Crockpot Ham & Chicken Soup

I love the idea of cooking a whole chicken in a crock pot. Whenever I see whole Foster Farms chickens on sale for a dollar a pound or lower I buy one and cook it up. We usually enjoy some cold chicken with butter and Best Foods Mayo on white bread sandwiches. I often freeze some of the meat for future tacos, soup or other dishes. This time we had a couple sandwiches, I made a great soup and have a little chicken left to freeze for later.

If like chicken and you've never cooked a whole chicken in a crock pot, DO IT, do it soon.

Remove the giblets, wash the chicken and season as desired. (I used Johnny’s Seasoning Salt) Place in the pot breast up with no liquid. Cook on low for 6 hours. It even browns. (Poultry is done at 165 degrees) It will be plenty done.

Remove the meat and bones

Degrease the broth (I use a tray of ice cubes, the grease solidifies against the cubes which can be lifted out)

This time I left all the chicken broth in the pot and made a delicious soup with the help of ideas from my husband.

Crock pot Ham and Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
Chicken broth from Crockpot Chicken or 1-14.5oz can chicken broth
1 cup of Bloody Mary Mix
1 14.5 oz. can of beef broth
1 14.5 oz. can of Great Northern Beans with liquid
1 meaty ham hock
Chicken meat


Instructions:
Turn Crock pot on high and let this simmer until the ham hock starts to break down.
Add some chicken meat (I added a large handful.)
Add a second can of Great Northern beans, drained.
Add salt and pepper as desired (I added none)

My Ravioli Dinner

When my neighbor moved to Hawaii, I became the owner of some sundries remaining in her pantry. I've been waiting for a time to celebrate a partial box of La Piana Ravioli with squash filling. They were 1/2-inch square dried raviolis which I figured at $10 for a 1 lb. box (the tag was still on) had to be special.

Husband arrived home last night with two very large meatballs from a deli and some crusty French rolls. Ah ha, we had some fresh mushrooms in the fridge. I work to stay stocked with sweet onions, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste. I often have fresh garlic but always have a jar of chopped on hand in the fridge. Due to a meeting I attended that ended with 1/2 bottle of red wine unfinished, I was ready to go.

I know this post may only be exciting for me and pretty mundane for any accomplished cooks but the dish I concocted turned out delicious. My discriminating husband is even eating more for breakfast.
Except for boiling the pasta, I threw it together in my handy dandy Faberware stainless steel electric frying pan. Any pasta would have been fine but the ravioli created a gourmet treat. And, if you use fresh ready-made pasta now commonly available, the dish is really fast and easy.


Ravioli and Meatballs 

Ingredients: 

1/2 sweet onion, chopped

1 large teaspoon chopped garlic

5 mushrooms sliced

1+ tablespoon for frying onion, garlic and mushrooms

Big pinch basil

Big pinch oregano

Several shakes Johnny's Seasoning Salt

Several shakes of black pepper

1 - 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 - 8oz can tomato sauce

About 1/2+ cup red wine

3/4 cup dried ravioli (I used La Piana brand squash-filled dried ravioli). You could use fresh ravioli. And, Northwest dwellers, if you haven't tried Puget Sound Consumer Coop's fresh mushroom ravioli, it's delicious.

2 large deli meatballs cut into quarters (or meatballs of choice)

Instructions:

Boil the ravioli in salted water if using dry pasta.

Sautee onion, garlic and mushrooms. Stir in basil, oregano, seasoning salt and pepper. Add wine and cook down a bit.

Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, ravioli and meatballs. Let it simmer on lower heat. Server with green salad and French bread slathered with butter.

Beyond T Bone

My husband cooked dinner tonight. He pulled off another of his brilliant meals, so many of which I've enjoyed over the years.

He began with a beautiful T Bone steak which would have been delicious with no addition. He took it to another level, though, lightly marinating it in a mixture of Sesame Ginger Dressing and Siracha hot sauce for a little tang. He broiled it to a perfect medium rare, cut it into chunks, then, as an interesting garnish, sprinkled it with small chunks of fresh mango. The side of Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing served with it for dipping was amazing.

His side dish - Baby Yukon Gold potatoes, Brussels sprouts, white mushrooms all cut in half and mixed with Mango Ginger Chutney then broiled to perfection.

Mmmmmmmm