Name: Creamy Tomato Artichoke Soup
Prep time: 5 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1 medium onion, diced; 1 cup sherry; 28-ounce can whole tomatoes (Cento or Tutturosso are my favorites); 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock; 2 cups artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped (9-ounce package frozen or 14.5 ounce can, drained); 5 ounce bag baby spinach; 1/2 cup heavy cream; salt and pepper, to taste

Creamy Tomato Soup with Artichokes

January 8, 2016

Creamy tomato soup with artichokes is rich and delicious with a healthy dose of spinach…oh, and cream…and sherry.

I find no meal more comforting than grilled cheese and tomato soup. It reminds me of the red and white can of my childhood (you know the one of which I speak)…of winter days sitting at the little round table at my parents’ house, of my elementary school cafeteria and one of the few school food meals that I actually enjoyed, and of my first teaching job, where our lunches were provided for us and grilled cheese and tomato soup were on a monthly (at least) rotation.
I don’t remember the last time that I ate that tomato soup from the little red can. I haven’t bought canned soup in ages, not since I figured out that it was pretty flippin’ easy to make soup from scratch and that it is so much better than canned. I’ll be honest, I’m sure I’d still love that soup from a can. You know, nostalgia and all. But there’s a lot of sodium in those little cans, and sugar too.

Plus, when you make your soup from scratch, you get to choose your own ingredients and put whatever you want into your soup. Me? When I make tomato soup, I want creamy tomato soup. And sherry. Yes, sherry. There’s a lot of sherry in this recipe, so if you’re feeding kids (because not all of the alcohol cooks out) half the amount of sherry or omit it altogether and just replace it with chicken stock. I basically take every opportunity that I can to add artichoke hearts to anything, and, you know, spinach and artichokes go together like peanut butter and jelly.
This winter, make this creamy tomato soup with artichokes as many times as possible. Maybe eat it with a grilled cheese sandwich (or cheese toast, which you can see is what we did) and dream of childhood.

Yield: 6 servings

Creamy Tomato Artichoke Soup

5 minPrep Time:

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Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup sherry
28-ounce can whole tomatoes (Cento or Tutturosso are my favorites)
4 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 cups artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped (9-ounce package frozen or 14.5 ounce can, drained)
5 ounce bag baby spinach
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

In a six to eight quart Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions to the pot and cook until they begin to turn translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add the sherry to the pot and allow it to come to a boil and cook briefly (about one minute).
Crush the tomatoes in your hands or lightly puree them in a blender or food processor. Add the tomatoes (including any liquid from the can) to the pot along with the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes.
Add the artichoke hearts and the spinach to the pot. Cook until the spinach wilts. Add the cream and stir to combine completely. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

https://chattavore.com/creamy-tomato-soup/

Click here to print the recipe for creamy tomato artichoke soup!

Creamy tomato soup with artichokes is rich and delicious with a healthy dose of spinach...oh, and cream...and sherry. | recipe from chattavore.com

Slow Cooker Chicken and Artichoke Melts

January 4, 2016

Slow cooker chicken and artichoke melts are so simple but incredibly gooey, cheesy, and tasty. You can throw this meal in the slow cooker in minutes!

Really, the slow cooker is a useful appliance all year long, because it is so handy when you don’t want to heat your whole house up in the summer by turning on your oven. The thing is, winter is when I really crave the types of foods that you prepare in the slow cooker…foods like soups, chilis, and roasts. I’ve been a little bit obsessed with my slow cooker lately, but that’s just because (a) I recently got an Instant Pot (⬅️affiliate link) and I can’t stop using it to cook all the things (I’ll review it for you all eventually); and (b) because I’ve been working on an article for WHISK Magazine about slow cooking. It’s definitely gotten my slow cooker creative juices flowing.

There was a time when I thought that you could pretty much just throw whatever in the slow cooker, turn it on, and walk away. No matter how long you left it, it would be perfectly falling apart when you came back to it. I learned a couple of things. First of all, some things will burn in the slow cooker; baked goods are a good example-they need to be watched closely. Second, chicken breasts are not a super slow cooker friendly food. The fat content is so low that they will dry out if you overcook them by 1.2 seconds. Third? If you put vegetables in the slow cooker and leave them all day, there’s a good chance that they will be straight-up mush by the end of the day.

My advice to you? Use chicken thighs instead. They have more fat, so they are far less likely to dry out. And while, contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary to add liquid to your slow cooker when cooking meat, it will create a juicy sauce that will help to keep your chicken from drying out. Adding delicate vegetables toward the end of cooking will keep them from completely disintegrating. You could add the cheese in this dish to the slow cooker and mix it all up with the chicken and vegetables, but I prefer the uniformness of the cheese melted over the top of the chicken and artichoke sandwich.

