InstaPot Chicken Chilaquiles

We make this dish regularly and it is just as good in the winter as it is in the summer. Lately, we’ve been using Beanitos in place of tortilla chips and it is just as good.

 

 

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 Chicken Chilaquiles
Servings
people
Ingredients
Servings
people
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In your InstaPot add the oil, chicken, cumin, garlic, paprika, salt and chicken broth. Set the venting knob to Sealing Position. Set to Poultry for 10 minutes.
  2. While the chicken is cooking, dice the onion and green pepper.
  3. When the chicken has finished cooking, quick release the pressure by carefully move the venting knob from Sealing Position to Venting Position.
  4. Remove the chicken.
  5. Add the tomatoes, onion, green pepper and green onions to the pot. Turn to saute for 10-15 minutes.
  6. Use an immersion stick blender and blend the mixture. Bring to a boil.
  7. Shred the chicken and add back to the pot.
  8. Cover and put on keep warm until ready to serve.

Tandoori Chicken

 

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Tandoori Chicken
Let's be honest. We LOVE British Indian Cuisine. J found an amazing cookbook from The Curry Guy and we cook our way through the book regularly. With a few modifications, even our toddler loves this dish. It's best on a grill but we've made it on the stove and in the oven with similar results. 
Servings
Ingredients
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Using a sharp knife, make three slits in each chicken if leaving whole, if you're going the kabob method, dice up the chicken into 1-inch cubes.
  2. Squeeze the lemon juice all over the chicken thighs and sprinkle with the salt and let sit while you make the marinade.
  3. Place all the marinade ingredients in a food processor and blend to a fine paste. Cover the chicken pieces with the marinade and rub it with your hands deep into the flesh of the chicken. We often stick the chicken and the marinade into a ziptop bag and let marinate for a few hours up to overnight in the refrigerator. You can let it marinate for up to 48 hours, the longer the better!
  4. When ready to cook, either preheat your cast iron skillet or preheat your grill. An important note from the Curry Guy that is good for all things grill related: "You are ready to grill when you can hold your hand two inches above the grill without it being unbearably hot."
  5. Cook the tandoori chicken turning occasionally until the chicken is cooked through and the edges are blackened.
Recipe Notes

I love this dish and everything else The Curry Guy comes up with. He never lets us down!

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Mexican Black Bean Soup with Sausage Recipe

Mexican Black Bean Soup with Sausage
It’s been a roller coaster of spring-like temperatures and freezing, regular February temperatures around here the last few weeks. That plus the lovely no six diet (no: dairy, wheat,eggs, fish, soy or peanuts) diet I’m on to help baby A’s digestive issues means we’ve had to get very creative with dinners. Luckily for me, J has taken the changes to our culinary repertoire in stride and has come up with a lot of alternatives to our favorite dishes. He found this lovely one from Food and Wine magazine.  Since I was baby A wrangling, I only got a picture of the finished product.

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 Mexican Black Bean Soup with Sausage Recipe
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Ingredients
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil until shimmering.
  2. Add the onion and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until softened, about 3 minutes.
  3. Add the garlic and the chipotle or ground chipotle, cumin and oregano and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
  4. Add the black beans and chicken stock and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes.
  5. Using a potato masher, coarsely crush some of the beans (we skipped this step).
  6. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over high heat.
  7. Add the sausage and cook until browned, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
  8. Add the sausage to the beans.
  9. Then add the lime juice and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.
  10. Simmer the soup for 2 minutes to allow the flavors to blend, or longer if you'd like!
  11. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve, passing the sour cream and lime wedges separately.

My opinion:
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this ended up being very filling and just the right amount of heat to warm me from the inside. It’s absolutely a soup we will add to the rotation, even once we (hopefully!) can start adding the no items back to my diet.

Homemade Stuffed Poblanos

Or homemade chile rellenos. A new grocery store opened in our town and it is amazing. I’ve described it as if Trader Joes and Whole Foods had a baby. The produce is fantastic. When I stopped by opening day, the poblanos were some of the best I’ve seen since leaving Texas. So I roasted them and we had them for dinner.

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 Homemade Stuffed Poblanos
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Ingredients
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425.
  2. In a blender or food processor, combine tomatoes in puree, jalapeno, half the onions, and 2 whole garlic cloves; puree.
  3. Season with salt to taste.
  4. Pour sauce into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; set aside.
  5. Add a little oil to the skillet and sauté the onions, garlic and cumin.
  6. If using ground beef, brown the beef in the same skillet with the garlic and onions, if you want, add some of the salsa.  
  7. Add half the poblano in the salsa covered baking dish. 
  8. Dividing evenly, spoon the onions and beef into the poblano half.
  9. Sprinkle poblanos with the shredded pepper jack cheese.
  10. If room add, the other poblano half with the inside in the salsa (so the skin side is up). (Since there wasn't room in our dish, I just added them where there was room.)
  11. Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes.
  12. Remove from oven.
  13. Add the Velveeta cubes and cover with the other poblano half. Note: you'll want to use a fork or other utensil, the poblano tops will be hot.
  14. Return to the 425 degree oven for 20 more minutes or until the salsa is slightly thickened and the poblano half on top is starting to brown. 
  15. Let cool 10 minutes.

My Opinion:
The poblanos that were on top of the salsa roasted up quite nicely adding a sweet char to the pepper. Next time, I’ll roast the entire poblano before adding the filling. Other than that, the only other addition is to smother the entire stuffed poblano in Mag Mud for extra creaminess.

Homemade Chicken Shawarma

Chicken Shawarma at Home by aurorameyer.com
J recently found the most amazing chicken shawarma recipe originally from David Bonom, Cooking Light July 2008. It’s perfect with our homemade pitas.

Ingredients:
about 1 pound chicken breast (we used boneless, skinless) cut into 16 (3-inch) strips
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil + 2 tablespoons olive oil for the skillet
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 garlic cloves, minced (or more)
2-3 tablespoons Greek yogurt

Sauce:
1/2 cup plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons tahini
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove, minced

Directions:
We made the sauce first so we could use the left over Greek yogurt in the chicken marinade. Combine yogurt and next 4 ingredients (through 1 garlic clove), stirring with a whisk.  To prepare chicken, combine first 6 ingredients in a a zip top bag. Add chicken. Toss well to coat. Let stand at room temperature or at least 20 minutes. Heat a skillet to medium-high heat. Dump the chicken strips into the skillet. Cook about 10 minutes until cooked through. Serve immediately on a homemade pita with lettuce, tomato slices, red onion and sauce.

Homemade Chicken Shawarma by aurorameyer.com

My opinion:
Two of these sandwiches is more than enough for an adult. It’s filling and tasty and I always wish there were even more leftovers for lunch the next day.

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 Homemade Chicken Shawarma
Servings
Ingredients
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. We made the sauce first so we could use the left over Greek yogurt in the chicken marinade. Combine yogurt and next 4 sauce ingredients (through 1 garlic clove), stirring with a whisk.
  2. To prepare chicken, combine the first 6 ingredients in a zip-top bag.
  3. Add chicken.
  4. Toss well to coat.
  5. Let stand at room temperature or at least 20 minutes.
  6. Heat a skillet to medium-high heat.
  7. Remove the chicken strips and add them to the skillet.
  8. Cook about 10 minutes until cooked through. Serve immediately on a homemade pita and lettuce, tomato slices, red onion and sauce.