This Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup will be the star of your winter cuisine! Perfect for chilly days.

You guys. Fall has officially arrived.

I’m no longer rolling up my skinny jeans.

I wore a scarf.

We turned on our heat.

I got out my slippers.

I haven’t worn a real coat yet, but it won’t be long.

I’ve been using my slow cooker more than I care to admit. But I use that baby all year. In the winter, it creates irresistible comfort foods. In the summer, it cooks dinner without heating up your house. Winner, winner, chicken slow cooker dinner.

Speaking of chicken slow cooker dinners (see what I did there?), I’m excited to share another recipe with you that’s part of my partnership with Just BARE^® Chicken.

This slow cooker soup really couldn’t be easier to make. You just throw all the ingredients (except the cream) into the slow cooker and let it work its magic. Six to eight hours later, you have creamy delicious soup. The rice is tender and the chicken is ready to be shredded.

Just BARE antibiotic-free chicken is hand-trimmed so you don’t even have to bother with trimming fat off the chicken thighs – it is already done for you. All you need to do is sit and take in the great smells of this cooking all day in your house. Perfect for football Saturdays, Sunday night dinners or busy weeknight meals when you want to come home to a hot meal already made. It’s basically the perfect soup.

I like Just BARE’s boneless skinless chicken thighs in this soup because they have a lot of really great flavor – but if you’re not a dark meat fan, feel free to use boneless skinless chicken breasts in this recipe.

Enjoy – and stay warm!

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

Directions:

Creamy Sweet Potato and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus- a unique, nutritious appetizer for holiday parties or a healthy snack. 

Have I told you how much I love hummus? I seriously eat it almost everyday. I’m always looking for new recipes and new ways to make it, and since the air is crisp and it’s feeling all fall-like, a sweet potato hummus seemed the way to go. This one has a secret ingredient- curry! That’s not to say that this dish tastes “curry-ish”. The curry just gives it a distinctive flavor that will have your guests wondering what makes it so good.

To begin, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay the 2 sweet potatoes on the parchment paper and place in a 400 degree oven. Note: Sweet potatoes technically have 2 layers of skin. For this recipe, you remove the first layer and leave the bottom layer of skin on.  The other option is to leave them completely unpeeled and then remove the skins before putting them in the food processor. I prefer to peel only the outside skin and then throw them in (with a thin layer of skin still on them). I like the texture it gives to the hummus, but it’s good either way. 

After 15 minutes of baking, remove the baking sheet from the oven, add the red pepper strips and put back in the oven for 30 minutes.

The sweet potatoes should be soft and the red peppers should be browned. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

In a food processor or high powered blender, add the chickpeas, sweet potatoes, red pepper, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, curry powder and cayenne powder. Process until smooth.

Serve the hummus with pita bread, apple chips (yum!), carrots, etc.

*Serving size is 2 tablespoons.

Sometimes I put a lot of thought into the recipes I feature on this website, going to the trouble of researching the current trends to analyzing the most popular google searches for the season. The whole ordeal involves a lot of spreadsheets, sticky notes, and math – you know, all the those necessary evils of the corporate world.

But the rest of the time? What I make depends on what food I find on mega discount at my local grocery store. For instance, my place to grocery shop typically has a few fold out tables near the back where they place hot clearance items or (here’s the really good part) any food they need to move quickly. And the food isn’t expired or damaged or anything bad – it’s just that for one reason or another, they just need it gone ASAP and they’re willing to sell it practically at cost in order to do it.

So you can imagine my excitement when I rounded the corner and saw not only were the discount tables fully stocked, but they were absolutely overflowing with Delallo products. Delallo is one of the brands I look out for when I’m searching for Italian food, from gnocchi, pizza sauce, lady fingers – you name it. They cover all the bases of comfort food and I was simply beside myself when I saw that all their products were marked down nearly 75% off. I have no idea how I got so lucky, but I ended up buying just about four of each of my favorites.

And in that awesome food haul? Sun dried tomatoes. It wound up being the perfect inspiration for this dish – so much so that I had enough foresight to buy all the other ingredients to make it that day in the store. Because, seriously, this almost never happens for me. Typically I have to make multiple trips to the grocery store between all the spreadsheets and math before I have everything I need to start cooking.

It certainly helped that I had been craving stuffed pasta shells for the past few weeks, and anything with a lasagna theme would help me get my ricotta fix. I also debated going the more traditional route of using ground beef for this dish, but I just couldn’t seem to shake the fact that sun dried tomatoes needed chicken. Sun dried tomatoes just need chicken, ya know?

Overall, this dish was just as good as I imagined (and just as comfort-educing as all the other meals I make with Delallo products). It was also still just as perfect and as flavorful when I heated it up for lunch the next day. This will definitely be a repeat recipe in our house!

I'm totally hooked on this new make your own fruit leather/fruit roll-up fad.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm a firm believer that the Vitamix is one of the best kitchen inventions of all time (this isn't a sponsored post btw).

Whole food smoothies, soups, sauces and ice creams are all at the tips of your fingers with one of those bad boys.

