Garlic Chicken Stew, the Perfect Comfort Food

It's winter, and it's cold and the snow forecast for New England is looking to mess up my daughter's 7th birthday party. So I needed some comfort food last evening and I thought I'd share it with our loyal readers.

Like a good book that you reread over and over this is a recipe I cook up whenever I can't think of what to make for dinner or when it's cold out and we need something to warm us up. Comfort food at its best.

The amount of garlic, cabbage and onion in this recipe is probably extra good for you during the winter months. So enjoy!

I have fallen in love with my pressure cooker, a Fagor Rapida. I can take a frozen chunk of chicken, in this recipe, 4 thighs, and have chicken stew in under an hour. Falling-off-the-bone yumminess.

Garlic Chicken Stew with Dumplings

Garlic Chicken Stew

6 cups of water

4 chicken thighs (bone-in, with skin, but you can do any cut with or without bone)

2 ribs of celery cut

1 big handful of those mini carrots, or 2 large carrots sliced (large chunks are fine)

1 large sweet onion, white or red, diced

2 tsp dried thyme

1 head of garlic, peeled and sliced (don't chop, just slice)

1/4 head of cabbage chopped (in 1 inch squares)

Salt to taste (I use about 1 Tablespoon of kosher salt)

If you're not using a pressure cooker put everything in the pot and bring to a boil and simmer for an hour and a half then check the chicken to see if it's falling off the bone.

With a pressure cooker, put everything in the pot, bring up to pressure 15psi, and cook for 40 minutes, even if the chicken is frozen. I use the cold water release method where I put  the pot under cold running water until the pressure goes down. I don't like to wait. :)

Depending on how ambitious I am, I'll either take each piece of chicken out and take the meat off and return it to the pot, or serve it in bowls with one thigh in the bottom of each bowl.

I will sometimes add Bisquick Dumplings to the stew (I use half this recipe). This will also thicken the stew even further. YUM.

Ansha Kotyk is the upper middle grade author of GANGSTERLAND, a story about a boy, bully and magical comic book. She is a volunteer for New England SCBWI conferences (registration opened yesterday, come visit!) and is one of the hosts of #mglitchat.

Arugula, Cranberry, Turkey Wrap and Caramels, oh my!

Happy Thanksgiving Leftovers Everyone!

I have a treat for you. Two recipes instead of just one! (actually 3 if you count the cranberry sauce!)

I found a great leftover turkey wrap that I'll show you how to make, super, fast, and easy. 

But first, I have another recipe that I simply must share. It's from Alton Brown, of course, whose recipes I love.  I came across it the other day when I was looking for salted caramels. 

I've never made caramel before, but I figured it was time I tried. I mean it's sugar, if I mess it up, it'll still be good right? (okay if you burn this, it will be destined for the trash can). But really even if it doesn't set up it still tastes great. Alton's recipe for Dark Salty Caramels is sublime! I could eat this straight out of the pan, and I have. All you need is a candy thermometer, sugar, salt, water, heavy cream and butter, and elastic-waist pants.

Okay, now on to the easiest turkey leftover recipe ever.  I am destined, sadly, not to be a food photographer.  But trust me the outcome is much tastier!

Arugula, Cranberry, Turkey Wrap

12 oz. washed baby arugula

1/2 cup of homemade cranberry relish (easier than you think, and totally worth it, but you can substitute store bought)

4 flour or whole wheat tortillas

2 Tablespoons Hellman's Mayonnaise (optional)

oh right...

2 cups of shredded leftover turkey meat

Arrange the ingredients like a wrap.

On top of a flat tortilla smear 1 or 2 Tablespoons of cranberry relish. You may also add the mayonnaise here, which is my preference,(my husband disagrees). So it's up to you if you like mayo. Next add a handful of arugula, top with turkey and additional cranberry sauce. Roll up and enjoy! 

I'm sure you can tweak this recipe by adding your own signature to it. Please let me know if you do. I'd love to learn new ways to enjoy this wrap!

Btw, try not to eat too many of Alton's caramels, I'm sure when I get on the scale I'll be regretting ever finding the recipe! 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

NaNoWriMo and Feeding Your Freezer

It's NaNo time again. This means more time made for writing and less time for cooking.

So I thought I'd do a bit of research on Filling your Freezer. I've heard of doing this, and it sounds wonderful. Homemade food, ready and waiting in your freezer, so you can just whip it out, heat it and eat it. Family is happy and your word count is happy too.

