Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Noodles

These looked so good, I had to try them! Everyone thought they were great over mashed potatoes. The noodles soften up faster than the recipe said, I will update my notes to reflect that.

Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Noodles

Ingredients:

• 3-4 small chicken breasts
• salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and any seasoning blend you like on chicken
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 2 cans chicken broth (3 cups)
• 1 small bag frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 package homestyle egg noodles

Directions:

1. In your crock pot, add you chicken and season with your desired seasonings.
2. Then add your cream of chicken soup, broth and frozen veggies.
3. Stir things together the best you can and cover with the lid to cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 3-4 or until your chicken is cooked through. 
4. Remove the chicken and either chop or shred before adding back to the crock pot.
5. Add your noodles and continue to cook until noodles are tender (the original recipe said to let them cook for 90 minutes, but mine were soft and done after about 30 minutes).
6. Stir and taste-test for seasonings.

Marsha's Notes:

I found that an hour and half for the noodles to cook was way too long. They were soft after about 30 minutes and the sauce was nice and thick. However, we weren't expecting to eat for another hour, so after sitting on warm in the crock pot for the additional hour until it was dinner time meant that the noodles and soaked-up just about all of the liquid in the pot. It was still good, but not the creamy consistency I had hoped for. 

One key to this "homestyle" type recipes is to get these homestyle egg noodles instead of the regular egg noodles.

Use this kind...

... not this kind.

Fried Rice

Some day I hope to figure out how to make my own seasoning blend for fried rice so I am not dependent on Sun Bird seasoning packets (just in case they get discontinued) but for now I wanted to document how I make my fried rice, especially if they boys need the recipe in the future.

Fried Rice

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbl oil
• 3 cups cooked rice
• 1 Sun Bird "Fried Rice" seasoning packet
• 1 Tbl. soy sauce
• 2 eggs, beaten
• diced meat of choice (about 1/2 cup)
• cooked veggies of choice (about 1/2 cup)

Directions:

1. In a large pot or pan, coat the bottom with your cooking oil (about 2 Tbl or as much as needed).
2. Add your cooked (can be cold) rice and reheat/cook the rice, stirring occasionally until it's all heated through and any clumps of rice have been crumbled.
3. Push rice to the side on the pan and add your beaten eggs into the open space.
4. Cook and scramble the eggs until done.
5. Add as much diced meat and bite-size veggies as your heart desires. I used ham, peas, carrots, and corn. Add soy sauce and seasoning packet. Stir everything together.
6. Continue to stir until everything is heated through and ready to serve.

Marsha's Notes:

Here are some images of my process.

Frying my rice in the oil.

Mediterranean Bowls and Tzatziki Sauce

I bought some quinoa to try because I've heard good things about it, but I wasn't sure how to use it so it just sat in my cupboard for a while. Then my friend told me about how she made Mediterranean bowls for dinner one night, and kind of like Hawaiian haystacks or homemade pizza, you can really customize things however you like, so I thought it might be a great way for the boys to be happy while trying something new.

Scott and I were pleased with the meal, however, we did think our personal preference would be to use brown rice for the base instead of quinoa. The quinoa was very similar to rice (not super flavorful unless you add things to it, which makes it good for a base) except it was much smaller and more "seed-like" in texture. Once cooked, it was soft like cooked rice, but it still had that small seed-like feel to it.

Tzatziki is a nice cool, refreshing dill and cucumber sauce made from yogurt (some recipes call for sour cream or a combination of the two), so kind of like a ranch sauce but different.

Mediterranean Bowls and Tzatziki Sauce

Tzatziki Sauce:

• 1 cup whole-fat Greek yogurt
• 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 cup finely chopped or shredded cucumber
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill or 1 tsp. dry dill
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, optional for heat

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine yogurt, oil, and lemon juice. Add cucumber, garlic, and dill; season with salt, black pepper, and red pepper.
• Serve with pita and vegetables (if using). Tzatziki can be made 4 days ahead. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate.

Mediterranean Bowls:

• grilled meat of choice (see note below)
• cooked brown rice or quinoa (and/or lettuce if making your bowl more like a salad)
• feta cheese, crumbled
• Tzatziki sauce
• veggies of choice (chick peas, black beans, sliced olives, carrot shreds, diced cucumber, diced red onion, etc.)
• lemon wedges
• Pita bread (or Naan) on the side

Directions:

1. Prepare your grilled meat of choice. We used chicken breasts that had been marinating for a day in just a little cooking oil, splash of lemon, and Green Goddess seasoning, but you can use any meat you like. Then we grilled our chicken until cooked and diced it up.
2. Build your bowl by laying your desired ingredients over the top of your base. Squeeze a lemon wedge over the entire bowl, if desired. Serve with a piece of pita bread.

