Week 8: Slow Cooking - Red Curry Chicken

Andrew and I use our crock pot regularly. Other than occasionally making about 10x what two people can possibly eat before getting sick of something, it works out so well and produces such great meals.  It has been a while since I did a curry and we had several veggies that were just dying to be made into a curry.  The result was pretty delish and made for a wonderful Sunday night relaxed dinner. (It has come to my attention after taking pictures of last week's crock pot chicken and dumplings that it is very hard to get an appetizing picture of food in a crock pot once it's been cooked, so sorry about that...)

Three chicken breasts on the bottom covered with a rough chopped onion and about 2 cups of potatoes went in first.

 Sweet potatoes and chick peas were next.

Topped off with peas and a curry sauce consisting of orange juice, red curry powder, garlic, cream, salt, and pepper were the last step before setting and forgetting.  The sauce did not cover all the veggies but did cover the meat in order to successfully cook the chicken without turning the veg to total mush. 

Once it was all cooked (about 6 hours on low since my crock pot runs pretty warm) I removed the chicken and veg into a bowl.  The chicken was tender and shredded/chuncked very easily with a fork.

In a pan I heated one can of coconut milk with about 2Tb of red curry paste. Once it had boiled and then simmered to thicken up a bit (5 minutes or so) I added the juice/sauce that was in the bottom of the crock pot plus about 1Tb corn starch to thicken it up even more. 

I put the chicken and veg back into the crock pot and poured the sauce over the top. 

We piled the delicious red curried chicken over rice and sliced up a bit of naan to complete the meal. 

We have plenty of left overs but it shouldn't be too painful to finish it all since I didn't make a bajillion cups of it, and it was so satisfyingly good!

Week 7: Love Inspired Dish - Chicken & Dumplings

When I think about love and showing love, food is one of my favorite ways to show my love.  I so enjoy cooking and cooking for other people is top of my list of satisfying ways to spend my time and energy.  Watching someone I love eat delicious things I've made is just the best! 

Chicken and dumplings is one of those stick to your ribs, warm in your tummy, love filled foods that just make you feel all snuggly.  My dear friend Carolyn was visiting from LA and came up to visit with my sister.  My birthday was on Sunday and they came to help us celebrate and to ring in my last year in my twenties. 

We wanted to go out for most of the day (hiking, touring, havocing, etc.) so the crock pot was the way to make this delicious meal.  Four skin-on chicken thighs and a chicken breast went in on the bottom.

1 can cream of mushroom and 1 cup chopped onion went in next.

1 cup chopped celery and 1 cup chopped carrots added some amazing color and flavor. About 3 cups of chicken broth, and if you have it, a chicken bullion cube are crucial for the rich chicken flavor. 

Mix it all up and cook on high for 6 hours.

It was so pretty cooking there.  I love my crock pot and Andrew and I use it regularly.  It makes the whole house smell good and it is a breeze for cleaning up. 

It cooked down quite a bit and the chicken thighs fell off the bone.  I turned off the crock pot and removed the bones and the skin from the mix.  Once it had cooled a bit, I skimmed off some of the fat.   

The dumpling mix included an egg white which Cooks Illustrated says helps hold the dumplings together.

In order to get the dumplings to cook, the broth should be simmering.  Rather than waiting for the soupy stuff to re-warm in the crock pot, I threw it in a pan and cranked it up.  So pretty!

The dumplings took longer to cook up than I thought, and the waiting was near painful, but man oh man was it worth it.  After a day of rock clamoring and walking against the wind, this was perfect.  It was a wonderful birthday dinner and I was most certainly surrounded by love.