I found a great site of a frugal mom who posts on how to fill your freezer in 4 weeks. But it's already Nano November and I don't have four weeks to cook and fill my freezer. Sigh. 

So I hunted down a list of 10 freezer recipes that I might try. The chicken and spinach enchiladas sound yummy. 

This a post on Filling your freezer for easier school days, could easily be tweaked to say easier NaNo days.

And for us visual types here's a Feed your Freezer pinterest page.

After researching all of this, I'm still at a loss on how to have dinner ready on the table during NaNoWriMo. I mean, I would have had to think ahead to fill my freezer. And, well, I didn't. So I suppose it's take-out. Or better yet, teaching my husband and kids how to hone their foraging skills.

Happy National Novel Writing Month everyone! Now go get that novel written! 

You can be my NaNo buddy at: http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/anshakotyk

Pot Luck- Kielbasa and Sauerkraut

Okay, so for some this dish may not excite. But I LOVE sauerkraut. I also love Kimchi and any cabbage product for that matter, and hey, it's really, really good for you, but that's for another post.

Today I'm sharing a dish I make for potluck dinners like the one I'm attending on Friday.

It's kid friendly, believe it or not, because it involves some syrup.

It's cook-friendly because you just need to use a knife and a crock pot and a few hours.

Ingredients:

2 links of Hillshire Farm Kielbasa (turkey/pork)

1 bag of silver floss sauerkraut, please, for all that is holy about sauerkraut, don't used canned. The thing that makes sauerkraut really good for you is best in the fresh bag in the produce section

1 bottle pancake syrup or if you're daring maple syrup

Get out the crock-pot. Empty the bag of sauerkraut into the bottom, include the juice. If you want a nice hit of antioxidants take a sip. *pucker*

Cut up the Kielbasa in 1-2 inch slices.  Add to the crock pot.

Now add the syrup. I usually use about half of a 12 oz. bottle of pancake syrup.  I've tried this with maple syrup but I can't bring myself to dump that much maple syrup into the pot,  pancake syrup works fine. Just don't use the butter-flavored kind. ew.  This is to taste and you can always add more syrup at the end of cooking.

Now place the crock-pot on low for 3 hours. This blends the flavors together and makes for a really yummy dish.  My crock-pot is always empty afterwards!

Overextended

I think we've all been there. We've volunteered, signed up, committed ourselves over our actual time and abilities. I have to finally admit I've done it this year. I'm self-publishing, in effect starting up my own business, president of the preschool parent's organization, who are hoping for a large silent auction in the spring along with the other fundraisers we organize every month, and I've volunteered for coordinating my regional SCBWI conference. Oh, and I put in a proposal for a workshop too.  Whew. That made me tired just to type it all!

I want very much to do all of these things and to do them well. I don't want to give up any of them. But I'm realizing I've seriously over committed myself.  I still have a preschooler home half the day, dance class, gym class and piano lessons to take both of my kids to.  I'm so doomed!

Oh, and you know, I'm a writer so I'd like to write the next book in the series... sooo, how to do it all?  If you know please share it with me.  I'll tweet your name to the rooftops!

So here is a little recipe that I think everyone should know.  Short and sweet.  And can be added to ANYTHING to make it taste great.  Soup, cheese and crackers, hamburgers, vegetables, grains, rice. 

Seriously, you name it, if you add this to it, the taste will be awesome.  Well, if you like caramelized onions that is.  If you don't care for them, this is not the recipe for you.  If you love how they taste, all sweet and buttery and melt-in-your-mouthy, here ya go. They are well worth the time!

Caramelized Onion

•      Lots of sliced onion.  Thinly sliced.  As many onions as your pan can hold. Trust me.
•      2-3 tablespoons of butter or olive oil or combo of the two
•      pinch of salt
•      for extra sweetness add up to 1/4 cup brown sugar... but depending on your onion and how long you cook them you may not need it.

In a large frying pan melt your butter and oil. Add the sliced onions.  Cook them over medium heat, but don't let them brown quickly.  This type of browning takes time. Slowly cook and occasionally stir the onions until they become soft and golden brown. This can take from 40-60 minutes.  Take your time. 

Add more oil or butter to keep them from sticking.  Taste them and adjust the salt, or if you want them really sweet add brown sugar to taste.  

The caramelized onion keeps in the fridge for a week, but I doubt you'll be able to keep it that long.  Try it in eggs in the morning, on a sandwich in the afternoon and in your veggies at dinner... super yum!