Marsha's Notes:

I felt like the squeeze of lemon really brought out a lot of flavor in the dish, because the chicken, quinoa, feta, and lots of the veggies weren't exactly the most flavorful. Also, use enough Tzatziki sauce to add more flavor and creaminess to the dish. The sauce and the lemon (along with your chicken if seasoned properly) are really where most of the flavor comes from unless you use strong flavored veggies, such as red onion.

Because the quinoa was so... bland... I am considering cooking it in chicken broth next time instead of water. But for my first experience, I really wanted to just follow the package directions. Once cooked and taste-tested, I did add some salt, pepper, and garlic butter to the quinoa to help it out some, but only because I had some garlic butter to use up. 

Everyone really liked the chicken, but most of us are more familiar with rice and thought that brown rice would be a more comfortable option for us in the future instead of the quinoa.

I got my Green Goddess seasoning at Trader Joe's. If you can't find it, Trader Joe's Green Goddess Seasoning Blend contains dried minced onion, salt, granulated garlic, ground black pepper, dried chives, dried green onion, spinach powder, dried parsley, lemon juice powder, and safflower oil, so you can just use some of the same seasonings to kind of get the same idea... or there are also a lot of other seasoning/marinade packets that would work just as well, including some labeled as "Mediterranean."

Fondue

I wanted to create a post for some of our favorite fondue recipes so they would be easy to find all in one place. Enjoy!

* I have a note for our fondue pot that level 4 or more tends to be too hot for a holding temperature for the fondue, so to turn the pot lower once everything is cooked and ready to go.

Wisconsin 3-Cheese

Ingredients:

• 6 oz. shredded Butterkase
• 6 oz shredded Fontina
• 3 Tbl flour
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 2 tsp chopped shallots
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles

Directions:

1. In a bowl, toss your shredded cheese with the flour.
2. Pour wine and sherry into your preheated fondue pot, along with your shallots and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
3. Add half of your floured cheese to the pot, stirring constantly until melted.
4. Add remaining cheese and stir constantly until also melted.
5. Add your black pepper and blue cheese, stirring until completely melted and everything is combined. Fondue should be the consistency of warm honey. Sometimes you will need more or less cheese, depending on how it tightens up.

Garlic and Herb Cheddar Fondue

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 sharp cheddar, shredded
• 3 Tbl flour
• 1 cup beer (I used Redd's Apple Ale)
• 4 tsp chopped garlic
• 6 Tbl chive and onion Philadelphia cream cheese spread
• 1 tsp ground pepper

Directions:

1. In a bowl, toss your shredded cheese with the flour.
2. Pour beer into your preheated fondue pot, along with your garlic and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
3. Add half of your floured cheese to the pot, stirring constantly until melted.
4. Add remaining cheese and stir constantly until also melted.
5. Add your black pepper and cream cheese spread, stirring until completely melted and everything is combined. Fondue should be the consistency of warm honey. Sometimes you will need more or less cheese, depending on how it tightens up.

Snickers Chocolate Fondue

Ingredients:

• 8 oz chopped milk chocolate
• 1/2 cup caramel sauce
• 2 Tbl chunky peanut butter

Directions:

1. Melt chocolate in your fondue pot. 
2. Then add caramel and peanut butter. 
3. Stir until combined.

Swiss Fondue

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups (14 oz) shredded Swiss
• 2 Tbl flour
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 Tbl lemon juice
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 oz cherry liqueur
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• dash of nutmeg

Directions:

1. In a bowl, toss your shredded cheese with the flour.
2. Pour wine, lemon juice and cherry liqueur into your preheated fondue pot, along with your garlic and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
3. Add half of your floured cheese to the pot, stirring constantly until melted.
4. Add remaining cheese and stir constantly until also melted.
5. Add your black pepper and nutmeg, stirring until completely melted and everything is combined. Fondue should be the consistency of warm honey. Sometimes you will need more or less cheese, depending on how it tightens up.

Easy Jambalaya

From start to eating, I would say this recipe takes about 45 minutes because the rice has to cook for 20-30 minutes alone. So, time to one side, this is a really quick, simple recipe (especially because you can use so many canned, prepackaged, frozen ingredients... but you also don't HAVE to) that our family thinks makes some tasty Jambalaya. You can substitute so many things to make it just the way you like it (meat, veggies, rice mixes...).