But until this summer it never occurred to me to bake the fruit I blended.

So now I'm bringing you my favorite fruit roll-up flavor combo: Blueberry Peach. FYI, you can substitute frozen, thawed fruit and the recipe will work just fine. Just be prepared to get a slight decrease in flavor.

Made with whole fruits and a dash of honey and lemon juice, it's definitely a snack you can feel good about. 

Recipe

Makes 8

Ingredients

Instructions

Cabbage Rolls are something I’ve always wanted to try, but never quite got around to making. When I was recently invited to a fall potluck at a friend’s house and learned that one invitee couldn’t eat gluten, I decided to experiment and make them with quinoa!

Obviously with that healthier step taken, I couldn’t resist using ground chicken as the main protein instead of the higher calorie ground beef. The result, though quite unusual for cabbage rolls, was a tasty, much healthier version of everyone’s favourite fall comfort food dish!

These Healthier Napa Cabbage Rolls are baked in the oven with a simple, homemade tomato sauce, and are a rich, satisfying meal perfect for family gatherings, potlucks and more.

I used Napa cabbage because I’ve heard it’s easier to roll since it is more delicate, but that’s also something you should watch out for: make sure that you aren’t cooking the cabbage for too long or the leaves will fall apart. Just a couple of seconds submerged in boiling water then in ice water should do the trick!

After you soften the cabbage leaves, you’ll put the chicken and quinoa mixture in each leaf and roll it up, placing in a large oven safe casserole dish. The trick to amazing homemade tomato sauce believe it or not is brown sugar! Add a pinch to your crushed tomatoes along with some shallots and sautéed garlic, and you’ve got one hell of a sauce!

Will you be trying these Healthier Napa Cabbage Rolls?

Ingredients

• 6.5 ounces pesto (learn here how to make your own pesto sauce)
• 2 cups dried fusilli pasta
• 4-5 chicken breasts
• 10 chestnut mushrooms
• Olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup cream
• 5-6 sun-dried tomatoes
• 3 cups fresh baby spinach
• goat cheese for crumbling
• flat leaf parsley for garnishing
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2-3 cups haricots verts (optional)
• Salt and pepper

Kitchen equipment needed

• Chef’s knife + cutting board
• Large pan or Dutch oven
• Pairing knife or small knife
• Large skillet + fitting lid
• Bowl
• Plate
• Whisk
• Small pan (optional)

Preparation — 5 minutes

CLEAN, stem and slice the chestnut mushrooms. RID the chicken breasts of any excess fat or blood, season with salt and pepper and set aside. WASH the baby spinach and haricots verts. DICE the onion and chop up 2 cloves of garlic. ROUGHLY chop up the sun-dried tomatoes.
You can optionally cook the haricots verts if you want, we did this too and it’s really an addition to the dish. All you have to do is to heat up water in a small pan until it boils. BLANCH the haricots verts for 4-5 minutes, then set aside. Serve the finished dish with the haricots verts on the side.

Cooking the creamy chicken pesto pasta dish — 25 minutes

COOK fusilli pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside. Meanwhile cook the sauce. HEAT up 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet. ADD sliced chestnut mushrooms, diced onions and chopped garlic and cook for 4-5 minutes, while stirring now and then. TRANSFER mushrooms from the large skillet into a bowl.
HEAT up another tablespoon olive oil, add chicken, place lid on top of it and cook for 12-15 minutes on medium heat. TURN the chicken breasts once when not pink anymore. REMOVE chicken from the skillet and transfer to a plate.
ADD cream into the large pan or dutch oven. WHISK in the pesto and add in chopped sun-dried tomatoes. ADD mushrooms and chicken breasts into the sauce, mix to coat. COOK for 3-5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. MIX in the baby spinach, wait for it to shrink a little then add in the fusilli pasta. HEAT UP until the entire dish is hot again, serve with crumbled goat cheese and chopped flat leaf parsley.

Firehouse Chili with Pumpkin Sour Cream will warm up any occasion. Smoky, spicy, yet sweet chili flavors make it a family favorite! It is hearty with 2 kinds of bean and loads of vegetables. Comfort food at its finest.

Have you ever been to a Chili Cook-off? If so, I would love to hear about it. I have always wanted to go. I am hoping it is as wonderful as a Rib Cook-off I once attended.

Every year there is a huge event in Reno, Nevada called the Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off. Talk about amazing! They transform Victorian Square in downtown Sparks into a must-attend culinary, music, craft, and family end-of-summer affair. There are 24 rib cookers from all over the world doing their best to win your vote.   More than 500,000 people attend. Crazy, right? You purchase rib-tasting tickets and walk around to all the different food booths and sample their wares. Then, you cast your vote for your favorite and at the end of the event they announce the Rib Cook-off winner. It is the best rib competition I have ever attended, and I am hoping that the Chili Cook-offs are similar.

