Chicken and Red Lentil Soup 

I love our local natural food store, Good Earth.  I’ve found a lot of my “new things” by browsing their shelves, nooks and crannies. In the bulk section, I noticed red lentils when refreshing my supplies of dried beans and rice.  Consequently, I’ve been looking for a simple recipe using red lentils while looking like something my family would enjoy eating.

I found this recipe in Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine and it is a keeper

 Chicken and red lentil soup



First, you cook the onion, garlic and ginger in oil.  Then you stir in the lentils, stock and water.  Bring to a boil.  

Add the chicken and cook 5 to 7 minutes.  

Transfer the chicken to a plate.  Let cool and chop into bite-sized pieces.  

Stir the coconut milk, spices and chard into the soup and season.  Cook about 5 minutes until the flavors meld.  

Stir in the chicken.  Enjoy!



Chicken and Squash with Soy and Star Anise

With the switch off Daylight Savings Time, the days seem shorter in the Midwest since it’s dark while I’m driving home.  The mornings are cooler and it definitely feels like fall.  As I cook through Diana Henry’s A Change of Appetite, I try another “new thing” as an ingredient- this time it’s star anise in a chicken and squash recipe.

This recipe is easy to make, possibly since the intro says it is adapted from an American recipe so the process is familiar to me. Start by browning the chicken in a sauté pan.  Remove the browned chicken, reserving about 1 Tablespoon of the fat.  Then mix soy sauce, vinegar and fish sauce with dark brown sugar.  Heat the reserved fat and add chile, ginger and garlic.  Add some scallions and cook over medium heat for a couple minutes before adding the soy sauce mixture.   

Return the chicken to the pan plus the butternut squash, orange zest, orange juice and star anise.  Add 3-4 Tablespoons water to the pan, cover and finish in the oven set at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.    

These are great fall flavors. What do you want to cook on a fall day?



Rainbow Swiss Chard

My next “new thing” is trying rainbow Swiss chard in Chicken, Chard and Quinoa soup. This builds on a prior new thing and I can use up my remaining quinoa. The recipe is from the Fast Ideas section of the Rachael Ray magazine and has a short list of ingredients:

• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup quinoa
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 ribs celery, thinly sliced on an angle
• 1/2 bunch rainbow Swiss chard, stemmed (I used frozen)
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced basil

The recipe truly is a fast idea and comes together quickly as you boil the broth with the quinoa, garlic and olive oil about 8 minutes.  Then you add the celery and chard to boil until the quinoa is tender, about another 5 minutes.

Add the chicken and basil for a quick weeknight meal that is a bit unique.  

Dish up and enjoy!

My teenager wants this recipe for the cookbook I’m making him – time to buy more Swiss chard and quinoa!

Couscous Chicken Salad

During my 51st year, in addition to sharing new experiences, I am sharing new recipes with healthy ingredients, especially ingredients I have not cooked with before.  It is a bit of a stretch to call this recipe one I made with a new healthy ingredient because I have made Israeli couscous before.  However, I’ve never used it in a recipe, just prepared it plain as a side dish.

The recipe is from a coworker who made it for a company lunch and learn on healthy recipes so I am not sure of the source.  While the couscous is cooking, you saute zucchini and summer squash in olive oil.  Then you add cooked chicken, tomatoes, and balsamic dressing.  Combine with the couscous and serve the salad over arugula.

OK – I had some spinach to use up so I served ours over spinach and we enjoyed something different for lunch.