Easy Jambalaya

Ingredients: 

*You can cut back or add to any of these proportions, but this version of the recipe is to make a large pot to feed our family of five, and because this was all we were having for dinner, I did try to make sure there was plenty of protein in it. If I was making this as more of side dish to go with another protein source, I might use less protein-to-rice and only cook one box of rice mix with half as much of everything else listed below.

• cooking oil or butter, couple of tablespoons
• diced onion (I used 1/2 of a 12 oz frozen bag)
• diced celery, couple of ribs (I had a small bag of pre-diced celery in the freezer that I used)
• shredded carrots, 1 big handful
• 2 (two) 14 oz. packages chopped andouille smoked sausage
• 1 big spoonful minced garlic from a jar
• 15 oz. can of corn, drained
• 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes
• 32 oz. box of chicken broth
• 2 packages of (Zatarain's) jambalaya rice mix

Directions:

1. In a large (stock) pot, heat up your oil and/or butter for sautéing your veggies and meat. 
2. Once hot/melted, add your onions, celery, carrots and meat. Cook until the veggies are softened and the meat is starting to brown/caramelize. 
3. Near the end of cooking your veggies, add your minced garlic to the pot. 
4. Stir and cook for a minute or two before adding your corn, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, and rice mix. 
5. Stir to combine everything. Bring your pot up to a nice simmer, stirring just a couple of times. 
6. Once the liquid is bubbling to your liking, turn the heat down to low (2 or 3 on my stove), put on the lid, and do not stir the rice anymore while it cooks (if you can help it) to keep the rice from getting mushy. The liquid in the pot should continue to bubble as the rice cooks without boiling over while the lid is on. 
7. Once all the liquid is absorbed as the rice is tender, then it's done. If the liquid is gone but the rice is not cooked to your liking, add a little more water and keep cooking until it gets to your desired consistency.
8. To cut the heat a bit for myself, I like to top my Jambalaya with just a little shredded cheese and/or some kind of sauce like ranch or yum-yum sauce. I have also found that sometimes this rice recipe is spiciest when fresh, and the leftovers kind of mellow out a bit. But I am NOT typically a spicy eater, so other people might not need the cheese/sauce or think this is spicy at all, you do you.

Marsha's Notes:

It is super easy to use ingredients you like, so feel free to pick different kinds of meat like shrimp or chicken. Use different veggies, like we have a boy who doesn't care of beans, otherwise I would totally throw in a can of black/red/or pinto beans... and I don't like green peppers, but I am sure that would be great in this dish if you like peppers... some people don't like carrots, so leave them out, etc. You can also change up the rice mix. You can use other brands, but Zatarains is my favorite and they have other rice mixes you could use, such as red beans and rice, black beans and rice, or dirty rice, depending on the flavor profile you are going for. If you like it spicy, you could use something like the Rotel diced tomatoes that have chilies in them. All that said, this is what I used this time around and we were really happy with it. 

How much you need of different ingredients also depends on how many boxes of rice mix you are using and how you like the proportions to your finished product. So for my family, I was using basically handfuls/spoonfuls of things until they looked like something my family would like (such as how much onion, celery, garlic, carrots, etc.). 

For the recipe listed above, we made a big pot to feed our family of five, and this was meant to be a "one bowl" dinner, where I didn't prepare any other dishes to go with it because there was meat for protein, veggies, and carb in the rice, therefore, we went heavy on the meat with 2 packages of sausage.

This is the sausage that I used, but you could also use one of those packages of smoked sausage that comes in one long piece, sort of in a u-shape, like Hillshire Farms. This Zatarain's is kind of the same thing, only cut into two pieces.

Marsha's Homemade Sushi

A few notes that might make you feel better about sushi, should you be nervous... along with a video tutorial link: First, for anyone not aware, just because it's called sushi, doesn't automatically mean that it has RAW fish in it. There are several kinds of sushi that don't even contain any fish at all (such as vegetarian options). That is something that I learned. 

While probably not 100% technically accurate, in my mind at least, if it has raw fish in it, it's called sashimi and usually located on a different part of the menu from your other traditional sushi rolls. 

My favorite rolls are the "crunchy" rolls where the outer layer of rice has been fried.

