One Pot Chicken and Brown Rice

This healthy chicken and rice recipe is on my regular rotation, even though the brown rice takes quite awhile to cook. I've made a couple minor adjustments to the original recipe- but overall I follow it pretty faithfully. The only major change I've made is using a bone-in skin-on chicken breast instead of chicken thighs. I cook the breast with the rice and veggies, and then toward the end I pull out the chicken and shred it to mix back in.  This recipe is also great for using up some vegetables that are getting a little old, since they simmer in the pot until they're nice and tender. The onions just dissolve into pure yummy flavor. 

Once the wait for the rice to cook is over, I'm left with a healthy and tasty one dish meal. Because it cooks on the stove top, it's okay for any time of year, but I find it especially comforting on a cold winter night.

Beef Stew

On a really chilly winter night, I tend to crave comfort food, and while I'm not a huge red meat eater, I've recently been wanting my mom's beef stew. It's very basic, but it really hits the spot. I started by dredging the stew meat in a mixture of flour, garlic salt, and pepper. I then browned the meat in a bit of oil. Once the meat was browned, I added some beef broth and a bay leaf and let things simmer for awhile. Once the meat gets tender, I added in some vegetables. I stuck with the basics- carrots, onion, and potatoes. 

I like the sauce to be a little on the thicker side, so toward the end I thickened it with a little broth and cornstarch. You could also use flour mixed with butter, but I usually just use cornstarch since it's easier. I ended up with a very simple and hearty stew that reminds me of home.

Six Ingredient Chicken Noodle Soup

It's been good soup weather in Iowa lately, so I thought I'd try this easy take on a classic- Six Ingredient Chicken Noodle Soup. As the title might suggest, it was pretty basic, and I actually made it even easier than the original recipe. Since I had some shredded chicken left over from making a roasted chicken awhile back, I just used that instead of poaching raw chicken in the broth. While poaching in the broth may have added more flavor, I thought the soup still turned out pretty tasty. I did stick with the recipe on the vegetables front and used only carrots and frozen peas. It'd be easy enough to add in whatever you like and have on hand though.

Overall, the soup was pretty good- not the best chicken noodle soup I've ever had, but a far cry from the worst, and  it was definitely better than canned. The main thing that I would alter if I make this again is substituting some egg noodles for the spaghetti- the spaghetti did not want to stay on the spoon.  As a bonus, I also discovered that it made way more than 4 servings- I'll get more like 6 out of it. As a result, I have some extra waiting in my freezer for a quick weeknight meal.

Macaroni and Cheese

When I'm in the mood for ultimate comfort food, I reach for my mom's recipe for macaroni and cheese. It's incredibly simple, but it hits the spot for me every time. While I've never met a mac and cheese that I didn't like, I prefer baked and with plenty of sharp cheddar cheese. 

For this mac and cheese, you'll first need to partially cook about 8 ounces of macaroni and then let it cool. While the macaroni is cooling, melt a tablespoon or two of butter in the microwave. While I forgot to picture it below, an egg is a crucial ingredient- at this point, beat an egg into the melted butter. After this, you need around 2 cups of milk. This isn't exact, but you need enough to make a custard for the mac and cheese. At this point, I season the liquid mixture with some salt and fresh black pepper. I also like to add in a pretty good dash of cayenne pepper, but that's totally optional. Once the pasta has cooled off a bit, mix it with the liquid mixture and add some shredded cheese. For 8 ounces of pasta, I use an 8 ounce bag of cheese. Next, put the whole thing in a covered casserole dish and bake. I'd strongly recommend putting the dish on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven, since this has a tendency to bubble over and make a bit of a mess. 

After about 45 minutes, I like to take the lid off of the casserole dish and bake for about another 15 minutes so that the top gets a little crunchy. Bake the macaroni and cheese until the liquid mixture has set- generally an hour does it. After that, dig in and enjoy!