Select Page
Slow Cooker Chicken Thai Soup

Slow Cooker Chicken Thai Soup

Our family loves Thai soup. So I’m always on the look out for recipes that taste like what I’ve been served at good Thai restaurants. In September, I found and tucked away a slow cooker chicken Thai soup recipe until December and winter arrived. It was an immediate hit for several reasons. First, because of the slow cooker, it was fairly easy to put together. Second, it is gluten, dairy, and soy-free so it required no modifications for our dietary needs. Third, it tasted delicious and received the coveted Hiram seal of approval. And fourth, it can be easily doubled or even tripled to create freezer meal.

My version of the recipe (which I couldn’t find on Parade’s Community Table recipe page) is slightly easier than the original and uses easier-to-find ingredients. Also, I through rice noodles into the mix to make the soup a hearty and complete meal.

Slow Cooker Chicken Thai Soup

2 lemons, zested
3 cups chicken or turkey broth
1/4 cup fish sauce (can use soy sauce)
1 (2 inch) piece ginger, peeled and grated
6 strips lime zest
1 thinly sliced shallot or 2 thinly sliced green onion
1/4 cup red curry paste
1 1/2 pounds chicken hindquarters
4 ounces mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 finely chopped large carrot
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 (16 ounce) package of Thai rice noodles
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon dried basil or 2 tablespoons chopped, fresh basil
1 thinly sliced green onion
1 red, yellow, or orange sweet pepper, thinly sliced

Preheat the slow cooker. Place lemon zest, broth, fish sauce (or soy sauce), ginger, lime zest, shallot or green onion, chicken hindquarters, and mushrooms in cooker. Cover and cook on high for 2 1/2 hours or on low for 5 hours.

Remove chicken from cooker and cool before picking meat off the bones. Then put it back in the cooker.*

Add coconut milk, chopped carrot, and red curry paste. Cook on high for 30 minutes longer or for 1 hour on low.

20 minutes before serving, prepare the Thai noodles according to package directions. Place them in a large bowl.

Right before serving, stir in lime juice, cilantro, basil, and green onion.

To serve, place rice noodles in the bottom of each soup bowl. Then ladle soup onto the noodles. Garnish with chopped cilantro and sliced green onions, along with the sweet pepper slices and add some red pepper flakes for heat if that’s your jam.

*If making freezer meals, allow this mixture to cool and place in labeled gallon zipper bags. Proceed with the rest of the recipe when you serve the freezer meal.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Clean Out the Vegetable Drawer Bolognese Sauce

Clean Out the Vegetable Drawer Bolognese Sauce

Whip up this bolognese sauce during late summer when the tomatoes are threatening to take over the kitchen. It's so tasty!Once again, this recipe comes to you courtesy of multi-generational living, via my daughter. During July and August she prepared this bolognese sauce whenever the tomatoes threatened to take the kitchen hostage. The wide variety of vegetables make the sauce a banquet of flavors mingling together. And it’s a good way to clean out the vegetables languishing in the fridge. Just remember that the secret of good sauce is to let it simmer for several hours. So you’ll be wise to start it right after lunch. But be warned–smelling the sauce all afternoon will work up a big appetite. So make plenty!

Clean Out the Vegetable Drawer Bolognese Sauce

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, diced very fine
2 carrots, diced very fine
2 stalks celery, diced very fine
2 cloves garlic
1/2 small head of cauliflower, chopped into small pieces
4 or 5 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons or more olive oil
2 teaspoons salt or more to taste
1/4 cup red or white wine
balsamic vinegar (optional)

In deep, heavy pot heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Sauté onions, carrots and celery until onions are translucent. While sautéing the vegetables, add the salt. Add the cauliflower, chopped into small pieces, roughly the size of cooked ground beef.

When the vegetables begin to brown, add the ground beef. Cook until the beef is browned. Add in the garlic, pressed or chopped finely. Add the tomatoes. Stir and let the mixture come to a simmer. Simmer the sauce until the tomatoes and the juice reduce and thicken, 2–3 hours.

