Barely There Chicken Stew

Still on overload of meat from the family holiday visiting, I found myself leaning towards a non meat dish when I stumbled across Chicken and Barley Stew. Containing loads of veggies, hearty barley, and just enough meat to satisfy the table counter parts, I had to give it a go.

Modifications Made:

As with most chicken recipes, I started out with a whole chicken boiled and de-boned creating a rich tasty stock for the stew. With the stock and chicken removed, the onion, celery, and carrots were added to the pot to saute in 2 tablespoons of butter instead of wine with quantities increased to match the poundage of chicken boiled. From there on the rest of the instructions were followed as written.

Scaled for Likability: Great

For whatever reason, if the recipe states it is going to be a stew, a soup, or a stoup I can never get the recipe to be turn out like the pictures. And let me tell you, the pictures on the blog where this recipe was discovered are just beautiful. My picture shows an edible meal. Aberdeen's Kitchen shows mouth watering, award winning food pictures. Just GORGEOUS. Seriously, go check out the pictures.

Back to the point: too much filling not enough stock. This was a result of cooking an entire whole chicken and increasing the veggies to match. While the entire chicken was not used as a whole quart bag was saved back, the remaining amount was still too much. The end product turned out more like a fancy version of my chicken and rice dinner than a soup, stew, or stoup. Thick as it was and lacking in juices, the stew(ish) was over the top fantastic with the wholesome, earthy flavors of the carrots, celery, and barley. The potatoes and chicken were added bonuses. Sadly, the original post showed spoonfuls of heavily laden barley stew. Mine, not so much. Barley was there but more like as in an after thought, not as in the main base. All in all, even with the result looking nothing like the original post, the recipe was so good, it will be added to the T&T meals. Score!

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add po...

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almos...

Cold Corn Bean Salsa

Nothing says junk food like chips and salsa, chips and cheese dip, chips and guacamole. Over the years I have perfected my salsa. It's good on tacos, on nachos, on enchiladas, and of course on chips. Just because I have the best salsa doesn't mean I don't like to try new salsa's like this Best Black Bean and Corn Salsa. Modifications Made: Shoepeg corn was replaced with one can of standard yellow corn with no salt added. Petite diced tomatoes were reduced by half. Italian dressing was swapped for half teaspoon comino, half teaspoon of chili powder, and two tablespoon of fresh lime juice. Salsa was made and let rest for two hours before eating. Scaled for Likability: Good Salsa this was not. Good it was however. It was too much for chips by themselves but was great served over a soft beef taco.

Eating Waffles

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