Chicken Stew

This is a healthy and fairly easy throw together recipe and feeds a lot

1 rotisserie chicken
1 onion
3 carrots
3-4 cloves garlic
1 tsp bay leaves
1/2-1 tsp. dried thyme
4-5 Idaho potatoes
4 cans chicken broth
1 c. frozen peas
1 c. frozen corn
salt and pepper to taste

Pull apart all the meat off the rotisserie chicken into shredded pieces. Chop up your onion. Dice the carrots and potatoes all into relatively small bite size pieces. Saute the onion and carrot in about 3 Tbsp. EVOO. Add the bay leaves and thyme, salt and pepper to taste, and continue to saute until the onions are translucent. Pour in the chicken broth and add the potatoes. Bring to a boil. Boil until the potatoes are softened. Add chicken, peas and corn. Taste test, add more salt and pepper if needed. Return to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until corn and peas are heated through.

Yummy Potatoes

or Cheesy Potatoes or Funeral Potatoes(thought not quite). But whatever you wanna call them this is a long time family favorite. Through my constant need to improve recipe's(taste and healthiness) and my love of garlic I have changed up the family recipe a bit to suit our taste.

6-8 medium Idaho potatoes, boiled or steamed(the microwave works too, i usually do this to save on time)
1/2(or more) of a medium onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced

Cream of Chicken Soup substitute:
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
1/2 c. chicken stock/broth
1/2 c. milk
salt and pepper to taste

1/2 c.(ish) sour cream
1/4-1/2 c. milk to help make the right consistency
3 c. sharp cheddar, shredded

Cook your potatoes. For the microwave scrub the skins of the potatoes and stab multiple times with a fork. Place all potatoes on a microwave safe plate and cover with plastic wrap. Cook until they are soft in the middle(about 10-15 minutes), remove plastic and let cool. While those are cooling prepare your cream of chicken substitute by melting the butter in a pan, add the flour to make a roux, add the milk and chicken broth, salt and pepper to taste and cook over medium heat until thickened. In a large bowl(or 9X13 if you don't wanna waste a bowl) combine the chopped onion, minced garlic, cream of chicken substitute, sour cream and milk. Mix together until completely combined. Add the cheese a bit at a time to make sure you don't add too much. Peel the potatoes, cut into 1/4-1/2 inch squares and mix in with the other ingredients. Make sure you don't add too many potatoes, it should be well coated in the mixture and not look dry(but you don't want it too wet). If it looks like it could use more cheese then add what you need to. Cook in the oven on 350 for 30 minutes to an hour depending on hour done you want the cheese(crispi-fied or just melted).

Creamed Peas and Potatoes

about 8 medium sized red potatoes
1 c. peas
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp chicken granules
pinch paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2-2 c. whole milk

Clean potatoes, dice and bring to a boil. Last 5-10 minutes of boiling add peas. In a separate pan melt butter. Add garlic powder, onion powder and chicken granules. Add flour to make roux. Add milk stirring constantly. Add paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Stir until thickened. Drain potatoes and peas. Pour gravy mixture in and stir well.

Sami's chicken corn chowder

This one was seriously a good one. SO good.

4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 savory rotisserie chicken(we used lemon pepper)
3 medium sized Idaho potatoes
3 medium sized carrots
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves
2 cans chicken broth
1 tsp dried thyme
4 Tbsp. butter
1/2 c. flour
1 qt. container half and half
3-4 c. fresh corn(cut off the cob)
salt and pepper to taste

Chop up the onion into relatively small bite size pieces. Place in a large pot on medium high heat with the olive oil and saute. Chop up carrots into about 1/4 inch pieces and add to the pot. Continue sauteing for about 5 minutes or until onions are translucent. About the last minute add the garlic and stir so it doesn't burn. Pour in the all of the chicken broth. Dice the potatoes into 1/4 inch pieces and add to the pot. Add salt to taste. Bring the stock to a boil. At some point while it is boiling add the thyme. Boil for about 10 minutes or until the carrots and potatoes are tender to the fork.

While the pot is boiling in a separate sauce pan melt the butter. Once the butter is melted add add the flour to make a roux. Whisk for a bout a minute and add the half and half. Stir until the half and half gets warm and then pour into the pot. The chowder should now look really creamy. If you haven't already remove the corn from the cob(probably about 6 ears of corn) and add to the pot. Remove the meat from the breast of the rotisserie chicken, shred and add to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let the chicken and corn heat through with the rest of the contents for about 10-15 more minutes. Serve immediately. This would be good with some crusty french bread.

Because this was inspired by two recipes I found on the food network I'm going to go ahead and rate this. You can find those inspiration here and here. I love that I added chicken to the recipe. I think it is great. I really haven't had corn chowder before this but I was completely in love with this dish. I think I'd give it a 9.9. I hesitate to give anything a 10 unless it is absolutely the BEST thing I ever ate of that particular dish but I don't think there is to much I could personally do to improve this. I loved it.

Oven roasted potatoes(one variation)

1 pound of potatoes scrubbed and diced(bite size)
extra virgin olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic
oregano
red pepper flakes
salt

Blanch diced potatoes til less firm but not completely done. Drain and place in a 9X13 pan. Cover generously with olive oil. Sprinkle with all the above ingredients to desired taste(go sparingly with the red pepper flakes, trust me). Mix well and bake on 350 for 30-45 minutes. Goes well with this chicken recipe