Chicken pasta in a creamy sauce with a hint of lemon.

Bag of pasta

a few chicken breast

Good hunk of butter

large Tablespoon or so flour

1 cup or so of Chicken broth

small container of creme fresh

1 lemon, or lemon from one of those plastic things.

Cook up a bag of pasta, Drain

Cook up some chicken chunks, smaller chunks is better.

In a pan, melt some butter, then add flour and make a rue. Stir constantly for about 1 min. Then add about a cup of chicken broth. Stir until its thick. Add Lemon juice and about a small carton of creme fresh (you can use sour cream or a heavy plain (Greek) yogurt too I am sure)  Stir and heat through. Add Chicken to it. Then pour it over pasta.

Quick and Easy Chicken Stroganoff

Wide Egg noodles.  Boiled until ready… about 19 mins

Chicken cut into small chunks

Shallots or small onion, chopped fine

Mushrooms, peeled and chopped into halves or quarters.

Paprika  2 tbls or so

Thyme 1 tsp or so.

Salt and pepper

Creme Freshe or Sour Cream

Add enough oil to a pan to cover, add the thyme and paprika to it for a few seconds. Then add the shallots, Mushrooms and Chicken. Cook until the chicken is done. Add salt and pepper to taste.  When the chicken is cooked through turn heat to low and add creme fresh and mix in and heat through.

Pile noodles on a plate and put sauce over.

Red beans and rice

I looked at a whole bunch of different recipes and combined them to come up with this. My husband loved it. So I thought I better blog it so I remember how I did it.

1 onion chopped

1 bell pepper chopped

1 celery chopped

Fry them up in oil. Sweat them longer then you would think as they seem to still be crisp although they looked well cooked. I added to the sweating veg…

bay leaf, oregano, salt, paprika, garlic powder, a few veg oxo cubes

When its all sweated down add a little hot water and …

cooked smoked sausage.  (if its not cooked then I would cook them at the begining I would think)

2 cans of red beans

1 can of chopped stewed tomato

Let it simmer for about 15 mins.

Serve over hot cooked rice.

Lime and Cilantro Chicken and Quinoa

I have discovered Quinoa again. Its been a good few years since I had any and found some at the store. Quinoa is a seed and is a super food. Extremely healthy and good for you. I decided to make some with what I had in the house. Turned out really good.

To make the Quinoa

I used 1 cup Quinoa to 2 cups boiling water with 2 chicken oxo cubes in it. This was enough for my husband and me and a small plate for my 2 yr old. No left over and no seconds. First, rinse the Quinoa really well as its got a coating that, if left on, makes it bitter. I use one of those little hand held strainers. I think you can use a coffee filter too. Boil for 10 mins then cover and take off heat. Just let it absorb the rest of the water.

I put some red peppers and Green Bell peppers under the Grill (broiler) to blacken the skin. This also makes them sweeter. Do remove the skins.

I take 2 boneless chicken breasts and put them in the freezer. If they are softly frozen it easier to cut them into small chunks. Then put in a frying pan with a little oil.

Cut up a few shallots and add to the cooking chicken bits.

Cut up mushrooms into chunks and add it.

Add the peppers.

Add some fresh Cilantro (coriander) at the end of cooking the chicken.

Juice a few limes and add the juice to the Quinoa.

Mix or just pile on a plate and enjoy.

Chickens

My husband and I where watching River Cottage Spring this last week on Channel 4. A fact was brought up and I haven’t been able to shake it. Did you know that a chicken thigh has 100 more calories then it did in 1973? That is just the thigh. Modern farming is not only making chickens fatter, its making us fatter too.

I have been in the UK for 5 yrs now, so I can no longer comment on the US and their practices, but things in the UK have been moving more and more free range. When I first moved here I could rarely find free range. Now most eggs are free range and most of the stores carry free range chickens. People seem to be understanding that how we farm an animal directly effects us. Unfortunately all this is coming at a time when food prices are sky rocketing. Great.

If you want to learn more about free range chickens and why it really is a better option and healthier too then I recommend that you check out Rivercottage.net.

We really need to understand what is being fed to the animals we eat, what is being put into the food we eat and the effects its having on us. As someone who has battled weight my whole life I can say that it has made a massive impact on my life. Hidden calories are everywhere. I know that corn or corn by products are in most US products, even things that they don’t need to be in like canned tomatoes, and all those hidden calories are killing us.

Greek night. Easy meal.

We enjoy Greek night at our house. Its a buffet of sorts. I take a few chicken breasts and slice them really thin. Easy way to do this is freeze them and just as they start to thaw you can slice the breasts paper thin. I heat some olive oil in a pan and put in some Greek spices. Oregano, paprika, basil, mild chili and onion powder. Heat for 30 seconds or so. Then add chicken. The thinner the chicken the quicker it cooks.

Take some pita bread and cut in half with kitchen scissors.  Put some Hummus and Tzatziki.  *Tzatziki- chop cucumber up into small chunks. Add it to Greek yogart and add some mint. *   Add feta cheese and the chicken.  Add a few cucumber slices. Its yummy and pretty healthy.