Three (now four!) Favorite Indoor Chicken Recipes

  · 1 T vegetable oil

· 16-20 ounces of smoked sausage or kielbasa, cut into ½ inch pieces

· 1 onion, minced

· 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and cut into ½ inch square pieces

· 4 garlic cloves, minced

· 1 T minced fresh thyme (or 1 t dried)

· 2 t chili powder

· 1/8 t cayenne pepper

· 3 T all-purpose flour

· 1 ½ cups low sodium chicken broth

· 2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed

· salt and pepper to taste

· 2 cups instant rice

· 2 green onions, sliced thin

Heat oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown sausage well. Add onion, red bell pepper, garlic, thyme, chili powder and cayenne and cook until vegetables are softened and lightly browned, 8-10 minutes. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in broth, smoothing lumps and scraping up any browned bits. Transfer to crock pot.

Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper, add to crock pot and coat evenly with liquid. Cover and cook until chicken is tender, about 4-5 hours on low.

Break chicken into bite size chunks with wooden spoon. Stir in rice and cook until tender, 20-30 minutes on high. Serve with green onions as garnish.

This one is a real family favorite.  If you catch us on the right day, we can make a whole crock pot of this disappear.  If not, there are some great leftovers.  

If you are as busy as Pete, Pete’s Mate, and the Carnivorous Kids, crock pots are your friend. This is really simple and good. If you think that crock pots can only make mushy bland food, give this recipe a try, it will change your mind.  Just be sure to call it "Chicken and Dirty Rice" instead of "Dirty Chicken and Rice".  That's a whole different thing.

· 1 medium onion, diced

· 2 garlic cloves, minced

· ¼ cup green pepper or celery, diced

· ½ cup carrot, chopped

· ½ lb chicken breast, cut into cubes

· 1 T olive oil

· 5 T butter, separated

· 2 cans cream of mushroom soup

· 1 ½ t salt

· ½ t black pepper

· 3 cups milk

· 1 bay leaf

· ¼ t dried thyme

· 1 cup wild rice

· 4 cups low sodium chicken stock

· ¼ cup all purpose flour

· 1 cup chopped fresh spinach (optional)

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a sauté pan. When oil is hot, add 2T butter. When butter is melted, add chicken and sauté until browned, set aside. Add onion, green pepper/celery and carrot to pan and sauté until onions soften, 2-3 minutes, add garlic and cook 30 seconds more.

Place chicken and onion/gp/celery/carrot mixture in a stock pot, add chicken stock, bay leaf and thyme. Bring to a boil, turn heat down and simmer 10 minutes.

Add wild rice and cook 45 minutes.

Add cream of mushroom soup to pot. 

Melt remaining 3 T butter in sauce pan, whisk in flour and smooth any lumps. Gradually add milk and continue to whisk. Bring to a simmer. Stir occasionally while milk/flour mixture thickens.

Add thickened milk mixture to rest of soup. Stir in thoroughly and serve immediately. Add an expertly grilled ham and cheese along side like YOPP did in the photo.

Genius option #1: Add a big handful of chopped fresh spinach and stir in right before serving. This adds more color and nutrition. 

Genius option #2: If you routinely keep some smoked chicken in your freezer, just for moments like this (and you know you should), you can use that instead of cooking the chicken as described above. Smoked chicken is a great ingredient to have on hand for soup, enchiladas, casserole, or whatever you are putting the regular boring chicken into.

Note: The Lovely and Gracious Pete's Mate likes to use an InstaPot and this can easily be adapted for that if you are even a novice InstaPotter.

"Can't Beat Pete's Grilled Cheese!"

Serve these with the loaded cauliflower casserole recipe that follows.

• 1 pound chicken cutlets (chicken breasts sliced horizontally to be half as thick) or chicken breasts pounded to ½” thickness

• ¼ teaspoon salt, divided

• ¼ teaspoon ground pepper, divided

• ½ cup slivered oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, plus 1 tablespoon oil from the jar

• ½ cup finely chopped shallots

• ½ cup dry white wine

• ½ cup heavy cream

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Sprinkle chicken with 1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Heat sun-dried tomato oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 165 degrees F, about 6 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.

Add sun-dried tomatoes and shallots to the pan. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Increase heat to high and add wine. Cook, scraping up any browned bits, until the liquid has mostly evaporated, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and stir in cream, any accumulated juices from the chicken and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper; simmer for 2 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan and turn to coat with the sauce. Serve the chicken topped with the sauce and parsley.

Loaded Cauliflower Casserole

• 3 slices bacon

• 1 head cauliflower (about 2 pounds), cut into bite-size pieces

• ½ teaspoon ground pepper

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 1 ¼ cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided 

• ⅔ cup sour cream

• 4 scallions, sliced, divided

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. If your oven has a convection roast setting, use that at 400 degrees instead.  

Place bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat; cook until crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate and let cool. (Reserve the drippings in the pan.)

Combine cauliflower, pepper, salt and the bacon drippings in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Roast, stirring twice, until tender and starting to turn brown in spots, about 35 minutes.  

Meanwhile, combine 1 cup cheese, sour cream and half the scallions in a small bowl. When the cauliflower is tender, stir the cheese mixture into the cauliflower in the pan. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Bake until hot, 5 to 7 minutes more.

Chop the cooled bacon. Sprinkle the hot casserole with the bacon and the remaining scallions.

Do you like loaded baked potatoes?  Of course you do.  Because it’s cauliflower, this is slightly healthier.  Because the cauliflower is roasted, this actually tastes a little better than if you had used spuds.  Everybody wins!  Now we can have ice cream.

  · 1 clove garlic, crushed

· 1/2 onion, chopped

· 2 T butter

Sauté onion in butter and garlic until soft

· 1 tsp cumin

· ½ tsp Mexican oregano

· ¼ tsp black pepper

· ¼ tsp white pepper

· 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

· 1 ½ tsp dried red and green pepper

Sauté in onion mixture until fragrant (30 seconds or so)

· 2 cups frozen corn – add to mixture and sauté until warm

· 1 can creamed corn

· 64 oz chicken broth

· 3 cups smoked chicken, cut into small chunks.

In soup pot, add sautéed mixture, cream corn, chicken broth and smoked chicken, heat to almost boiling.

· 1 can black beans, drained

· 1 can diced tomatoes, drained

· 1 can diced green chilies, drained

Add black beans, tomatoes and chilies, heat.

Add 1 ½ cup heavy cream, heat

Serve with grated cheese and cilantro.

"Can't Beat Pete's Meat!