Main Dish Recipes

Recipes on this page:

Instant Homemade Chicken Soup
Quick, Fresh Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Lazy Enchiladas
Rose Bowl Soup
Jules’ Super Easy Pot Pie
The Easiest Chicken Recipe Ever
Peanut Butter Pasta

Instant Homemade Chicken Soup

by Kelly

Ingredients

1 “leftover” roasted chicken
4 carrots
5 stalks celery with leaves
1 small onion
½ cup fresh parsley
1 Tablespoon dried Italian seasonings
1 Tablespoon chicken soup base
choice of rice, pasta, or biscuit (see below)
optional, 14 oz. can of cut tomatoes

 

Method

1. Remove as much meat from bones as possible. Place bones in pot with about 10 cups of water. Cover & bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Meanwhile…
2. Dissolve soup base in 1 cup of water.
3. Cut up meat and set aside.
4. Wash and rough chop fresh vegetables. Pulse in food processor. (Note: mine is a mini one so I do them one kind at a time. If you don’t have a processor, a blender will work if you add a little water.)
5. Add veggies and seasoning to meat in bowl.
6. Use slotted spoon or screen tool to remove all bones (and whatever!) from water. Add contents of bowl to pot. Add tomatoes. Add dissolved soup base.
7. Add ¾ cup of rice OR ½ pound of pasta OR 1 recipe of biscuit dough by spoonfuls. (I use Bisquick dumplings recipe.)
8. Cook another 20 minutes, partially covered.

Note: This is my basic instant soup. I have varied it a lot with different veggies. Homemade soup is on the table in 45 minutes including time to rest while it cooks. The hardest part is pulling the meat from the bone, so I often enlist help or do that ahead of time sitting down.

   

 

Quick, Fresh, Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

by Wren

1. Chop up a bunch of ripe tomatoes — about 3 cups worth.
2. Slice 1/2 to 1 cup of pimiento or kalamata olives (whatever you have on hand).
3. Splop a generous dollop of olive oil into a big fry pan and heat it.
4. When the olive oil is hot, dump in the olives; fresh chopped garlic to taste (I love garlic & used four cloves, but I get it frozen and pre-chopped at Trader Joe’s); some fresh chopped basil to taste (same thing, also frozen from Trader Joe’s); and then sauté everything for a minute or so. You can add chopped onions, too, if you like. My hands were achy, so I didn’t use them.
5. Dump in tomatoes.
6. Generously sprinkle dried oregano or Italian seasoning & salt & pepper to taste.
7. Cook until the tomatoes sorta melt & break down; then cook a little longer to concentrate the flavor and thicken the sauce.

For a meaty sauce, you could always add sautéed ground beef or cooked chicken; Then it would be chicken cacciatore — always impressive!

Notes: A few days ago I went out to check the garden. The last time I’d looked, there’d been nothing but green tomatoes… and the cool days of fall squarely upon us…
You can imagine my surprise at lots of ripe tomatoes just waiting to be picked. There were far too many for my family. So I put several in a bag for my next-door neighbor. She was delighted. She was going to use them to make a quick pan spaghetti sauce for dinner that very evening. She told me how.
Oh, is this good. It’s a “pan” sauce. My daughter and son-in-law, who live mostly on pizza &Taco Bell, and eye most vegetables with deep suspicion, waxed poetic after eating it. Wren

 

Lazy Enchiladas

by Robin Parks

I am from Arizona, and I love Mexican food! The bad thing is that all ingredients seem to be required to be in little pieces and chopping, shredding, slicing and dicing are a bit beyond me right now! I can’t say this is exactly healthy, but it is a breeze to make…in fact the kids can do it! This is also a pliable recipe according to what you like.

 

1 20 count package of taquitos (any flavor)
1 can enchilada sauce (I like Macayo’s)
1 can green chilies
1 can sliced olives
1 bag pre-shredded cheese

Place taquitos in a large baking dish. I use the cheap metal ones because they are lighter. Some may need to be stacked, but they can go in any which way. Pour enchilada sauce over taquitos. Spread green chilies, olives and cheese over the top. Place in 350 degree oven or toaster oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Note from Robin: Many other things can be put in this (lettuce, tomatoes) but this is the baseline. This is an easy meal, and it really does taste like enchiladas minus the effort! Have a great day…

Lazy enchiladas serving suggestion

Thanks, Robin. This is super RA-easy and a great excuse to eat oh-so-healthy guacamole and other healthful add-ons like cilantro, cheeses, pinto beans, chili powder, or garlic. Here’s how it looked at my house when we served it fresh mango salsa, homemade guacamole, and fat free refried beans.

