Great Ways to Use Leftover Rotisserie Chicken

I am a big fan of store cooked rotisserie chicken. I am also a fan of using leftover rotisserie chicken. They are well priced and offer a variety of ways to use them. I bought one at the store on Sunday and we have already had a few small meals from this one. We usually start with chicken sandwiches. 

Today, hubby ate the two legs and it is now time to finish up the breast meat. I decided to make a chicken salad for my lunch.

I had less than a full breast left and I chopped it up into bite-size pieces. I chopped half of a rib of celery into small pieces. To this, I added 1/4 of a Granny Smith apple sliced thin and added a hand full of chopped pecans.  Finally, I added a tablespoon of mayonnaise and a good pinch of curry. I mixed it all together and just ate it out of the bowl. It was delicious. 

Now all that is left is to turn the bones into chicken soup. Take the bones and cover them with water in a dutch oven. Add two chopped ribs of celery and a large diced onion. Cook for two hours on low. Drain the broth and add a large sliced carrot. Pull the leftover meat off of the rotisserie chicken carcass and add. Taste the broth, if needed add some chicken broth to up the flavor. Bring to a boil and add noodles. 

Oh yum, not a bit of the chicken was wasted using these suggestions for great ways to use leftover rotisserie chicken. 

Be careful how much ice tea you drink

I hesitated to put this article on my food blog but since it relates to a very popular summer drink I decided to publish it. 

 

An article in the April 2, 2015 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine entitled "A Case of Iced-Tea Nephropathy" details the case of a man in Arkansas who suffer kidney damage. Doctors determined after ruling out all other possible causes that it was ice tea that had caused the renal failure. 

The man who has not been identified admitted to drinking 16 8 ounce glasses of iced tea a day. Black tea contains oxalate. A biopsy showed oxalate crystals, interstitial inflammation with eosinophils, and interstitial edema consistent with a diagnosis of oxalate nephropathy according to Dr. Umbar Ghaffar of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. 

His kidneys were excreting 99 mgs of oxalate with the normal being anywhere from 3-44mgs. Oxalate is also present in spinach, rhubarb and peanuts.

While no one is suggesting that we stop drinking iced tea, moderation in all things is the lesson to be learned from this article.

To read the article go to the New England Journal of Medicine online.

Browned Beef Stew

It is starting to feel like stew weather. I don't know about you but I start to think of heartier meals as the temperatures start to drop. I have been making browned beef stew for about 40 years. I found the recipe in a magazine and my family loved it so much it became a staple. 

Begin with a pound and a half of lean stewing beef and 1/4 cup flour. Add a little salt and pepper to the flour.

Toss the beef in the flour.  Brown the beef in olive oil.

While the beef is browning chop four organic carrots and half a large onion. Add them to the Crockpot along with 6 bouillon cubes, 3 bay leaves, one tub of Knorr Homestyle Beef Stock and some Gravy Master for color.

When the beef is browned add to the Crockpot and cover with water. I never measure. I then add Worcestershire Sauce to taste. ( a couple tablespoons)

Cook on high for 6 hours. Add a package of frozen peas and pearl onions and Wondra to thicken the broth, it should look like gravy. 

This stew is served over mashed potatoes and it is so good, very much comfort food. These days I use Simply Mashed Potatoes but homemade is certainly fine.

This is a generous portion of stew, plenty will be left over for an additional meal or two.

Easy Ham and Bean Soup

I am someone who never wastes anything. We had a spiral ham for Christmas. I didn't glaze it since I knew that I would want to make a ham and bean soup and glaze would affect the taste. This soup is so simple, so delicious and if you have a ham bone, very inexpensive. If you don't have a bone, a ham hock will work just as well. I use ham hocks when I feel like having ham and bean soup but don't want to cook a large ham. They usually sell in packs of two and you can freeze one for a later soup. 

• 1 Bag of dry beans (I use navy pea beans, but other beans work just as well)
• 1 Large onion ( I used a sweet onion)
• 1 Hambone or ham hock

The dry beans need to be soaked. I put them in my 6-quart Dutch oven and cover them with water the night before making the soup.  Drain the water just before making the soup, add the ham bone and refill with water to within an inch of the top of the pan. Chop the onion into chunky pieces, this is a hearty soup. You can add some black pepper but since ham is salty, salt is not necessary.

Place the cover on the pan and turn the heat up to high until the water starts to boil, then lower it down to low so that it will simmer for several hours.  This soup can also be made in a slow cooker. Just put the cooker on high for 4-6 hours and then put it on low until you are ready to eat. 

That's all there is to it. Eat with a side salad or crusty bread. This is a perfect soup to get rid of a leftover ham bone and a comforting meal for a cold winter's day. It has an amazing amount of flavor for such a simple dish. 

My photo of my soup before it was cooked.

Making Delicious Homemade Hot Chocolate

It can be brutally cold in the northeast and some days seem to be perfect for a cup of hot cocoa. I am not the type to open a package of Swiss Miss. I make my own homemade hot chocolate from scratch. 

I made two cups of cocoa. I used a 3-quart non-stick saucepan but any saucepan will do. This is slow cooked hot chocolate not microwaved. 

Add 6 teaspoons of unsweetened Hershey cocoa and 4-6 tablespoons of sugar depending on how sweet you like it,  to the pan.  I opted for 4. Add enough warm water to makes a smooth paste. Slowly add 3 cups of milk. I used 1 percent but whatever you prefer is fine. I placed the heat on medium-high. 

