Thai Pineapple and Chicken

In my quest for simple recipes, I tried this dish in the oven, instead of sautéing the ingredients separately.  Combining the raw ingredients and adding vegetable broth for moisture allows you to toss together a salad, prepare a grain and set the table before the timer goes off on your chicken dish.  I use a vegetarian fish sauce and a sweet Thai garlic chili sauce, both pictured below and available at H Mart or Great Wall.  They combine to make just a mildly spicy sauce.  Of course, it's easy to adjust those sauces to taste, as well as to change the vegetables in the dish.  Consider using snow peas, for instance.

Addendum 7/8/18 - Stir fried, using chicken that had already been baked, and added after the vegetables were partially done.  Used fresh pineapple and no broth.  Very quick and delicious --

Makes 6 servings
Ingredients:
1 1/2pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
1 onion peeled and cut into chunks
2 cups of broccoli florets and stems
2 cups pineapple chunks, fresh or canned, but do not add the juice
juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp vegetarian fish sauce
3-4 Tbsp Thai chili sauce  (adjust to taste)
1/2 cup low sodium vegetable broth, more as needed to keep moist

1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)
4 cups cooked brown rice

Directions:
1) Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly grease a large casserole baking dish.  Put in all of the ingredients from the chicken down to the broth.  Toss and add more broth as needed.

2) Check at about 15 minutes and add more broth if needed to keep ingredients moist.  Continue to cook another 15 minutes.

3) Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  Add cilantro if using.  Serve over rice.

Lentil stew in the slow cooker

This season, I plan to increase my use of the slow cooker in order to simplify food prep and minimize take-out.  I'd like to help you do the same.   Almost always, when I use a recipe meant for the slow cooker, I ignore any directions to saute any ingredients before adding them.  The way I see it, this is not going to be a gourmet meal.  This is meant to save time.  I also don't pay too much attention to adding ingredients at different times.  If some items are softer than they are meant to be, oh well!  As a rule, though, I avoid putting boneless chicken in these dishes, as it does get too dried out.  Bone-in chicken does also, but not to the same degree.  In this dish, the lentils contain enough protein to count as a main dish.

This stew will keep well in the refrigerator for up to one week.  In fact today, at one week, it tastes better than before.  It can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months.  Defrost and serve for an instant healthy lunch or dinner

Makes 12 servings
Ingredients:
3 cups dried lentils (1 pound), rinsed and sorted
3 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
14 oz diced tomatoes
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 medium carrots, halved lengthwise and sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

4-5 cups hot cooked couscous

Directions:
1) Put all the ingredients in a slow cooker.  Be sure there is plenty of room for the ingredients to expand without overflowing.  Stir to blend.  Cove and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until vegetables are tender.

2) Stir in oil and vinegar.  Serve over couscous.

slow cooker split pea soup - a work in progress

My goal for this next year is to create recipes that have fewer ingredients than my usual, save time and use up leftover ingredients from the fridge.

This is my first effort toward that goal.  I wanted to make split pea soup in a slow cooker, but couldn't find a recipe I liked.  Here's the start of one -

2 1/4 cups split peas (raw)
4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
2 1/2 cups water
1 leek, several layers peeled; only white part, chopped (1 cup)
1/2 medium Vidalia onion
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, peeled and chopped
1 portobello mushroom, cleaned, ribs scraped out, chopped
fresh lime - 1 Tbsp
mint - few stems
basil - about 10 leaves
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp marjoram  -- can try to increase the salt, pepper, lime and marjoram

Put all ingredients in slow cooker on low for 6 hours.

Consider scallions, zucchini.

Top with more mint, pepper, lime.  Dried mint works well, and avoids trouble of getting fresh mint.

If this isn't good, try something more similar to sweet green pea soup in Williams Sonoma Essentials of Healthy Cooking page 59, with zucchini and rice.

This was a good first try.  fairly filling.  I like the texture of NOT pureeing everything, as suggested in some recipes.