Crock Pot Chicken Stew

Ingredients

1 pound boneless chicken, cubed

1 small onion, chopped

2 cups potato, chopped (peeled if desired)
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 can chicken broth (14.5 oz.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning 

1/4 teaspoon of thyme1 clove minced garlic
3 TBS heavy cream
1 cup frozen peas & corn
roux (Melt 4 TBS butter on stove top. Stir in about 4 TBS of flour - one TBS at a time - until roux reaches desired thickness)

Directions

Put all ingredients except heavy cream, frozen peas & corn, and roux into 3.5 quart crock pot. Turn on low for 6 to 8 hours. During last half hour or hour of cooking, stir in cream, frozen peas and corn, and roux and allow stew to thicken. 

Pasta Puttanesca

I make a lot of one-pot concoctions with pasta and tomatoes. I heard this one mentioned in a book and when I looked it up, I learned that Pasta Puttanesca is Italian for "Whore's Pasta" . For that reason, and because I love salty foods, I decided to try it. I thought it was delicious, but it was a little too salty for Ben.

Ingredients

8 ounces pasta
3 Tbs cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chopped tomatoes, pushed through a sieve
4 anchovy filets, rinsed and chopped
3 Tbs capers
20 Greek olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

2. Heat oil in a skillet over low heat; cook garlic in oil until golden. Add sieved tomatoes, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in anchovies, capers, olives, and red pepper flakes. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Toss pasta with sauce, and serve.

Turkey Hash

Since Ben and I are only two people, we don't usually eat Thanksgiving dinner at home.  This year, I was inspired by an article I read in the Union Tribune and decided to make a Thanksgiving Hash. 

I should warn you that I don't measure anything, ever, so I'm just guestimating amounts.  But one-pot meals are hard to screw up and they can always be modified to suit your tastes.  So here goes:

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. fresh rosemary
salt & pepper
1 cup of turkey or chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1 large red potato, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 green onion, finely chopped
1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
1 apple, cut into 1/4 cubes
1 cup cooked turkey, shredded or chopped
1 Tbs.  butter
1 cup savory herb stuffing breadcrumbs
turkey gravy (optional)

Preparation:

Heat the olive oil in a skillet.  Add garlic and spices and heat for a minute or two.  Add chicken broth, potatoes, green onions and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes.  Add celery and apples and cook until tender, about 3 minutes.  Add turkey and butter and cook for about 2 minutes, just until the turkey is heated through.  Remove from heat.  Stir in stuffing breadcrumbs until moist.  Serve with turkey gravy, if desired. 

Serves 2

(Note: I think this would taste great with dried cranberries added.  Also, some thyme would probably be divine ;) but I didn't have any on hand when I was concocting our meal this afternoon, so I opted to leave it out of my recipe.)