Fall recipes

I've found a few new favorite recipes that you might want to try!

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
This is a really yummy flavored, healthy and hearty soup. I loved it! Perfect meal with some homemade muffins or bread.

INGREDIENTS:
½ cup butter
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
½ – 1 cup frozen corn
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup carrots, sliced
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
½ pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
¾ cup all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked wild rice(I used a box of Uncle Ben's cooked with the seasoning pkt)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon dried parsley
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup slivered almonds
2 cups nonfat half-and-half (use normal half-and-half if you prefer, but you won’t believe how delicious this is with the nonfat variety!)
DIRECTIONS:
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, celery, corn, chicken and carrots and sauté for 5-7 minutes until vegetables are tender and chicken is cooked through. Add the mushrooms and sauté 3-4 more minutes. Then add flour and stir well. Over medium heat, gradually pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly. Bring the soup just to a boil and then reduce heat to low and let simmer, while stirring, for 5-6 minutes, until it has thickened slightly.
Next, add the rice, salt, curry powder, mustard powder, parsley, ground black pepper and almonds. Allow all the ingredients to heat through and then pour in the half-and-half. Let the soup gently simmer for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. The soup should not boil but should simmer over low heat so that it thickens slowly.



Apple, Chicken and Brie Cheese Panini
(This is from my sister-in-law Lis - when I stayed at her house in Baltimore)

Chicken breast, thinly sliced
Seasoning for the chicken, such as montreal chicken seas. or sweet mesquite seas. or a mixture of spices that you like on chicken
granny smith apple (sliced thin)
brie cheese, sliced
runny honey
bread, or ciabatta buns


1. Put the chicken slices in a ziploc bag, add the seasonings and shake to coat.
2. Heat butter or oil in a skillet on med-high heat. Add chicken and stir fry until done.
3. Butter one side of the bread or buns. On a heated panini pan or george foreman grill, assemble the sandwiches in this order (at least make sure to put the honey on the cheese) :
bread (butter side on the grill)
chicken
cheese
drizzled honey
apple slices
bread
4. Grill until everything is melted and bread is toasted.

Enjoy!
So good!

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps
Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps
*Makes 6 wraps*
1 cup cooked rice, warm or at room temperature
1 cup cooked, shredded chicken
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 green onion, finely sliced (white and green parts)
1/2 red or green pepper, diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a combination of monterey jack and sharp cheddar)
Sour cream (optional)
6 burrito-sized flour tortillas
Mix rice together with chili powder, cumin and garlic salt. Add remaining ingredients except for cheese and sour cream. Sprinkle cheese over tortillas, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges, then arrange chicken and rice mixture down the center of each tortilla. (Optional: on some of the wraps, I dotted the cheese with about 1-2 tablespoons of reduced fat sour cream before arranging chicken and rice mixture down the center – it made the wraps delightfully creamy.) Roll stuffed tortillas, leaving edges open. Spray the tortillas all over with cooking spray.
Heat a large non-stick skillet (or griddle) over medium heat for 1 minute. Arrange 2 wraps, seam-side down, in pan and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining wraps. Serve.

This is a very simple meal! I like it because it uses ingredients that are always on hand (sometimes leftover in the fridge from another meal) and makes them tastey in a short amount of time! You can make these more healthy by subbing whole wheat tortilla's(we used these) and brown rice. And taste the rice after you've added the seasonings to see if there is enough...you can always season it up a little more than it calls for.
*I thought that putting the sour cream and cheese inside took them from good to YUM!

BBQ Chicken Salad

*Serves 4-6
INGREDIENTS:
Chicken and Salad:
3 cups cooked, shredded chicken *if you use the recipe for Crockpot BBQ chicken that follows you will omit the 2 cups BBQ sauce:
2 cups BBQ sauce, storebought or homemade
½ head iceberg lettuce, cored and chopped
2 romaine hearts, chopped
1/2 red onion diced
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, cubed small or shredded
4 ounces Monterey jack cheese, cubed small or shredded
Creamy BBQ Cilantro Lime Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise, light or regular
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 to 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
DIRECTIONS:
For the salad, combine the cooked chicken and BBQ sauce in a medium bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.
In a large bowl, toss together the iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, red onion, cilantro, corn, black beans and cheese. Toss the mixed salad with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the dressing, if desired. Otherwise, you can serve the dressing on the side. Place salad on plates and top with the prepared BBQ chicken and additional dressing.
For the dressing, combine all the ingredients together and whisk (or shake, if using a jar) vigorously to combine. You could also run this through a blender to make it even more smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Recipe Source: salad from Mel’s

This was a great salad that everyone loved! Not really fall-ish, but a good way to get lot's of greens into a meal. Will ate two plates of it!

Crockpot BBQ Chicken

4-6 pieces boneless skinless chicken breasts (i threw them in frozen... even easier!)
1 bottle BBQ sauce (sweet baby ray's all the way!)
1/4 c vinegar
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 - 1 tsp. garlic powder

mix BBQ sauce with all ingredients listed under it. place chicken in crockpot. pour sauce over it and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours. you pretty much don't even have to stir it... how easy is that!? and please eat it with these.

In the last hour of cooking I shredded up the chicken a bit so that it could absorb more of the sauce. Then I divided it up into containers: Some to use in the BBQ Chicken Salad recipe, and the rest I saved for our BBQ chicken pizza tonight. It saved some time and was even better than doing the regular sauce with chicken on top.

Food for thought:
You can substitute 1/2 of the butter in your cookie recipe for mashed avocado.
When I tried it I added the avocado with the butter and mixed it till it was smooth, then added the rest of the ingredients just like usual. They took a little bit longer to cook than usual, and there was a bit of a different color to them(have I scared you off yet?) but seriously, it was worth it!
None of my family could tell there was anything different, and I loved that they were getting half the fat. Something to try for fun!