Since trying more sushi in recent years, I now think of sushi as basically a rice log/roll that has veggies, sometimes cream cheese, and often some kind of prepared fish inside. That being said, when you make it at home, you can put anything in it that you like. If you wanted to roll up pepperoni and mozzarella cheese in your rice log, dip it in pizza sauce and call it pizza sushi, you totally can.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine introduced me to sushi when we went out for her birthday and she selected some "safe" rolls for me to try with her. Yes, I was nervous, especially because I am not much of a fish person and sea weed sounds sketchy, but everything I tried was actually really, really good and you don't even notice the sea weed. Think of it, not as a weed, but as the "lettuce of the sea" because it's just a plant. It's super thin, barely noticeable, and does not have any kind of strong flavor that I can detect when eaten with all the other ingredients and sauces. I really feel like it's just there to help hold the entire thing together and not for flavor or texture.

After having a good experience, I was soon taking Scott out for sushi, then my Aunt, then my kids, etc. etc. etc. until I had the crazy thought, "I think I can make this at home." And I did! 

There is a little bit of a learning curve to making the perfectly proportioned and shaped rolls, but with the right ingredients, it's really not that hard. You just need good rice, a rolling mat, and a little patience.

Here is a video link to get you going...

https://www.tiktok.com/@nutrientmatters/video/7099170349438258438?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7343662037220722218

Here is another video for inspiration: 

https://www.tiktok.com/@chefchrischo/video/7102151797099334958?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7343662037220722218

Marsha's Homemade Sushi

Makes 5 rolls

You will need a sushi rolling mat (bamboo or plastic) for assembling and shaping your rolls.

Ingredients:

Seasoned Rice:

• 2 cups sushi rice
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups water
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 2 Tbl sugar

Sushi Filling: top/fill with your choice of anything, but I used...

• 2 1/2 sea weed sheets (to make five rolls total)
• black sesame seeds, optional
• cucumber, avocado, cream cheese, thinly sliced
• carrot peelings/ribbons
• prepared fish of your choice, cold (we used prepared imitation crab)
• drizzle rolls with yum-yum sauce and unagi/eel sauce
• serve with a side of soy sauce/teriyaki sauce

Directions:

For the rice:

1. It is important to use sushi rice (we found ours at Ocean Mart, but you can probably also order some online if you can't find it at your local markets). Measure out your rice into a mesh strainer and rinse with water until the water runs clean. I will catch the water in a bowl under the strainer, continually dumping as it gets full, until I can see that it is running through the rice clear. This can take a couple of minutes.
2. Once your rice is clean, add your washed rice, water and pinch of salt into a pot with a lid. Bring everything to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer, cover the pot, and let the rice sit cooking and simmering in the pot UNTOUCHED for 20 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed and the rice is tender (stirring the rice will make it mushy and gooey).
3. Once cooked, remove the pot from the heat and let sit for at least 10 minutes, or store until completely cooled and ready to handle.
4. When ready to make your sushi, gently toss the rice with your rice vinegar and sugar.

To prepare the sushi rolls:

1. On your sushi mat, cover with a pieces of plastic wrap. (I find that it is easiest to lay out five pieces of plastic wrap and start preparing all five rolls at the same time so I can distribute my rice more evenly between the rolls.)
2. Take half of a sheet of sea weed and place it on the plastic wrap rough-side up. You can cut your sea weed sheets with kitchen sheers/scissors.
3. Place 1/5th of your rice on top of the sea weed and spread out evenly. If your sushi rice is REALLY sticky, you made need to oil your hands with some cooking oil. You can also wear a food-prep disposable glove, which you can also oil if  needed.
4. Sprinkle the rice evenly with black sesame seeds, if desired. Purely decorative.
5. Flip over your rice/sea weed and use the opposite side to layer your filling, being careful not to overstuff your rolls. Most of my filling was cut into long, skinny sticks, and when the finished roll was sliced, you would see one little piece of each ingredient. I used cucumber, avocado, cream cheese, carrot ribbons and finished it off by breaking up little pieces of imitation crab. You can also put a little of any desired sauces in the middle of your roll (such as yum-yum sauce, or bang-bang sauce if you like things spicy).
6. Using your sushi mat, begin rolling up the rice around the filling, tucking your filling in tightly so the rice can wrap all the way around your roll. If your roll is overstuffed, you won't be able to get the rice to make a complete circle around the outside. Be careful to not roll up your plastic wrap inside your sushi roll.
7. You can use the sushi mat to perfect the shape of your roll. Then, using a large sharp WET knife, slice your roll through the plastic wrap into 8 equal pieces. Remove the plastic wrap from each slice.
8. Plate your slices and then drizzle the entire thing with your desired sauces. Serve with dipping sauces such as soy sauce or teriyaki, if desired.

