What We're Eating - A Food & Recipe Blog » chicken

Knorr Homestyle Stock: Chicken Chili Verde with Poblanos, Sweet Corn & Navy Beans

Amanda — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:22:08 +0000

When the weather outside is frightful... EAT SOME FREAKIN' CHILI!

Regardless of what holidays you celebrate, this time of year is filled with traditions. Some people celebrate Christmas by feasting on prime rib (which I remember predicting would be the “in” holiday food in 2009… can anyone recall if that actually happened?), while others prefer a traditional ham. Over the past decade, most of my Christmas meals have been centered around soups or stews like gumbo or chili, which can be made in advance. Though this isn’t a tradition that I grew up with, it’s one that I freaking love because it frees up your time and allows you to get to hangout with your loved ones rather than slave over a hot stove all day. As I always say, soups, stews and pretty much anything braise always taste better the next day! (Or the day after that.) All you have to do on the day of your feast is reheat and focus on having a good time.

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Though I developed this tangy shredded chicken chili verde with poblanos, sweet corn & navy beans using Knorr Homestyle Chicken Stock with the holidays in mind, it would be great on any cold winter’s night. (Also – the leftovers would be great the next morning over some eggs. Mmmmmm.) If you like a less spicy chili feel free to omit the jalapeno in the recipe, or if you like it spicier feel free to throw in a second one. Recipes are merely guidelines. Let your taste buds lead the way!

*I am a professional recipe developer being paid by Knorr as part of the Knorr 4 promotion. While Knorr is footing the bill, all recipes, content and opinions comes directly from my (sometimes offbeat and slightly cheesy) brain.

Recipes in this post:

Chicken Chili Verde with Poblanos, Sweet Corn & Navy Beans

Knorr Homestyle Stock Chicken, Andouille & Tasso Ham Gumbo

Amanda — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 01:04:57 +0000

So good it'll make you wanna slap yo' mama!

We’re eating hearty chicken, andouille sausage & tasso ham gumbo thickened with dark roux and okra, served over white rice with a garnish of sliced green onions and a healthy dose of hot sauce.

Hellooooo football season! Every January once the bowl games have ended and the NFL season is wrapping up, I start counting down the days until the first game I really care about. (LSU, duh.) As September gets closer I’ve even been known to count the hours or seconds even until kickoff. It should come as no surprise then, that since I learned to love football while taking the long road through my undergrad at LSU, cajun tailgating food is near and dear to my heart! This month the recipes I’m developing using Knorr Homestyle Stock are tailgating themed. There was no way that I was gonna pass up the opportunity to make a pot of gumbo just in time for LSU’s opening game against Oregon!!! GEAUX TIGERS! The tigers pulled off a big victory over the #3 ranked team in the nation and I pulled off a hella good pot of gumbo. Pretty sure this was the best gumbo I’ve ever made. Ever. And this biatch has made some gumbo. As always, with soups or stews (or anything braised) it’s better if you make it at least a day in advance… which is perfect for tailgating. All you have to do on game day is heat up the pot, crack a beer and you’re GTG!

*Side note: As I mention in the footer of the recipe below – don’t stress out if you can’t find tasso ham or andouille sausage. You can simply substitute any smoked ham steak or any smoked sausage of your choice. It’ll still be delicious. I swear.

*I am a professional recipe developer being paid by Knorr as part of the Knorr 4 promotion. While Knorr is footing the bill, all content and opinions comes directly from my (sometimes offbeat and slightly cheesy) brain.

Recipes in this post:

Knorr Homestyle Stock Chicken, Andouille Sausage & Tasso Ham Gumbo

Chinese-Style Blood Orange Chicken

Amanda — Fri, 14 May 2010 01:11:07 +0000

Chickity China the Chinese (blood orange) chicken....

We’re eating spicy Chinese-style blood orange chicken served with steamed rice and garnished with green onions.

Apparently I need a serious vacation to get over my vacation! We’re back from paradise but I’m still not really feeling this whole “work” thing, if you know what I mean! Alas, I do believe I made some promises back in in March or April that I would start updating WWE at least three times a week. I still fully plan for that to be the case, although I’m slow getting started with it.

This dish is one I whipped up over the winter when local blood oranges were in season and I was craving Chinese food without leaving the house. Likely you won’t be able to find blood oranges in the markets since it’s the middle of May but you can always substitute any freshly squeezed ripe orange juice and zest in the recipe.

Recipes in this post:

Chinese-Style Blood Orange Chicken

Grilled Kinda-Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich

Amanda — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:30:53 +0000

Almost as good as a Hawaiian burger... almost.

We’re eating kinda-Hawaiian chicken sandwiches made with grilled soy-pepper jelly marinated chicken tenderloins, bacon, asiago cheese, juicy grilled fresh pineapple slices, red onions, spring mix and mayonnaise.

There is a bar and grill a few blocks from where we live that serves a delicious Hawaiian hamburger. The cheese, burger, pineapple, teriyaki sauce and mayo combine to form heaven in a bite. I was craving said burger the day I made this little number. Instead of making it a hamburger I when for a slightly healthier option and made it with grilled chicken tenderloin. If you really want to keep it healthy, substitute the bacon with ham or Canadian bacon and instead of mayo brush the buns with more of the soy-pepper jelly sauce. Also, if you are feeling REEEEAAAALLY lazy you can just use a bottle of teriyaki sauce to marinate the chicken rather than making the soy-pepper jelly sauce. In my opinion, chicken is never as good as a burger but this hit the spot and staved off my craving for the day!

Recipes in this post:

Kinda-Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich

Super Easy Sriracha-Peach Chicken Wings

Amanda — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:07:35 +0000

So good they'll make you forget your football team is losing...

We’re eating sweet and spicy chicken wings baked in a sriracha, peach and soy glaze.

I freaking love football… and not just because it makes cracking a beer at 10am completely acceptable. I love it for the intensity of the game, the astounding athleticism of the players, the fanatical crazy fans and yes… the tailgating food. Tailgating food changes from region to region, and while in Baton Rouge you’ll see tons of people eating gumbo or jambalaya in San Diego it’ll be tangy ceviche and carne asada tacos. One of the tailgating foods that seems to be in every region of the country is the almighty buffalo wing… and I must say, thanks, Buffalo, for such an awesome creation! If there’s a heaven, I hope it’s filled with calorieless buffalo wings, blue cheese dressing, bacon and good beer.

Anyway, our friend Justin’s family makes this thing they call Hawaiian chicken that is basically fried chicken braised in canned peaches. When I first learned about this dish, my initial response was – why’s it called Hawaian chicken? Shouldn’t it be Georgian chicken if we’re assigning it a state. Do they even grow peaches in Hawaii? After I was able to let that thought leave my mind, I started thinking about how good some spicy peach chicken wings would be and ba da bing ba da boom the conception of these sweet and spicy sriracha peach chicken wings! I’m not going to call them hawaiian chicken wings, cuz that name still boggles my mind, but Justin’s family definitely gets credit for inspiring this dish. These wings were a freaking delicious consolation prize for us while watching in pain as LSU lost to Penn State in the Capitol One bowl game. I would make these wings again this weekend while I watch the NFC championship game but I don’t want to do anything to jinx the Saints… I mean, LSU did lose the game while we were eating these wings…

Recipes in this post:

Sriracha-Peach Chicken Wings

Virginia-Style Brunswick Stew

Amanda — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:24:53 +0000

Warm, hearty and comforting. Perfect for a chilly winter day!

We’re eating sweet and peppery Brunswick stew filled with shredded chicken, smoked ham, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, and butter beans.

