Green Chili Stew

So it's been a while since I last posted a recipe.  (It's been about that long since I last cooked anything at home!)  Finally last night I decided that enough was enough and set to work making something to make me forget about the dreary weather we've been having in Seattle.

Before I begin let me give you a little bit of background as to why I don't cook anything worthwhile all that often. 

My husband, Lucky, is a tattoo artist and typically doesn't get home until 10 or 11 at night.  That just leaves me and the kids from when I get home from work at about 5:45pm until they go to bed at 8:30.  And we all know how picky my kids can be refusing to eat anything remotely healthy if it doesn't include peanut butter, honey, and/or pasta.  So there isn't really anything besides bread, peanut butter, pasta, butter, and honey in my house at all times.  If I want something else I have to go to the store.  With two little kids.

Say it with me people: P.L.A.N.N.I.N.G.

Planning.  I'm not that great at planning.  I'm normally at the store before I decide what I want for dinner and that normally it's something quick and easy that I don't have to think about.  Or I just wait for Lucky to get home and we'll eat Thai takeout or pizza.  Yes, I know, VERY HEALTHY.

Early in the day I knew that I was going to the store after work so I decided that I wanted to cook something for dinner.  Looking out my office windows it was dark and dreary outside so I figured something hearty and comforting would do the trick.  My go-to food style is Mexican (I'm from San Diego) and it took me about 30 seconds to decide on the Green Chile Stew with Pork recipe from AllRecipes.com would be just what the doctor ordered.  I changed up the recipe a little bit and used chicken instead of pork but other than that I used all the other ingredients.

I also was so focused on making my stew (while making a separate dinner for Kate and Oliver) that I forgot to take pics of the process.  It was pretty easy.  Just sauteeing the chicken and throwing the rest of the ingredients into the pot.  We can all imagine those pictures in our head right? ;)

Green Chile Stew with Pork

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

3 pounds boneless pork loin, cubed (I only used 2 pounds of chicken instead of pork, sliced into strips)

3 tablespoons peanut oil

3 stalks celery, chopped (I only used 2 stalks)

2 tomatoes, chopped (I only used 1 tomato)

7 green chile peppers, chopped (I only used 5 peppers)

4 cloves crushed garlic (Heck yeah I used all 4 cloves!)

4 cups chicken broth (I used roughly about 3 cups)

1 (10 ounce) jar prepared green chile salsa  (Maybe only a cup)

salt to taste

 

1.In a large pot over medium high heat, brown the chicken in oil, for 4-5 minutes. (Until the chicken is almost completely cooked.) 

 

2.Add celery, tomatoes, chilies, and garlic.

3.Add green chile salsa and just enough chicken broth to barely cover the ingredients and bring to boil. Cover and simmer until stew is thick and meat very tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Add salt to taste before serving. If stew is not hot enough, add a bit of jalapenos salsa.
 

 
The recipe turned out great.  The last time I made it I used pork and had put everything into a slow cooker to cook for 8 hours.  Both times the stew turned out amazing.  This is definitely a keeper; all I get are rave reviews on the recipe and if there's not enough to go around, I get faces like this:
 

Oh yes, that is a real face from Oliver when my stew was gone...

Simmering Tomato Sauce with Butter

I was perusing my cookbooks on Saturday trying to figure out what to make the kids for dinner.  Normally I wouldn't have a problem deciding on one recipe however nothing was sounding good with my current list of recipe requirements.  Mind you, I have a 15-month-old son that will eat anything and everything under the sun - except lately because he's teething and his mouth is sore when he chews.  I also have a 4-year-ol daughter that doesn't like anything she hasn't tried before and apparently doesn't trust dear old Mom and Dad to assure her that whatever we give her will be really good.  We promise.  Isn't she supposed to stop trusting us when she's 16 and finally realizes we've been telling her lies all these years just to see her reactions?

So, mushy food and something relatively similar to meals we've had in the past.  And it must be quick.

Awesome.  That makes for an exciting dinner from one of my cookbook recipes.

So I decided to skip dinner for the time being and focus on dessert.  We normally don't have dessert but I was in "a mood" and wanted to cook or bake something sweet.  That reminded me of an amazing recipe at Smitten Kitchen that was recommended to me from Violet, and if my memory served me correctly the recipe was both easy and quick. Perfect!

Now that the dessert is out of the way, back to the main course.  I decided to scroll through some of the other recipes at Smitten Kitchen and I came to a rediculously fast, easy recipe that catered to all of my meal requirements.  Four ingredients with one of them being pasta?  Heck yeah!

Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions

Serves 4 as a main course; makes enough sauce to lightly coat most of a pound of spaghetti

28 ounces (800 grams) whole peeled tomatoes from a can (San Marzano, if you can find them)
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste (you might find, as I did, that your tomatoes came salted and that you didn’t need to add more) and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

Serve with spaghetti, with or without grated parmesan cheese to pass.

 
I followed the directions and it took literally 3 minutes to get everything into a saucepan and the temperature to medium-high.  And then I was done.  I stirred it every once in a while and broke up the tomatoes but that was it.  I actually made my dessert while dinner was cooking because I felt lost just standing there.

When I was done both Kate and Oliver decided that they wanted only buttered noodles instead of having sauce with it but I'm sure it was just because the noodles were so cool to look at.

Overall, I felt it was a good recipe to have when the summer days are long and there are too many tomatoes in the garden to know what to do with.  Although this recipe called for a can of whole tomatoes and the sauce ended up being a tomato-y sweet goodness, I have the idea that fresh tomatoes are going to make it taste even better.  Next time I'll also add italian seasoning and maybe some fresh garlic to cater more towards the family's tastes.  Nevertheless, this recipe was a great, fast, easy addition to my growing collection of "good 'uns."