Once reduced, add wine. Simmer for a bit and taste. Add more salt if needed. Keep in mind that favors will be stronger in the end. Let the sauce simmer and reduce for about an hour more. The end product shouldn’t be chunky but not watery, rather than saucy like marinara. The tomato and red wine should stick to the meat and vegetables much like stir fry sauce does. Taste again. The flavor should be rich and savory. If it’s a little weak ,add 1 tsp balsamic vinegar, stir and let cook for 10 more minutes. Serve over spaghetti noodles.

Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad

The surprise ingredient in this chicken salad adds a delicious crunch to this lunchtime favorite.Sharing the kitchen with my daughter and her family has many advantages. One of the greatest advantages is that I am in charge of only half the meals. Another is the opportunity to learn new recipes from the cook who’s in charge of the other half of the meals. Here’s her take on chicken salad. I never would have guessed how much cauliflower can add to this simple dish.

Anne’s Chicken Salad

2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped fine
4 large pickle spears, chopped
1 small head cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

Saute cauliflower in olive oil until some pieces begin to brown. Remove from heat.

Combine chicken, onion, celery, pickles, and cauliflower in a large bowl. Add mayonnaise 1/4 cup at a time until it reaches the consistency you like. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate 2-4 hours before serving with your favorite bread or on a bed of lettuce.

Save

Shrimp Tacos

Shrimp Tacos

These shrimp tacos are dairy-free, filled with summer veggies, and a perfect meal at the end of a hot day.It’s takes a village to feed a high maintenance eater like me. So I’m thankful my village is populated with people like my big sister who keep their eyes open for delicious dairy-free recipes. She’s the villager who sent an email with this recipe for shrimp tacos. The dish is packed with vegetables that are plentiful during the summer months. Plus, it uses olive oil rather than butter to cook the shrimp and doesn’t suggest using cheese or sour cream as a garnish.

Because this recipe is truly dairy-free, there was no need to substitute ingredients or to omit others. Everyone at our house agreed it was delicious and a perfect meal to enjoy at the end of a lovely summer day. The tweaks I made are designed to keep the heat out of the kitchen in case a lovely summer day is also a hot one.

Shrimp Tacos

ingredients

1 pound raw shrimp. peeled and devaeined
1 lime, juiced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 avocados, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dry Cajun seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
12-6 inch tortillas

Directions

  1. Turn slow cooker on high. Wrap tortillas in foil and place in the slow cooker to warm for 30 minutes.
  2. Gently mix tomatoes, onion, avocados, cilantro, lime juice, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
  3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning. Saute for about 3 minutes, turning often until shrimp are pink and cooked through.
  4. Put shrimp, tortillas, and vegetable mixture in separate serving dishes for diners to assemble at the table.

 

Save

Save

Cucumber-Onion Salad Encore

Cucumber-Onion Salad Encore

This recipe for cucumber-onion salad was passed down from Grandma to Mom to me and my siblings. It's easy, inexpensive, non-dairy, healthy, and keeps well.Thanks to our weekly CSA share, the vegetable bin is overflowing with cucumbers. So cucumber-onion salad is gracing our table almost daily.  Because today is my birthday and I’m celebrating by not experimenting with a new recipe, I’m rerunning this one that was first featured on Down the Gravel Road in July of 2012. It’s easy, it’s tasty, it’s non-dairy, it’s low-cal, and the longer it sits in the fridge, the better it tastes. No wonder this recipe has been consistently discovered and repinned on Pinterest since the day it first appeared there.

Cucumber-Onion Salad

1 medium cucumber, peeled and sliced thinly
1 onion, sliced into thin rings*
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse black pepper

Place vegetables in a small serving bowl. In a smaller bowl or measuring cup, mix vinegar, water, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir well and pour over vegetables so they are completely covered with liquid. Cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to serve. This salad can be stored for several days or a week in the fridge.

I try to make it at least 8 hours before serving so the flavors can meld and the vinegar has time to pickle the vegetables a little. Also, more cukes and onions into the brine after the original veggies are gone. I usually do that once before discarding the brine and making a completely new batch.

*I used red onions, which is why the salad looks so pretty in the picture, but any type of onion is fine.

Save