Marsha's Notes:

I started cutting my rolls into 8 equal pieces, but sometimes that makes for really wide/big bites, so in the future I might cut my rolls into thinner pieces to make it easier to eat. Usually, it is better/easier to eat sushi if you can just put the entire bite into your mouth all at once.

I made my carrot ribbons by taking a full-sized carrot, using a vegetable peeler to remove the undesired outer layer of the carrot, and then I kept using the peeler to remove thin ribbons of carrot to use for the sushi. You could also just cut your carrot into really small, thin sticks for the sushi, if you don't mind it's hard, crispy texture in your rolls. I prefer the softer, easier to bite ribbons.

We have used both cooked shrimp and cooked imitation crab, and I find the crab is much easier to work with and everyone didn't notice much difference in flavor, so I might just use crab in the future. You can also just make veggie rolls.

We bought Sukina sushi rice. You can find it on Amazon, but is probably cheaper if you can find it in the store. Here is an Amazon link: Click here

We also drizzled our rolls with yum-yum and unagi sauce (otherwise known as eel sauce, because it is typically served along side eel, not because it has eel in it). Our local grocery store carries yum-yum sauce all the time, but I had to get the unagi from Amazon. Click here

Here is my prep process:

These are the sea weed wraps I use. It is also called nori.

I have five pieces of plastic wrap spread out on the counter with my sea weed wraps placed on top so I can prep all five rolls at once.

Next, I portion out all of my rice into five portions and place it on top of the sea weed and then spread it out until it covers it evenly and nicely (I wear disposable food prep gloves for this).

Here is how I make my carrot ribbons.

Turn the rice-covered sea weed over so it's sea weed-side up... to do this, I take a second (new) piece of plastic wrap and place it on top of the rice, press everything down to make sure the rice is sticking to the wrap, and then flip everything over. The picture shows everything once flipped. I remove the plastic wrap that WAS on the bottom side of the sea weed and use it to help flip the next rice/sea weed wrap over until all five are flipped.

With the sea weed side now facing up, I start to add my toppings. Here I have added carrots and cucumber.

Now I have added cream cheese and avocado.

This time I used precooked shrimp. This is the shrimp I used. I sliced it very thinly to add it to our sushi rolls.

Shrimp added and rolls are complete.

Take two edges of the plastic wrap and bring them up together.

Start pushing your toppings down and into the inside of the roll, squeezing and trying to get the outer rice to start touching and surrounding the entire roll. (This is where you will discover if you overstuffed your rolls because the rice won't be able to surround the filling easily enough.) It's okay if you overfill... it just won't be a perfect presentation in the end and your rolls might fall apart a little bit easier when cut and plated... but it will still be delicious.

Once you get the roll basically closed up (make sure your plastic wrap is only on the outside of the roll and the edge didn't accidently get incorporated into the inside of the roll), use your sushi/bamboo mat to more firmly press and shape the roll.

As you can see, I like to twist the ends of my plastic wrap until it makes a tight seal on the ends of the roll to help me shape and form the ends uniformly.

Then take a clean, wet knife and slice your rolls into the desired amount/size of pieces. I like to clean off my knife with a damp rag every two or three cuts.

Look how nicely the rice encircles some of these pieces! I was super proud of this roll. But even the ones that were less "pretty" were still tasty!

Done!

Sauteed Zucchini and Corn with Bacon

Always looking for more ways to get the boys to eat vegetables, so this bacon and zucchini corn recipe seemed like a safe choice, since the boys eat both of those veggies. And it was a hit! I got the original recipe from Belly Full, here: https://bellyfull.net/corn-zucchini-saute/#wprm-recipe-container-24715

To use an entire onion, and because our family of five can currently eat an entire side dish in one sitting, I decided to double the recipe and have leftovers, so my version is just a touch different, but basically the same.

Sauteed Zucchini and Corn with Bacon

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg sliced raw bacon, diced
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 small diced red onion
• 2 zucchinis, diced
• 2 small pkg frozen corn
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• Parmesan, if desired

Directions:

1. Sauté bacon in a large nonstick skillet until crispy and the fat has rendered, 5 to 8 minutes. Drain off excess fat if needed.
2. Add in the butter and onion; sauté for 3 minutes until softened.
3. Add zucchini and frozen corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, 4 minutes.
4. Add in garlic, salt, black pepper, and cayenne. Add Parmesan, if desired. Cook, stirring occasionally, until corn is tender, about 3 minutes more.
5. Serve immediately and enjoy!