I then added a pinch of salt, a shake of cinnamon and a dash of vanilla. All of which is unnecessary for a good cup of cocoa. 

Bring the mixture almost to a boil and pour into a large mug. Be careful it is hot. We ended up adding a little more warm milk to tone it down a bit, it was too sweet for our taste but of course, everyone's taste is different. You can top it with marshmallows if that is your preference. 

I do love a mug of hot cocoa on a cold winter day. Sometimes I will use Ghirardelli or Godiva sweeten cocoa and they are decadent. Of course, marshmallows are an optional addition.  

Review: Bigelow Green Tea and Pomegranate

I am a big fan of green tea and have become quite fond of the Bigelow Green Tea and Pomegranate. It seems to be favored by many of the hotels that I have been frequenting in their coffee bars. 

It has a pleasant ever so slightly sweet taste and a pretty color that is light red. It makes a delicious tea with a cookie or it can certainly be enjoyed alone. I have been known to add honey if it is available but the taste is smooth enough to be enjoyed without any additions. I have also added ice to turn it into a very enjoyable iced tea. 

If you are a fan of fruited green teas, this one, in my opinion, is worth trying. If you can't find it at your local grocery store it is available on Amazon.com

An Easy Dinner Idea Salisbury Steak

As I looked through the fridge trying to decide what to cook for dinner, I noticed that I had a pound of lean ground beef. I decided to make my interpretation of a Salisbury Steak. I took about half of the hamburger and made two patties. I took out a small fry pan and place a little olive oil in the bottom and added the patties. I placed the heat at medium.

I peeled two good sized onions and sliced them. Adding olive oil to a large fry pan I started to lightly sauté them. I also had an 8 oz. package of sliced white button mushrooms. As the onions started to soften I added the mushrooms.

I turned the patties and seasoned with steak seasoning. I had a package of Simply Mashed Potatoes with garlic in the fridge which I unwrapped and placed in the microwave for three minutes.

As the onions and mushrooms cooked I added one package of Knorr Homestyle Beef Stock and a few tablespoons of water. I cooked for an additional few minutes.




The patties were done so they went on the plate with a generous scoop of mashed potatoes and then the beef patties were covered with the beefy onion and mushroom mixture. It was quite delicious and something I will definitely make again. I added a little bit of Caesar salad to my plate after I took the photo.

This made a generous meal for two which is exactly what we needed. You could easily double or triple the amount to feed a family of four or six. 

Sixpence Pie Company Southington, Conn. CLOSED

Update: They are now closed. 

I am in love with Cornish pasties. They are little pies that miners used to take for lunch at work. You can eat them easily without implements and they are tasty. Traditionally they have beef, potatoes, and a veg inside with gravy. So delicious, hearty and easy to eat on the go. 

While these are quite easy to find in England, finding one here in Connecticut has until recently been near impossible. Enter the Sixpence Pie Company. While they don't call them a pasty, they are for all intents and purposes a pasty. 

 

I met them initially at the Coventry Farmer's Market and then at the Wethersfield Farmer's Market and finally at the Wadsworth Mansion. While this works fine in the summer, I want pasties all year round and so have familiarized myself with their store in downtown Southington. 

 

Al's favorite flavor pie is beef Bourguignon followed by shepherd pie.I am a fan of mashed potato, cheddar cheese and bacon pie and the artichoke and blue cheese. 

 

In addition to the pasties they make quiche and small sweet pies. The shop has a couple of small tables to sit and eat and if you are like me, you will want to take some home with you. 

 

If you are in the mood for something delicious and not the same old thing you have for lunch every day, I highly recommend the Sixpence Pie Company in Southington.              

 

Homemade Apple Crumble

Many years ago we planted 2 apple trees in our backyard. We got a few apples the first year and then nothing. Last year one tree was damaged and had to be cut back. This year the other tree had an abundant crop of apples.

I decided that nothing would be better than making a homemade apple crumble with my own apples. Our tree is a Macintosh apple tree.  Another great use would have been homemade applesauce.

Al brought me in a bag of apples that had fallen from the tree. They were pretty small and a bit bruised but I was able to peel enough to make a crumble in my round stone baking dish. I am going to estimate it was 4 cups of peeled and sliced apples.

To that, I added 2 tablespoons of sugar, a teaspoon of nutmeg and a pinch of cinnamon. I use my mother's French Canadian spicing which is more nutmeg, less cinnamon, you, of course, should season it according to your personal preferences.

For the crumble, I used my mini food processor. I cut 4 tablespoons of cold butter into small pieces, added 1/3 cup of white flour and 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar along with a 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg and pulsed until it was crumbly.

Now in honesty, I didn't measure much of anything I just added and pulsed until it looked right so I have estimated what I used.

I then sprinkled the topping over the apples and put them in a 350-degree oven on the timer for 30 minutes. I didn't remove it when done since I was busy elsewhere which is why I use the timer to turn off the heat.

It was delicious and I have made homemade apple crumble two more times with equal success. It can be served with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. I personally prefer heavy cream just poured over it.



This recipe makes enough for 6-8 servings and the grandsons loved it as well. What's not to like about homemade apple crumble? 

A Warm Welcome to All Things Food

Welcome to my new food blog. I am a obsessive foodie. While I am not a gourmet cook by any stretch of the imagination, I like to think that I cook economical, tasty food. I also very much enjoy dining out and I am all about great food over abundant food. 

I invite you to join me on my foodie journey and I also invite you to guest blog on my blog if you have recipes, tips, or suggestions that you would like to share.