What’s your favorite slow cooker tip?

This post contains an affiliate link. This means that if you click the link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission. This does not affect the cost to you. For more information, read my disclosures.

Yield: 4 sandwiches

Slow Cooker Chicken and Artichoke Melts

15 minPrep Time:

8 hr, 5 Cook Time:

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Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds) - trimmed
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 medium onion - thinly sliced
1 9-ounce package frozen artichoke hearts - thawed OR 1 can quartered artichoke hearts - well drained
4 hoagie rolls - split
mayonnaise and/or mustard (optional)
4 slices Provolone cheese

Instructions

Sprinkle the chicken thighs with salt and pepper on both sides. Place into the slow cooker and sprinkle the Worcestershire sauce over the top. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
Place the onions and the artichoke hearts into the slow cooker. Cover and continue to cook on low for another two hours.
Turn off the slow cooker and use two forks to shred the chicken.
Turn on the broiler. Place the split hoagie rolls onto a baking sheet and spread with mayo and/or mustard if desired. Divide the chicken among the rolls and top each with a slice of Provolone (I break the cheese slices in half to get better coverage).
Melt the cheese under the broiler. Top with the top half of the hoagie roll and serve immediately.

https://chattavore.com/slow-cooker-chicken-and-artichoke-melts/

Click here to print the recipe for slow cooker chicken and artichoke melts!

Slow cooker chicken and artichoke melts are so simple but incredibly gooey, cheesy, and tasty! | recipe from chattavore.com

Bacon Ranch Chili with Chicken

November 30, 2015

Bacon ranch chili with chicken is everything that you want from a winter dish…warm, thick, flavorful, and hearty. Try this different twist on white chicken chili!

I’ve talked, oh, at least once or twice (?) about how much I love soup when the weather starts to get coolers. All kinds of soup…brothy soups, creamy soups, smooth soups, soups with lots of texture. Oh, and stews, which are really just thicker or chunkier soups. But what is chili? Is chili soup? Yes? No? I think it counts, but when you can ladle a soup onto a hot dog it is definitely leading a double life.

I’ve been making regular old chili (that sounds awfully dull, but really it isn’t) for years, but I’ve failed to happen upon a recipe for white chicken chili that really made my spine tingle. I remember that years ago when we used to visit Panera often that they served a white chicken chili that Philip loved to order in a bread bowl and it was quite good. Years later, during my short-lived stint as a Pampered Chef consultant (yes, really. That sort of thing is not my bag, baby. ?? I am definitely better as a blogger than as a salesperson.) I made a chicken chili from a Pampered Chef recipe and it was so spicy I couldn’t eat it. It kind of ruined chicken chili for me for a while.

This summer as I was dreaming up recipes for the blog I decided that it was time to make a white chicken chili. Not just any white chicken chili, I decided. Chicken bacon ranch chili. I started searching for recipes to see if anything like it existed, and let me tell you…there are lots of recipes for chicken bacon ranch chili and none of them were anything like I had in mind. Good, because that meant that I could develop an original idea on my own…bad because I had no measuring stick, no springboard. All the other recipes were tomato-based…some of them with ranch dressing poured on top. Definitely not what I was going for.

It took me a few tries to get this right. The first time I used chunks of chicken and Philip vetoed that. The second time, I forgot to thaw the chicken and ended up just making bacon ranch chili (oops). Third time is a charm, though, and this chicken bacon ranch chili is everything that I had hoped it would be…warm, thick, flavorful, hearty. I served it with ranch-flavored tortilla chips, which turned out to be exceedingly dangerous for me to have in the house (where are my stretchy pants?) but you could serve it with plain tortilla chips, corn chips, or crusty bread. Which ever way you serve it, I hope you’ll love this chicken bacon ranch chili!

Yield: 4 servings

Chicken Bacon Ranch Chili

10 minPrep Time:

30 minCook Time:

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Ingredients

For the Ranch Dressing Mix

1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

For the Chili

4 slices bacon, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
1-1 1/5 pounds chicken thighs, trimmed
ranch dressing mix (recipe above or use one envelope of store-bought)
1 14.5 ounces can diced tomatoes
2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
4 ounces cream cheese
salt, to taste
tortilla chips, for serving (optional)
Monterey Jack cheese, for serving (optional)
sour cream, for serving (optional)

Instructions

Stir the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
In a 6-8 quart Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels. Add the onion and peppers to the pan and cook until softened.
Add the chicken thighs to the pan in a single layer. Cook for two minutes then flip and cook for two additional minutes.
Add the ranch dressing mix, tomatoes, beans, and chicken broth to the pan and stir to combine completely. Bring to a simmer and cook for ten minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate or a cutting board and shred with two forks.
Add the chicken back to the pot along with the cream cheese. Cook and stir until the cream cheese has melted completely. Taste and add salt if needed. Serve topped with the bacon and, if desired, sour cream, cheese, and chips.

https://chattavore.com/chicken-bacon-ranch-chili/

Click here to print the recipe for chicken bacon ranch chili!