Firehouse Chili with Pumpkin Sour Cream is something I would be proud to enter in any chili competition. It smells so amazing while it is simmering.  The fire roasted tomatoes give it a nice kick and the 2 kinds of beans make it simply scrumptious.  It is tasty, not too spicy, just full of incredible hearty goodness. The pumpkin sour cream not only looks pretty, it adds a little something special on top. Yes, this is comfort food at its best! So the next time you feel like something warm on a cold, chilly night, please give this chili a try. And who knows, you may just see me at the next Chili Cook-off.

With the leftover pumpkin puree, be sure to make our delicious Heavenly Pumpkin Gemsfor dessert!

I’ve discovered my love for butternut squash lately. Like seriously – I am roasting it and putting it in everything! So when one of my best friends requested I post a fall salad, this Roasted Butternut Squash Argula Salad was a no brainer.

This salad is so simple and delicious, perfect for fall gatherings or even as a healthy and filling take-along lunch for work or school since it doesn’t need to be refrigerated. In fact, it’s best when served warm.

      

Simply toast raw pecans in a skillet, remove and add olive oil and brown sugar, and then add the pecans back in a toss! It’s the easiest and most fool-proof method to perfect toasty, caramelized pecans every time.

   

 

Skewered sweet Dublin bay prawns rolled in toasted sesame seed and grilled till golden, served with a sweet and peppery garlic aioli.

When was the last time some Dublin bay prawns ended up in your shopping basket down the fish mongers? If you’re anything like me the chances are they’re an occasional treat. A delicacy only enjoyed every now and again.

The main reason for me is the price. The 20 or so dublin bay prawns in the picture above cost a whopping 17 euro and I’m not ashamed to say I wolfed them down all on my lonesome and was still left feeling a little peckish.

The other issue is availability, which is also the reason they’re so damn expensive. No doubt the best and freshest are snapped up by the high end restaurants around town. Which leaves your average joe like you and me with the frozen variety.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. Dublin bay prawns deteriorate rapidly once caught. These days they’re flash frozen at sea or shortly after being being landed. Most of the time I turn up my nose at frozen fish.

However, the quality of the Dublin bay prawns in the freezer cabinet at your fishmongers compares really well with any of the fresh ones I’ve seen around lately. Fresh prawns really need to be at the market and eaten within 24 hours of been caught, no hanging around, and at least with the frozen ones you know what you’re getting. Quality is somewhat guaranteed.

Because of their price Prawns are an ideal option for a canape. You could get away with serving just a couple per person before a meal, and with the party season approaching this is an ideal recipe. I’ll admit that the inspiration for this recipe comes from the sesame prawn toasts you often see as an appetizer on menus in Chinese restaurants.

Simply devane and skewer up the prawns before rolling them through some nutty toasted sesame seeds. Than just cook them ever so briefly under a really hot grill so the retain all that succulent sweet juice.

You could have these tasty little treats whipped up and served to your guests in about 10 minutes as long as you buy the prawns already peeled. So it’s the way to go if you’re in a hurry.

Personally, I nearly always buy my prawns in the shell, heads and all. You can make an awesome tasting stocks with the shells for use in soups, sauces, stews and risotto.

As with any food on a stick you need something to dip into. With prawns my thoughts nearly always turn to garlic. Prawns and garlic are one of those heavenly marriages that just work so well together.

So to complement my prawns I whizzed up a roast garlic aioli. To roast the garlic just wrap it up in a little foil parcel with some fragrant  thyme and fruity olive oil. Than bake it in the oven till tender.

I love cooking garlic like this. It takes on a totally different flavour. Gone is the sharp slightly acidic edge to be replaced by a more mellower nutty flavour. The sweet golden nuggets of roasted garlic are then whirled up with some peppery rocket and spicy dijon for an ideal accompaniment.

When was the last time you treated yourself to some sweet succulent prawns ?

Ingredients

• 1 whole bulb of garlic.
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
• 1 sprig of thyme.
• 2 egg yolks.
• 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard.
• 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar.
• 25g / 1oz of washed rocket leaves
• 250ml / 1 cup of rapeseed oil.
• salt.

• 25g / 1oz of toasted sesame seeds.
• 20 peeled Dublin bay prawns.
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Instructions

1. First make the garlic aioli. Place the bulb of garlic on a sheet of tinfoil and drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil. Put a sprig of thyme on top and wrap the garlic up into a little foil parcel.
2. Bake in a hot oven for 30 minutes until the garlic is soft and tender.
3. When the garlic is cool enough to handle pull apart the cloves and remove the skins. Place your peeled garlic in a food processor along with the egg yolks, dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, and washed rocket.
4. Give everything a good whizz and then slowly trickle in the olive oil till the aioli it a thick mayonnaise consistency.
5. Next put the sesame seeds on a baking tray and toast under a hot grill till golden brown.
6. Skewer up your prawns on bamboo skewers and then roll them through the toasted sesame seeds trying to get as even a coating as possible on each prawn.
7. Lay the skewered prawns on a baking sheet and season with a little salt. Than drizzle with the olive oil and cook for 2 minutes each side under a hot grill.
8. Serve the prawns on a platter with the garlic aioli on the side for dipping and let everybody dig in.

Notes