 

Note: There are several kinds of taquitos and sauce to choose from. We like corn tortillia ones because we found them more like enchiladas. Also, we used 2 cans of sauce so we could try different ones. We liked the extra sauce.

   

Rose Bowl Soup …in 3 easy steps:

by Kelly

1) Cook the vegetables

Wash & roughly chop:
2 small onions
3 green onions
4 carrots
½ cup fresh parsley
2 potatoes (peeled only if you prefer to)
3 ribs celery with leaves
3 beets (peeled)

Place 3 T olive oil in large pot. Add vegetables. Cook & stir about 7 minutes. Add 4 to 5 cups chicken broth. Cover with lid. Simmer over medium heat about 20 minutes.

2) Make the roux

In medium pan, melt 4 Tablespoons butter. Add 4 T of flour, and ½ t of salt. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of milk or cream (whatever type you choose). Cook and stir with a whisk until comes to boil & thickens. Remove from heat.

3) Blend the soup

Using a stick hand blender, gently mash up vegetables just until pureed. This can also be done with a traditional blender or food processor, but it’s more work. Be careful not to over-process. Add thickened milk mixture and 1 teaspoon curry.

Note: This soup is so easy and healthy and comforting. It has a beautiful rose color. I always serve it during the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, but there are other occasions for a gorgeous bowl of soup. How about Valentine’s Day? It doesn’t need it, but the soup can be garnished with more parsley or a swirl of cream.

 

Jules’ Super Easy Pot Pie

For each pot pie:

• 1 – 2 cups chopped leftover meat (can be beef, chicken, pork, turkey and to taste depending on your meat to veggie preference)
• 1 bag of frozen mixed veggies.
• 1 can of chopped mushrooms, drained
• 2 jars gravy (to correspond with your meat)
• 1 box of refrigerated (I use Pillsbury) pie crust

Let your pie crusts come to room temp as directed on box. In a shallow 8-10″ baking pan, lay out one of the pie crusts leaving extra over the side. In a bowl, mix chicken, gravy, and frozen veggies and mushrooms until well mixed. Pour into pie crust and spread to even out. Lay the second crust over the top and trim to meet the first crust. Fold bottom crust “extra” over the top crust and pinch to seal. With a sharp knife make cuts (I do hearts because I am goofy-lol) to vent pie while cooking.

Cook at 350 for about 30 minutes until crust is golden brown and pie is just starting to bubble out of the vent holes. IF your edges begin to darken – put foil on outside to cover but leave center open.

Note from Jules: I usually make two or three pot pies and freeze them for those days when the RA is acting up. If you work quickly and do not let the veggies defrost, they fare better in the freezer and can be frozen. I have frozen the pies up to three months by covering tightly with foil, and using a sharpie to name and date them- I also write the cooking instructions on there so hubby can cook it without me. If you freeze them, let them defrost about 15 minutes and then, leaving the foil on the edges, cook 30 minutes at 350. Take the foil off the edges and cook an additional 15 minutes.

The Easiest Chicken Recipe Ever

By Erica

16oz uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 1/4 oz dry ranch dressing mix (one packet)
15 1/2 oz salsa (whatever you like, I usually go with medium)
2 cups Long Grain White Rice, prepared

Spray the Crockpot with cooking spray. Add the chicken breasts. Sprinkle with ranch seasoning. Top with salsa. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. If you’re afraid of the whole thing drying out, go ahead and pop in a little water. I usually do about half a cup. The house will smell wonderful when you get home.

When almost ready to serve, cook rice and add it to the Crockpot. Let simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

  

Peanut Butter Pasta

By Kelly’s kids

Sauce: Blend in mini food processor:

2 cloves garlic
1 fresh jalapeño (or 8 slices from jar)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil (on the Oriental aisle)

Vegetables: Use as many as you like or about 2/3 cup of each.

julienne snow peas
sliced bell peppers, any colors
julienne carrots (or baby carrots, sliced lengthwise)

Assembly

Cook any thin pasta according to directions. Angel hair is great. Add sliced vegetables to pasta during last minute or two of cooking, depending upon how crunchy you like them.

Before draining pasta, reserve 1/2 cup water from pot to thin the sauce. Drain pasta and vegetables. Toss with sauce. Garnish with 3 large green onions, cut in long thin slices.

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