Chicken bacon ranch chili is everything that you want from a winter dish...warm, thick, flavorful, and hearty. Try this different twist on white chicken chili! | chattavore.com

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

November 27, 2015

Creamy chicken noodle soup is a perfect way to warm up on a cold day. Plus…you can use your leftover turkey instead of chicken if you want!

All right, friends, Thanksgiving is over. I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday with their families and that you don’t get into any Black Friday fights. We don’t do Black Friday…we abhor crowds and do everything that we can to avoid them unless it is absolutely necessary that we wade into the insanity. I’d much rather stay home and read cookbooks and binge-watch sitcoms on Netflix.

It’s finally starting to get cold here, much to my chagrin. I am not a fan and, for that reason, plan to never live above the Mason-Dixon line. Actually, I plan to never live above the Hamilton-Rhea County line, but whatever. Some of my friends up North have posted on Facebook about snow or extreme temperatures and I’m all “Better you than me.” I’m telling you, I hate the cold.

I will say, though, that cold brings me an excuse to make soup without seeming like a crazy lady, and that’s a good thing (I eat soup year-round, and apparently there are some people that think that isn’t normal). When it’s cold, I try to make soup at least one night a week…we’ll eat it for at least two dinners, often having leftovers for lunch or to put in the freezer as well. That, you guys, is a very good thing.

I’ve made plenty of chicken noodle soup in my years but I’ve honestly never been thrilled with the result. The more I think about it, the more certain I am that it was because chicken noodle soup seems so simple, like you could just throw some chicken and some noodles and perhaps some carrots into a pot full of chicken stock and turn up a great soup. That’s not the case, people. Chicken noodle soup takes some work to build the flavors, to make them complex and not watery. A couple of tries and I had it right with this one, with a little heavy cream thrown in for good measure. Cause you know, that’s how I roll. If you make this creamy chicken noodle soup, you may never make it any other way again!

Yield: 4-5 servings

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

15 minPrep Time:

35 minCook Time:

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Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1-1.5 pounds chicken thighs, trimmed
salt and pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large onion, diced
2-4 carrots, diced (depending on the size)
2 stalks celery, diced
8 ounces mushrooms, wiped clean and quartered
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups low-sodium or homemade chicken stock
2 cups medium egg noodles
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions

Preheat the olive oil in a 6-8 quart stockpot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken thighs with salt and pepper then brown in the olive oil for 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove to a plate and set aside.
Add the butter to the pot and reduce the heat to medium-low. When the butter has melted, add the onions, carrots, and celery, cover, and cook for 5-10 minutes, until the vegetables are softened and just beginning to brown on the edges. Uncover and add the mushrooms; cook until the mushrooms begin to soften.
Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir to combine. Cook for about one minute to cook out the raw flavor of the flour. Slowly add the chicken stock while stirring to incorporate. Increase the heat to medium and add the chicken back to the pot. Bring to a simmer and cook until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken and add the noodles to the pot. Cook for the time recommended on the noodle package.
While the noodles are cooking, shred the chicken with two forks. Add back to the pot. When the noodles have finished cooking, add the milk and heavy cream and stir until fully incorporated. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Notes

This soup tastes just as good when served as leftovers, but the noodles will continue to soak up the liquid so it will be more like a pasta dish then a soup when served as leftovers.

https://chattavore.com/creamy-chicken-noodle-soup/

Creamy chicken noodle soup is a perfect way to warm up on a cold day. Plus...you can use your leftover turkey instead of chicken if you want! | chattavore.com

Marinated Skirt Steak & Cilantro-Lime Ghee

November 16, 2015

This marinated skirt steak with cilantro-lime ghee is a simple, quick weeknight dinner. And it’s paleo, from the new cookbook Paleo Planet by Becky Winkler.

Blogging can be a lonely job, y’all. Unlike with most jobs, you don’t have office mates or co-workers to chat with. As a special education teacher, I always had an assistant or two around to talk to and, even in my current job, I talk to all sorts of people in the schools I visit and have a lot of friends who do a job like mine. Education = not a lonely job.

But with blogging, you’re alone most of the time. I mean, my husband is here, but he’s watching TV or whatever while I am focused on writing. That is exactly what is happening as I type this. So, when I discovered the paleo blog A Calculated Whisk and Becky, the author, replied to one of my comments stating that she was soon moving to Chattanooga from Boston, I was super-excited. A bloggy friend in my city! Becky gets it…she blogs while working a full-time job just like me. We’re blog sisters (that is so cheesy. Sorry Becky.).

