Chicken soup is always a hearty, nourishing, “makes yah feel good” type of food and that was just what I wanted today. I was also lazy, so I went the “lazy person route” and just bought a rotisserie chicken at Whole Foods. And instead of noodles, this time I went for rice — Himalayan Red Rice, in fact. It lends itself to soup as the rice stays firm for a pretty long time and have a nice nutty flavor. If you can’t find Himalayan Red Rice, any long grain “wild” rice will do (just don’t use white rice because you have mush instead of rice after a very short time).
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lunch
Last Tuesday was Mardi Gras, so I was thinking about New Orleans, and thinking about New Orleans usually has me thinking of food, so here is an updated version of my Gumbo, this time adding shrimp/prawns as well. Super delicious, not overly spicy (that sort of depends on your andouille sausage) and makes a whole lot so be prepared for leftovers (freezes well as well).
The Superbowl is this weekend, and like I often remind people this time of year, I am not an American Football fan, so I don’t have a specific team to follow, but I do watch. And it’s always a good excuse to make party snacks. Here I made some Bacon Cheddar Potato Skins …. oh so good. When I make these, I always try to find the smallest Russet potatoes that I can — like about the size of my palm. Often they are so big that you could make a boat out of them. Definitely aim for the smallest potatoes you can find here, but don’t sub out other smaller varieties like yukon gold or red potatoes; waxy potatoes won’t work here.
These are a little time consuming (the making the baked potatoes first) but they are very much worth the effort. Yummy!
One of my stated foodie goals to start the year is that I want to experiment more with heirloom and artisanal grains and such in my cooking and baking so I decided first up is lentils. These are black or beluga lentils, which hold their shape quite nicely when you prepare them. They have a bit of a rice like flavor and would do well as a side dish, if you want to up the protein and get rid of some carbs. This salad was a great lunch, flavor packed with the peppery arugula and tangy feta. Definitely a make again for me.
January is made for comfort food. It’s chilly and snowing just a bit which made it the perfect time to make these Cheesy Shells with Meatballs. Full disclosure: this is one of those times that you can bought store bought parts of this meal. I included directions on how to make meatballs, but you can also go buy some pre-cooked frozen meatballs. And I didn’t make the marinara or pesto sauces either — store bought is just fine. While people have this perception that it is hard to stuff shells (or manicotti, for that matter), if you cook the pasta al dente, it isn’t much of an issue. Enjoy!