Salsa Chicken and Rice Casserole

Yes, I know there’s a good chance it’s hot where you are and the last thing you want to think about is firing up the oven, but hear me out. You won’t need to spend much active time in the kitchen to put this delicious dinner together -- start the chicken in your slow cooker before you go to bed and you’ll have a pot full of delicious, shredded, salsa-y goodness waiting for you in the morning, which you can then stash in the fridge until you’re ready to make dinner. Cook the rice while preheating the oven, quickly stir everything together once the rice is done, plunk everything into your trusty Pyrex baking dish, and pour yourself a frosty beverage to enjoy during those 20 minutes of bake time. No biggie, right?

Salsa Chicken and Rice Casserole 
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 ½ cups of your favorite tomato-based salsa
¾ cup white rice
1 ½ cups water
¾ cup corn kernels
4 ounces sliced black olives
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained
1 7 ¾ ounce can El Pato tomato sauce with jalapeño
7 ounces diced green chiles
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
⅓ cup sliced green onions

Combine chicken and salsa in slow cooker and cook, on low, for 8 hours. Shred chicken with fork and knife and stir to blend with salsa. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring water to boil in large saucepan. Add rice, reduce heat, cover and cook until rice is tender. Remove from heat. Stir in chicken and salsa mixture, corn, olives, beans, tomato sauce, chiles, cumin and chili powder until everything’s combined. Transfer mixture to 9-by-13 baking dish. Top with shredded cheese, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20-25 minutes. Garnish with green onions and serve.

Make-Fast Mondays: Creamy Cilantro and White Bean Soup

Want a thick, creamy soup without adding any dairy? My favorite trick in the past has been to purée some, if not all of my ingredients, with our trusty Vitamix after everything’s had a chance to simmer. However, scooping steamy soup into a pitcher can be a bit hot and messy, so with this recipe I opted to purée before cooking. Less mess, and tossing the whole onion into the blender meant less time chopping. Piece of cake.

Creamy Cilantro and White Bean Soup 
4 15-ounce cans white beans, drained
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 large white onion
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic 
1 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Equipment: Blender 

Put two cans of beans, broth, onion and cilantro in blender pitcher, add lid, and blend ingredients until smooth. Heat olive oil in soup pot over medium flame. Add garlic and cook for a minute or two, until aromatic. Pour contents of pitcher and remaining beans into pot. Stir in cumin. Increase heat and bring soup to boil. Reduce heat, cover pot with lid and let soup simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper, as needed. Remove soup from heat and stir in the lime juice. Divide soup among four bowls and serve.

Library card a wonderful kitchen tool

One of the many wonderful reasons to have a library card is being able to test-drive cookbooks.

It doesn’t make sense to go out and buy every glossy, delicious tome that makes my mouth water. So when a book strikes my fancy, or if I’m interested in learning more about working with a particular ingredient or in a certain style, I log into my Sacramento Public Library account, peruse the catalog and make my reservation. I can keep a book for a minimum of three weeks (being able to renew online is another perk), which gives me plenty of time to read up on techniques, hunt for new recipes and the like. I use sticky notes or paper scraps to note recipes I like, make photocopies that I’ll file in my binder, and return the book by the time it’s due.

I’m currently snacking on “5 Ingredient Fix” by Claire Robinson and Betty Rosbottom’s “Sunday Soup,” a book I first found on my friend Lucy’s shelf years ago but never got around to buying for myself. I might still have to purchase “Sunday Soup,” as I’m tempted by at least half the recipes. The following dish is inspired by a chicken chili recipe included in the book. If you want to add more heat to the chili, use more chipotles and the adobo sauce in which they’re packaged. I beefed up this meal by making mini-bread bowls out of some Kaiser rolls I had in the fridge.

Chipotle Corn Turkey Chili
1 ¼ pounds ground turkey
2 cups chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, seeded and coarsely chopped
4 cups chicken broth
28 ounces canned diced tomatoes
4 cups corn kernels (if using frozen, thaw before adding to pot)
2 15-ounce cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 15-ounce can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
Salt and pepper, to taste
Possible garnishes: chopped cilantro, sour cream, shredded cheddar, tortilla chips

Cook turkey, onions and garlic in large pot over medium heat until meat is browned. Stir in chili powder, cumin, oregano, and chipotle peppers. Cook for another minute before adding broth, tomatoes, corn and beans. Bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes. To serve, ladle chili into bowls and add garnishes.

There's no excuse not to try making black beans

Sure, you can get a can of black beans for about a dollar, but where’s the fun in that?

Making a pot of black beans has been on my to-do list for some time, and I finally ran a line through that item last week.

Beans are one of those things that, like soup, were so intimidating to me until I finally tried making and then realized I was being ridiculous. They’re pretty foolproof, and the results are delicious. We had some of the beans in tacos and i froze the rest. I'll put some in the enchiladas I'm making this week.

Black Beans
1 pound dry black beans, picked through, rinsed and drained
8 cups water
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced small
1 medium yellow onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
Salt, to taste

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic and jalapeno. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for a couple minutes, until aromatic. Stir in cumin and sauté for another minute. Add water and beans, increase to high heat, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until beans are tender. This process took me about two hours. Season with salt.