aunt jan's White Bean & Chicken Hash

My aunt jan used to make this for us when we'd visit her house way back when we were tiny kids.

What's funny is that her own kids don't remember it, but it's the ONLY meal I remember eating at her house.

Anyway, the other day I just had the biggest craving for it, so I made some phone calls and got the recipe.

We made it last night and it was just as I remembered it:

SCRUMPTIOUS.

aunt jan's

White Bean & Chicken Hash

2 cans of chicken in water undrained

1 can white navy beans undrained

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp pepper

3 Tbsp salsa (or more)

Heat all the ingredients together (with juices from canned ingredients) in a saucepan until boiling.

Let simmer about 10-15 minutes to thicken up

Serve hot with tortilla chips

*You can sprinkle cheese over the top (pepperjack is best) if you want

Super easy, super quick, super delicious.

My hubby fell in love with the meal instantly!

That's always a good sign.

Creamy Chicken Calzone-ish dish

So, this dish is inspired by Tamara who has a meal that includes bread,chicken, cream cheese, and a sauce. But her recipe calls for a few things that hurt my tummy (dang lactose intolerance!), so I made up something that was somewhere in the ballpark of her meal.

(Except it looks and tastes much different.)

So, here it is:

A Creamy Chicken Calzone-ish Dish

Start by making a basic bread dough. I use half white and half wheat flour just so its a little more fibrous and heart healthy.

Cut the dough in half and let one half rise into rolls or bread or whatever you want.

Roll the other half of the dough into a flat, almost cinnamon roll/pizza crust shape. Slice downward diagonal slices coming from both sides leaving about a 6 inch strip of unsliced dough in the middle where your creamy chicken mix will go. You'll be braiding the connected sliced strips over the middle in a minute. Does that make sense?

Next, gather these ingredients and blend them altogether by hand or by mixer

(While the oven is preheating to 350 degrees):

1 big head of broccoli Florettes (chopped up into tiny pieces)

3 medium carrots (grated)

1 bunch green onions (sliced into small pieces)

1-2 cans of shredded chicken (drained) or 1-2 shredded chicken breasts

1 (8 oz) brick of cream cheese (I use Neuftachel cheese since its lower in fat/calories/lactose)

about 1 tsp salt

about 1 tsp pepper

about 1 Tbsp garlic powder

about 3 Tbsp parsley

Spoon the creamy chicken mixture onto your bread dough and fold the sliced parts over the chicken as if you're braiding hair until the whole chicken mixture is covered.

Brush butter over the top, sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic, and parsley over the top of it, and bake in the oven for about 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

While it is cooking, make a sauce.

Here's what I did--and it was scrumptious:

In a small sauce pan combine and boil:

2 cubes of chicken bouillon

1 1/2 cups water

Add a rue of 1 Tbsp butter, 1/2 cup cold water + 1/2 cup flour mixed

Add 1 tsp pepper, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 Tbsp parsley, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp mustard powder

Bring to a boil and then turn heat to low to thicken sauce

Serve the sauce over the baked chicken-bread thing :)

Yum.

My boys and hubby love love loved it!

Let me know what you think!?

P.S. Don't forget to bake the leftover bread dough...:)

Irish Soda Bread

IRISH SODA BREAD

(image taken from here, though the recipe isn't)

St. Pattie's Day is one of my favorite holidays---and one of the foods that the Irish eat is Soda Bread. This is more like a gigantic biscuit type bread as it doesn't use yeast for its leavening.

This bread is great to eat with stew, with ham & potatoes, or with breakfast.

Its easy, its quick, and its delicious! Enjoy!

BLEND TOGETHER UNTIL SMOOTH:

1 1/2 cups buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, you can use 1 1/2 cups milk and 2 Tbsp lemon juice as substitute)

3 Tbsp honey

1 egg

4 Tbsp melted butter

3/4 cup flour

STIR INTO SMOOTH MIXTURE UNTIL WELL MIXED:

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

1/2-1 tsp salt

3 cups flour (I do 2 cups white, 1 cup wheat)

Knead on a floured surface until its a smooth ball

Cut an big "X" on the top of it and place it on a cookie sheet

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour (check at about 50 minutes)

Spread warm butter over the top and serve with jam or honey

Garlic & Herb Red and Sweet Potatoes

10 small red potatoes

1 medium sized sweet potato

1 medium yellow onion

1/3 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp Lawry Salt

2 Tbsp Minced Garlic

2 Tbsp Parsley

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Pepper

Cut potatoes, onions, and sweet potatoes into medium size chunks and dump in a bowl

Pour olive oil over potatoes, onions, and sweet potatoes

Pour spices onto p,o,&sp and mix, mix, mix until fully covered

Spread in a roasting pan or baking sheet and bake at 450 for an hour, stirring every so often to that each side of potatoes get cooked. Yummy!

Stuffed Chicken with Chipotle Sauce

Here, I took 4 chicken breasts and filleted them to open (but still connected). We then pounded them flat, sprinkled salt, pepper, garlic, and parsley in them, filled them with conventional stuffing (chicken flavored + a handful of craisens + salt, pepper, and garlic), closed them up, and tied them closed with floss.

Then I poured costco's raspberry Chipotle sauce on them and baked them for 10 minutes at 450. I then flipped them over, poured more sauce on them, and baked them for another 10 minutes. I repeated this process two more times before serving them.

Upon serving them, I doused them with lemon juice and a dash of salt.

They were pretty yummy and super easy to make!

Citrus Basil Chicken or Fish

(picture from google images)

I love to cook with basil.

I love to cook with citrus.

Especially Lemons and Limes.

So, standing over my Basil plant the other day, I decided I needed basil and citrus for dinner.

Here's what I came up with:

2 chicken breasts sliced in half (like fillets) or two fish fillets

About 2 Tbsp honey or Agave Nectar (which is much like honey)

Juice from 2 lemons or 2 limes (I tried both at separate meals...both great!)

About 8-10 FRESH Basil leaves

Salt & Pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix together until well coated

Pour all ingredients into a tinfoil lined pan

Place under BROILER in the oven for 3 sets of 10-12 minutes--

--after each set turn the chicken/fish over and baste with juices

Serve with a fresh salad, steamed veggies, rice, fresh rolls, whatever.

Its delicious and a new favorite at our house!

Chicken and Salsa Tortilla Soup

Makes 4 servings
Start to finish: 25min.

1 3/4 c water
14oz chicken broth
1/2lb skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut in bite size pieces
1-2 tsp chili powder
11oz corn w/ sweet peppers, drained
1c chunky salsa
3c baked/fried tortilla chips
2 oz Monterey Jack cheese w/ jalapeno peppers, shredded
(I added garbanzo beans because I had some in the fridge that needed to be used.  I think any kind of cooked bean could be added.)


In large saucepan combine water, broth, chicken, and chili powder.
Bring to boil, reduce heat.
Cover and simmer 8 min. and until the chicken is cooked.
Add corn.  Simmer uncovered 5min more.
Stir in salsa, heat through.

Serve w/ chips and cheese on top.  Also, goes great with corn bread.  (Fix up a 15oz package of corn bread miz by stirring in a drained 4oz can of diced green chili  peppers before spreading in the pan.  Sprinkle paprika on it and bake as directed.  Serve with honey butter.)