I was so excited when Becky asked me to review her new cookbook, Paleo Planet. The book was just released by The Harvard Common Press on November 3 and I was thrilled when it came in the mail. First of all, the book is absolutely gorgeous-a bright and airy, perfectly photographed paperback. Becky took all the pictures, you guys. I need to hang out with her more. Maybe I’ll soak up some of her photo magic.

The tagline of the book is Primal Foods from the Global Kitchen with more than 125 recipes. In the book, Becky has taken on international cooking from a paleo kitchen. Becky manages cornbread without the corn (my best friend, who had a corn allergy but desperately misses cornbread, will be so happy), noodles without the pasta (zucchini noodles aka “zoodles”, anyone?), and Colcannon (an Irish potatoes & greens dish) without the potatoes (let’s hear it for rutabaga!). There’s a photo for every recipe, and if the photos don’t make you want to eat every single dish in the book then you are the one with the problem (okay, that was a little harsh. Sorry.).

The book is divided into eight chapters: Spice Blends, Pantry Staples, & Sauces; Appetizers, Soups, Salads, & Snacks; Poultry; Beef, Pork, & Lamb; Seafood; Vegetables; Breakfast & Brunch, and Desserts. I decided to venture into the beef, pork, & lamb chapter and make the marinated skirt steak with cilantro-lime ghee. The hardest part was the ghee, which was totally worth it. You guys, it’s like brown butter without the brown bits. So yum. It was very easy to make, but make sure you have cheesecloth…I didn’t and had to strain the butter through a coffee filter (I have a problem with reading recipes sometimes).

Aside from that, the only difficult task is making sure that you marinate the steak long enough. It needs at least 2 hours to marinate so that it breaks down the tough fibers of the skirt steak a bit (you can do it overnight, though, or throw it in the marinade before you leave for work in the morning). After that, you just grill the steak for a few minutes (seriously: 6 minutes), rest it, and slice it. The softened ghee stirs into a compound ghee with a few simple, clean ingredients and flavors the steak beautifully. Everything about this marinated skirt steak sings.

I can’t wait to make more of the dishes from Paleo Planet, and I hope you guys will check out Becky’s book. You can order Paleo Planet from Amazon (affiliate), Barnes & Noble, and IndieBound.

Because I think that Becky’s cookbook is fantastic, I have included an affiliate link for purchase from Amazon. If you make a purchase via this link, I will receive a small commission. This will not change the cost to you!

I received a copy of this book for review, but as always, all opinions are my own!

Yield: 4-6 servings

Marinated Skirt Steak with Cilantro-Lime Ghee

2 hrPrep Time:

15 minCook Time:

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Ingredients

For the ghee

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter

For the steak

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds skirt steak

For the compound ghee

1/4 cup ghee, softened
1 clove garlic, finely minced (I use my garlic press for this)
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest (this was about the zest of one lime for me)
1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
1/8 teaspoon cumin
pinch cayenne pepper
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Make the ghee: Line a fine-mesh sieve with a double layer of cheesecloth. Set over a large heatproof bowl. Heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, swirling frequently. Allow the butter to come to a boil and watch closely until brown bits begin to form and fall to the bottom of the pan (these are the milk solids). When the brown bits turn a rich chestnut color, remove from the heat and strain through the cheesecloth-lined colander. Allow to cool to room temperature then transfer to a glass jar and store in the refrigerator.
Marinate the steak: In bowl large enough to hold the steak, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, garlic, sea salt, and black pepper. Add the steak and turn to coat. Cover and store in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Make the compound ghee: stir together all compound ghee ingredients until well-combined. Store at room temperature until ready to use.
Cook the steak: remove the steak from the refrigerator 45 minutes before you plan to cook it. Preheat an outdoor grill, indoor grill (like a George Foreman), or a cast iron pan (I used a cast iron pan heated over medium-high heat).
Pat the steak dry with paper towels and wipe away the large pieces of garlic. Grill the steak for at least 2 minutes on each side or to desired doneness (mine took 3 minutes per side to get a nice char on the outside and medium-rare on the inside).
Remove the meat from the grill/pan and place on a cutting board or plate. Cover with foil and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes. Carefully cut against the grain and serve with the cilantro-lime ghee.

Notes

The prep time includes minimum marinating time. It is important to cut fibrous cuts of meat like skirt steak or flank steak against the grain. If you cut with the grain, the long fibers of meat will be difficult to chew.

https://chattavore.com/marinated-skirt-steak-with-cilantro-lime-ghee/

Click here to print the recipe for marinated skirt steak with cilantro-lime ghee!

This marinated skirt steak with cilantro-lime ghee is a simple, quick weeknight dinner. And it's paleo, from the new cookbook Paleo Planet by Becky Winkler of A Calculated Whisk. | chattavore.com

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