There are Brunswick counties in Georgia, North Carolina AND Virginia. Apparently all three of these states like to claim this traditional hunter’s stew as their own. While I have no idea of its actual origin, I would guess that the version I grew up eating was likely the Virginian since I was raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains and my dad’s family comes from the Tidewater region of Virginia – a little over an hour away from Brunswick County.

Here is pretty much all I remember from eating the Brunswick stew that my dad made when I was a wee little child: it had a sweet tomato-y base with shredded meat, corn and butter beans… and it was heavy on the the black pepper. In addition to my memory of the basic ingredients, I recall how much I thoroughly loved the dish. Maybe it was the sweetness and the heartiness or the fact that it was most often served on a cold wintery day, but something about this stew appealed to me as a child and still appeals to me as an adult. My tastebuds may have prefered to use dark meat chicken (or rabbit, really) rather than boneless skinless chicken breasts, and bacon to season rather than lean smoked pork, but my desire to make this a healthy soup won out. The recipe below is not a traditional brunswick stew, but a relatively healthy version whose flavors are remniscent of the stew I remember eating from my childhood. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. (Ooooo and if you can, make it a day in advance because, like all stews, it tastes way better on the second and third day!)

Recipes in this post:

Brunswick Stew

Two Tasty Turnover Recipes!

Amanda — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:41:48 +0000

So buttery... so flaky!

We’re eating two types of puff pastry turnovers. One is filled with roasted carrots, eggplant, sage, and chevre and the other is filled with tangy shredded barbecue chicken.

With the holidays directly around the bend AND the college football bowl games upon us, these savory turnovers make great finger food for any social event. Or, as in our case, anti-social event where you can hoard them all to yourself and make a meal out of them like T and I did. Not that I suggest eating 8 huge-ass turnovers all in one sitting! That would just be wrong.

I decided to be nice to our herbivore friends and make one of the fillings vegetarian while using up some leftover cooked chicken we had in the fridge for the other set. If you don’t have any leftover chicken in the fridge and you don’t feel like cooking the chicken yourself you can always go buy a rotisserie chicken and shred that puppy up. Rotisserie chickens are god’s gift to the lazy man. Also, a Facebook friend mentioned to me recently that he couldn’t stand puff pastry…the eating equivalent to nails on a chalkboard. If you fall into that category but still want to makes some turnovers, I would suggest using the cream cheese pastry crust I used for these sweet fig turnovers. We’d love to hear how they turn out for you down in the comments section if you end up making them!

Recipes in this post:

Roasted Veggie & Chevre and Tangy BBQ Chicken Turnovers

Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken & Whipped Sweet Potatoes

Amanda — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:04:02 +0000

What do you think? Does it look cartoon-y to you? Regardless - it tastes delicious!

We’re eating juicy chicken breasts wrapped in prosciutto then seared and finished in the oven. The chicken was served on a bed of fluffy whipped sweet potatoes and roasted garic herbed creme fraiche.

I grew up in a small town in the mountains of southwest Virginia with a soil scientist for a father whose job it was to do things like advise Smithfield on the most enviromentally friendly ways to deal with their shit-tons of pig poop. (In this case the word shit-ton seems only too fitting! ) Due to my dad’s work, he was often gifted a Smithfield ham around the holidays. I grew up loving a good country ham and pretty much dismissing all other varieties. There’s just something about that delciously salty cured pork leg that pulls at my heartstrings even still as an adult. You can imagine how happy I was to grow up and learn that even if I couldn’t afford to get a whole Smithfield ham for myself, I could still relieve my cravings for salty cured ham with the now widely available Italian version – Proscuitto.

In this dish, we’re using prosciutto to season otherwise boring chicken breasts. The ham adds a great salty, porky flavor and the pink color really pops against the bright orange of the whipped sweet potatoes and the vividly green herbed creme fraiche. Tyler actually said that he thought the dish looked “cartoony” with all of it’s crazy bright colors. I don’t know if I agree with that but I think the colors are all beeee-utiful together and the flavors were out of this world. Without a doubt, I would eat/serve this meal again.