cook for a couple of minutes. Throw in diced onion and stir, cooking the onion for 3 to 4 minutes. Add butter and melt. Add corn. Stir and cook for one minute. Add both kinds of chilies and stir.

Pour in chicken broth and cream. Add salt. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low.

Combine cornmeal (or masa) with water. Stir to combine, then pour into the chowder. Cover and cook for 15 minutes over low heat. If chowder needs more thickening, add another tablespoon of cornmeal mixed with water. Cook for another ten minutes.

#bacon #corn #creambased #spicy

Fast Chickpea Stew

Hey!  Remember that one time when I started a soup blog?  And I made a couple of posts and then disappeared for about 5 months?  Let me tell you “the rest of the story:”  I got pregnant and that little baby made me so sick from April to June that I really wasn’t doing any eating at all, let alone cooking.  Good news: little baby boy keeps growing, and I’m back cooking!

This was dinner tonight — I was looking for something fast but healthful, hearty and appropriate for autumn weather, and something that would provide us with leftovers for a few lunches.  I googled “white bean stew” and came up with this recipe, which I figured I could trust since I subscribe to the Smitten Kitchen feed anyway.  She recommended a few changes, and I made a few changes of my own, beginning with the fact that I realized once the garlic was cooking that I didn’t have any cans of white beans in my cupboard.

JR really liked this, and I think I did, too.  I had him pour himself a glass of red wine, since it struck me as a perfect red wine meal.  I eagerly await the day when I can have red wine with my chickpea stew, too.  In the meantime, I’ll settle for some perfectly-grilled toast, good company and a healthy baby boy.

Fast Chickpea Stew

1/4 c. + 2 T. olive oil

2 large cloves garlic

3 chicken sausages (I used Aidell’s sundried tomato something-or-other), cut in half length-wise and sliced

1 can (14.5 oz) fire roasted tomatoes

2 c. chicken broth

2 cans chickpeas (or white beans), drained and rinsed

generous sprinkle of  basil

generous sprinkle of paprika

generous sprinkle of chili flakes

coupla-grinds of black pepper

5 oz. spinach, roughly chopped

hearty bread, sliced

In a large pot or dutch oven, heat up 1/4 c. oil (or maybe a little less) over medium-high heat and saute the garlic until it is soft.  Add sausage and saute until most of it is browned.  Add the tomatoes, chicken broth, chickpeas and spices.  Simmer over low/medium-low heat around 30 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, brush the 2T.  olive oil over slices of bread.  Broil 3-4 inches away from the heating elements until the bread is browned.

About 2-3 minutes before serving, add the spinach to the soup and let cook until spinach is soft.

#chickpeas #sausage #tomato #quickandeasy

Asian Chicken and Chili Soup

What you DO get [totally free, I might add], if you can use your imagination and picture it in your mind, is a fresh-but-warming, colorful, healthy and easy soup!

I originally got this recipe from Martha Stewart several years ago. Here’s the trick, though: I’ve never actually made the recipe as it’s described in her website.  I just never seem to have watercress or red bell peppers on hand.  The beauty of this recipe is that it will accommodate a huge variety of vegetables.  I generally make the broth, add whatever chicken I happen to have on hand (the leftovers picked off of rotisserie chicken bones work great; it also works to saute up a couple of chicken breasts), and then I throw in whatever veggies I’m in the mood for.  In the past, I’ve used: green onions, carrots, slices of mini bell peppers, snow peas, green beans, cabbage and edamame.  You can also toss in some rice noodles if you want some carbs.

This recipe is also great because you can easily scale it up or down; when we had it tonight, I had two cups of chicken broth in the freezer, so I thawed that out, added one diced chicken breast, just under 1 T. soy sauce and around 3/4 t. chili sauce, and about 2 cups worth of carrots, mini bell peppers, snow peas, edamame and green onions.  Oh, and I almost always add a dash of toasted sesame oil at the end — it just gives it a great hint of sesame flavor!

So, here you go: go forth and make soup!

Asian Chicken and Chili Soup

Serves 4

1. 6 cups chicken broth

2. 2 red bell peppers, (ribs and seeds removed), thinly sliced lengthwise and cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces

3. 2 tablespoons soy sauce

4. 1 to 3 teaspoons Asian hot chili sauce [I often use sriracha or the garlic chili sauce made by the same company]

5. 3 cups (12 ounces) diced poached chicken

6. 1 bunch (6 ounces) watercress, large stems trimmed

7. 2 scallions, thinly sliced lengthwise and cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces

8. In a 3-quart saucepan, bring broth, bell peppers, soy sauce, and chili sauce to a simmer; cook until peppers are crisp-tender, about 6 minutes.

9. Add chicken and watercress; cook 1 minute. Ladle into bowls, and top with scallions.

I wanted a slightly more substantial meal tonight, so I tried out this recipe for fried rice (warning: video starts when you open the page).  It was pretty good!  I didn’t have enough peas, so I used 2 more green onions.  And I used brown rice instead of white (I cooked 1 c. brown rice) because I think white rice is like a great big plug for your digestive system.  In the future, I think I’d use less oil (I used half canola and half peanut — the peanut oil was a good call!) and less fish/oyster sauce; it was a little fishy for my taste.  Nonetheless, it was a very flavorful meal and we’ll look forward to having the leftover rice for lunch tomorrow!

#chickenchili #brothbased #quickandeasy #spicy #chicken #asian