Broccoli Chicken Divan

I have a special treat this week! This blog post and recipe are from my mom! She made this really yummy chicken casserole last week, and I told her she had to share it on the Barefoot Country Cooking blog. So, without further ado here is my mom and her amazing Broccoli Chicken Divan! - Amelia Gray

Good morning! We are having fantastic Pacific Northwest weather here this spring, rainy and chilly. Therefore I am able to cook and bake still inside the house and not have to do it out in our summer kitchen. I am spending my time baking cookies and trying out new recipes. Here is one I found a couple of weeks that was a great hit and used up some of our pantry and refrigerator staples we had on hand. I have tweaked it a little to our liking and doubled it to feed all of us plus leftovers for lunches. 

This is a quick and easy chicken and broccoli recipe that everyone will love, plus an easy way to get your young children to eat broccoli. 

Ingredients

2 heads fresh broccoli, chopped

3 cups diced chicken (a store-bought rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken makes this recipe even quicker)

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Pepper 

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

2/3 cup half and half

1 cup sour cream

2 cups cheese 

1/4 cup melted butter

1 roll bacon ritz crackers, ground into crumbs, or any other breadcrumbs 

Directions

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Grease 2 8x8 pans. 

Book broccoli until tender, but not overcooked and mushy. ( My preferred way is in the pressure cooker for three minutes with a cup of water in the cooker. It keeps the minerals and vitamins in it, is quicker, and doesn't heat up the kitchen.)

Chop raw chicken and cook in a skillet. Season to taste with garlic and onion powder, and pepper. (There are two ways to do this. 1. In water, which will produce a softer and more tender chicken, making it easier to eat, if you have picky people who want that. 2. Or sauté in oil which will produce a golden brown crust on the outside of your chicken and will give you a more chewer, more flavorful result.)

Drain chicken on paper towels. 

Mix soup, milk, sour cream, 1 cup of cheese. If using leftover chicken then season with garlic and onion powder, and pepper to taste. 

Add chicken. 

Place soup mixture, divided, into the two pans. 

Add cooked broccoli, divided, and stir gently. 

Cover with cheese. 

Melt butter and mix with Ritz cracker crumbs. 

Top both pans and cook until bubbly and light brown. 

Let cool and enjoy!

Homemade (Gluten-Free) Potato Soup

Good morning everyone! Hope your Sunday morning is more sunny and warm than mine is here in Northern Montana. Today I want to not only give you my Homemade (Gluten-Free) Potato Soup recipe, which I got from my mom, but I want to talk about an alternative cooking process that most people don't use. Pressure cooking with a Pressure Cooker, not it be confused with a Pressure Canner.

For those of you who may not know, a pressure cooker is an airtight pot in which food can be cooked quickly under steam pressure. You might be asking "Why get ANOTHER kitchen accessory when I can just boil in the pots I have?" By cooking the food quickly (with minimal water) under steam pressure, your food retains more of its nutrients, unlike when you boil it, where you are actually boiling the nutrients out as the food breaks down. In other words, The longer foods are cooked, the more nutrients goes into the water and inevitable down the drain. I personally find foods retain more of their taste as well. A couple bonus benefits to mention, pressure cooking saves time and energy resources. You can literally cook down tender veggies in 3 to 5 minutes or stew meat in 25 minutes.

Photo courtesy of Ace Hardware Site

If you want to try it out for yourself, you can pick one up at Walmart, Kmart, Target, I got mine at Ace Hardware for around $45.00. Mine is a 6 quart just like the one in the photo.

In the recipe below I will give you the directions on how to cook the veggies in a pressure cooker, but for those of you who may not have one...yet, I will give the instructions for traditional boiling as well.

Ingredients 

6 medium potatoes (doesn't matter whatever is on hand. Russets, Yukon golds, etc.)
1 onion, diced small
3 carrots, peeled and chopped small (or 1-1/2 of baby carrots chopped small, again whatever you have in hand)
5 cups chicken broth (canned, boxed or bullion, doesn't matter)
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 stick of butter
4 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheese (I use cheddar, but you could be adventurous try something different.)

Directions

(Pressure Cooker) Place your diced potatoes, carrots, and onion in your pressure cooker (make sure you have the cooking rack in the bottom before you put the veggies in.) Add 1 Cup of water and put the lid on. Now cooking time doesn't start till the pressure is built up, so don't start timing till the pressure regulator starts jiggling. Once it's jiggling turn it down to medium-low and time 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes is up, carefully pull the cooker off the stove and place it in your empty sink and run cold water over the top to cool it quickly. This next part is very important DO NOT REMOVE THE LID TILL THE PRESSURE HAS GONE COMPLETELY DOWN!  Mine has an air vent on the handle on the lid that goes up when under pressure and goes back down when the pressure is gone. Your's may be different, so PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE USE! After you remove the lid drain and place in a large pot.

Right: Pressure Cooker Part Diagram -  Left: Cooking Rack

(Traditional Boiling) In a large pot, bring water, potatoes, carrots, and onion to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are tender. Then drain and put back in a large pot.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter, then whisk in the cornstarch.

Add the milk to the butter/cornstarch mixture and whisk together. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. It will start out thin but how you will know it's done is when it is the consistency of pudding.

Add cheddar cheese and stir until melted.
Pour cream base contents of medium saucepan into a large pot with your vegetables.

Heat thoroughly over medium heat, occasionally stirring, until ready to serve.

This recipe is very versatile, so you could always add some ham and/or corn and make it a chowder. You can basically swap and/or add whatever veggies you like to the cream base. I have added bacon before and let me tell you it is heavenly. Also if you want it to be a bit thicker add more cheese till you get the consistency. Like I usually add 3 or 4 cups of cheese, but mom likes it thinner, so she just adds 2 cups, which is more cost-effective. But who doesn't love super cheesy bacon potato soup!?

Also, one more thing to remember, this soup is GLUTEN-FREE! There is no flour in the base. It is thickened with cornstarch. Which makes it a good soup for anyone like my mom who can't eat gluten.

Hearty Stuffed Tomatoes

Good morning everyone! Hope ya'll are having a warmer day than I am here in Montana. It has been pretty snowy and rainy here for the past week, so yesterday I decided to veer from my weekly menu and make the family a "comfort food" type meal. Hearty Stuffed Tomatoes! They are actually very simple, very easy, and super tasty. One thing I want to mention before you start if you have say a family of four just half the recipe. This recipe as it is right now feeds my family of seven.

Ingredients

8-10 medium-to-large tomatoes
½ pound ground beef
1 cup breadcrumbs (can be plain, panko, whatever you have on hand)
1 cup parmesan cheese (whichever type you have on hand)
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
2 cups cottage cheese (or ricotta, whatever you have on hand)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon dry oregano
3 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a small pan with foil and spray with non-stick spray. Set aside.

Cut the tops of the tomatoes off and scoop out the insides. You can eat or discard the insides because you will not need them. They should look like little tomato bowls. Place the tomatoes upside down on paper towels. This way they can drain and dry a little, I find it helps them bake better if they aren't so wet.

Brown your hamburger and drain it.

In a medium bowl mix hamburger, breadcrumbs, all cheese, all spices, and olive oil. Basically ALL ingredients EXCEPT tomatoes.

Next, Invert the tomatoes and place on your prepared pan.

Now start filling the tomatoes. You want to kind of pack the mixture into the tomato bowls. Press down gently.

If you have any extra cheese, you can sprinkle it over the tops.

Place uncovered in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and just slightly soft on the outside of tomato. Because tomato sizes vary and cooking time may be plus or minus five minutes.


Told you they were pretty easy and delicious!