This chicken is really versatile. It’s great in tacos, but you can also use it in egg dishes, salads, or even a quick chicken taco soup. Save about two cups of chicken and make a soup by cooking it with a quart (946 ml) of chicken stock, a couple handfuls of diced…
Sometimes you just need an easy, basic, flavorful chicken recipe for a meal or to use in other recipes. This simple salt-and-vinegar brine is easy to whip up (no heating required!) and thoroughly seasons the chicken, resulting in tender, juicy meat you can shred and…
After making this spicy, flavorful, rotisserie-like chicken at home, you’ll never want to buy one again. This chicken also makes excellent taco meat or you can add it to soups and chili. Prep time 15 minutes, plus marinating time Serves 6 1 whole chicken, 4 to 5…
Whole, roasted chickens are an easy and beloved meal once you get over the trauma of wrangling a raw chicken. Confession: I had an extremely hard time handling raw meat until I was in my mid-twenties. My experience was limited to boneless, skinless chicken breasts and…
This recipe started out on a smaller scale as a way to keep small batches of cooked, simply seasoned chicken on hand for my one-year-old. He started eating solids while I was working on recipes for this book and he developed a taste for slow-cooked meat and…
This chili gave me grief for a while. At first it was missing something, and I couldn’t figure out what it was. A friend of mine and her husband tried it out for me and tinkered with it. After some tweaks, they entered it into a chili cook-off and won second place—in…
The barbecue sauce in this recipe may make you wonder “Am I eating chili or brisket?” If you’re particular about the ingredients in your barbecue sauce, try making your own! You’ll find a few recipes in the Pantry Basics chapter (shown here). For this chili I’d…
My Grandma LaRue proclaimed many times over the years that she was a horrible cook. Although I got the impression that she would have rather been sitting at her sewing machine than in the kitchen, I liked her cooking. Her sloppy joes (and chocolate cake) have been a…
One of the things I love about ground turkey is that its mild flavor lets other flavors shine while providing a substantial, meaty backbone for a recipe. This chili recipe is more like thick taco soup, and what really makes it great is the Easy Enchilada Sauce, which…
This chili has a lot going on—tender threads of chicken, spicy chorizo, and lots of paprika, both hot and smoked. Some dishes get better a day or two after you make them, and this is one. It’s almost a shame to eat it the same day you make it. Prep time 35 minutes…
A few years ago I found a recipe for cream of macadamia nut soup in a magazine, but somehow lost it. I attempted to create my own tropical version with coconut milk, lemongrass, and warm spices. Macadamia nuts and coconut both have large amounts of healthy saturated…
This soup was an experiment with a happy, delightful ending. “What if I put a bunch of avocados in there and made a pureed soup?” Guacamole in soup form, that’s what. Jalapeño-garlic shrimp made this a heartier, tastier meal. Prep time 15 minutes Serves 6 For the…