Tuscan Chicken and Beans

Tuscan Chicken and Rice

West Virginia has taught me to slow down. Growing up in Seattle everything was always busy. I woke-up early, I worked long hours and I was always stressed. When I moved to West Virginia I stuck out. I didn't understand why it took a week for my paper work to be processed for my apartment or that when I went in to my work study assignment that the office had taken Friday off. After 10 years I have learned to love taking things a little slower. This afternoon my husband and I took my two boys and our dog around taking photos. In typical summer fashion there was a large summer downpour. Everyone at the park ran to their cars and waited. No one pulled away, we just all watched the storm and took a moment. It was perfect. There are many things that can be frustrating about life, but learning to sit on your porch and enjoy the summer warmth, say hello to your neighbor and just relax is something that we could all do with a little more of. So thank you West Virginia for teaching me that sometimes it's okay to just sit and wait, most things can sit at least a few minutes. With slowing down in mind, I made a slow cooker recipe today. I tried a new recipe for Tuscan Chicken and Beans from the September 2013 issue of Family Circle magazine.

Camden Park Wayne County, WV

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 8 hours and 15 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. The major change I made to the original recipe was to make my own Greek seasoning. I try to cut costs as much as I can and making seasoning blends is much cheaper. I already had all the ingredients so it was easy to put together. Instead of using an additional 1/2 teaspoon of thyme I increased the amount of seasoning to 2 teaspoons. The Greek seasoning that I prepared already had thyme so I found it unnecessary to add more. At dinner time I was unmotivated to go down to my garden to pick fresh oregano, so I left it out. The taste was delicious without it.

Camden Park Sign Wayne County, WV

My kids who have been horrible about eating dinner recently, loved this recipe. They ate their entire plates, which for them is a big thing. My husband was also very impressed, especially since he has been burned out on chicken thighs, but was very pleased with them in this recipe. The flavors work very well together and the chicken is fall off the bone tender. The recipe would also work well with lamb instead of the chicken.

For the recipe go to Tuscan Chicken and Beans. (registration required)

Tuscan Chicken and Beans

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A slow cooker chicken thigh recipe for Tuscan Chicken and Beans. Great flavor and easy to prep.

Preparation Time: 0h, 15m

Total Time: 8h, 15m

Yield: Serves 6

Corn Chowder with Zucchini and Orzo

I love summer for so many reasons. One of my favorite summer things is fresh vegetables. Garden vegetables are absolutely delicious and I love cooking and baking with every single one of the them. In our area zucchini and summer squash seem to grow easier than anything else and I am always swimming in both of them for a good part of the summer months. I have learned to make great tasting brownies, cakes, bread and muffins that my kids love and they have never guessed that they contain garden vegetables. However, as much as I love baked goods I am trying to reduce the amount that my family consumes. So this time when I had a number of zucchini I decided to look for new savory and healthy options. I found a recipe from Everyday Food magazine for Corn Chowder with Zucchini and Orzo, which looked simple, low in fat and delicious.

This recipe has 7 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. All the ingredients were easy to find at my local grocery store and I made no substitutions. I did find that I had to let my chowder cook for slightly longer than the 8 minutes suggested by the recipe. At 8 minutes it hadn't thickened well so I allowed it to cook an additional 5 minutes. Be very careful when using the blender with the hot soup. I always place a towel over the top opening in addition to the plastic lid insert. I have had soup splatter more than once and the towel prevents anything from leaking out the top. Another option would be to use an immersion blender. It would work just as well and you wouldn't have to worry about pouring hot liquids. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

With 8 grams of fat and 9 grams of protein per serving this recipe is a great, light summer dinner option. I loved how sweet the chowder was and the zucchini and orzo on top was not only pretty on the plate, but created a nice texture difference. My husband wasn't as big of a fan of this recipe. He thought that the chowder would be great as a breakfast porridge, but not as a dinner option. My two kids loved it though, so he was the odd one out. Overall, this recipe was a great way to use garden veggies and I would use it again next summer.

Everyday Food currently does not have this recipe online. However, it can be found in the July/August issue or here is a link to a modified version.

Everday Food Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad

Pasta is a stable in my household. I never have to worry about having too many leftovers that won't get eaten if a dish includes any type of pasta, someone in my house will eat it. My love of pasta goes back to my childhood. Growing up my family didn't have a lot of money, so pasta was a common meal. Luckily my mother was a very good cook and almost every meal she made was delicious. I especially loved pasta and she invented a recipe for Asian noodles, that to this day is one of the best dishes I have ever tasted. My two boys have inherited my love of all things pasta and literally cheer when they realize a pasta dish is for dinner. Recently, the September issue of Everyday Food magazine had a recipe for Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad, which looked delicious and a great way to use pasta as a side dish.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. I makes 6 servings and takes a total of 35 minutes, all of which is active cooking time. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Make sure to add lots of salt to the pasta water when cooking the orzo or the dish will be very under-salted. Even with the pasta water being adequately salted, I still had to add a decent amount of salt to bring out the full flavor of the zucchini and fresh corn. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

If your trying to feed a crowd this is a great recipe. The recipe states that this makes 6 servings, but they would be 6 very large servings. I would say that this salad could easily serve 12 or more people. This dish was light and delicious the day it was made, but was even better tasting after it had sat in the fridge overnight and soaked up all the flavors from the dressing. I didn't feel that the taste of the jalapeno was very apparent. I would suggest either adding another seeded jalapeno, or if you enjoy spicy dishes, keeping the seeds in for extra flavor. Overall, a light vegetable and pasta salad, that makes enough leftovers for another meal. 

For the recipe go to Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad.