What I Made for Dinner :: Slow Cooker Chicken Gyros

Sometimes I feel like I'm running out of steam when it comes to ideas for making dinner, despite the fact that I've Pinned hundreds of recipes. What that frustration really means is that I haven't taken the time to review what I've pinned and planned dinners in advance.

But I'm getting better about that bit by bit, and trying new recipes in between our usual dinner stand-bys on those days I want to make dinner without thinking about it. This week I'm trying a couple of new recipes, including this one for Slow Cooker Chicken Gyros.

I had a meeting tonight so I needed a dinner that the Husband could put together after he got home. I doubled the recipe, dumped everything into the slow cooker, and let it do its thing. Before I left for my meeting, I shredded the chicken; cut up lettuce, cucumber, red onion, and tomato; and left out tzatziki sauce and pita bread.

When I got home, the kids had already polished off their share of the food and Husband was telling me I had to make this again, buy more pita bread, and maybe make a side dish (like rice pilaf). So, I guess it was a hit! There was a bit of chicken left over, so I plan to eat it on top of a salad for lunch in the next few days.

What I Read for Fun :: Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science

Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science

By John Fleischman

What I Made for Dinner :: Bibimbap

What the Husband Made for Breakfast :: Cheddar Broccoli Omelet

 

Husband used the leftover quiche filling and made an omelet for breakfast this morning. It was fantastic! He cooked the egg just the way I like it: still a bit runny on the inside.

What I Made for Dinner :: Cheddar Broccoli Quiche

Don't you hate it when members of your family don't like to eat the same things? And it's worse when you're trying to make meal planning easier for yourself by asking them to choose between two dishes and they can't agree. I learned long ago to avoid that frustration by just making stuff I want to eat. But, occasionally, I'll take requests (mostly from the Husband). 

For a fellow who doesn't like tomatoes, my husband is really fond of the tomato quiche I make. But, of course, the kids don't like it one bit ... and tomatoes aren't in season right now. So, when Husband requested quiche, I modified the Chicken Broccoli Cheddar Quiche I made awhile back: he's watching his cholesterol right now, so I omitted the bacon and chicken and added shredded carrots and more broccoli instead (nothing I can really do about the eggs and cheese since it is a Cheddar quiche!).

It came out really well, and I think we all liked it better than the original version. Maya, who insists she doesn't like broccoli, had seconds and requested that I put leftovers in her lunch (although, that didn't work out so well; cold quiche is no bueno).

What I Made for Dinner :: Slow Cooker Asian Chicken Soup

I love chicken soup; it's definitely comfort food for me and I've been making it a lot since moving to Maryland because it's been so cold this winter. Ever since I had my husband's grandmother's matzo ball soup 20 years ago, I've always added matzo balls to my chicken soup, even if I'm making chicken noodle soup. But, as with all of my Standards, I decided we needed a little variety.

I found this Asian-style slow cooker chicken soup recipe and it reminded me of Seolleongtang, my favorite Korean soup. It's made from beef bones and is rich and almost creamy from cooking the bones for so long. I've often had it with rice in it, and I like to season it liberally with salt & pepper and sesame oil.

The recipe I used is similar but you use chicken. It calls for chicken breast, but I used chicken legs, hoping the bones would add some flavor to the soup. I made the mistake of putting the slow cooker on Low for the first part of the recipe, but I cranked it up to High when I added the liquid, and I let it cook for an extra hour. I'm assuming, with the bone, the chicken takes longer to cook through.

I didn't salt the soup at all while preparing it, but I did add a bit of soy sauce. It wasn't enough, though, because the addition of the nappa [see below] probably diluted the soup just a bit. We all salted the soup fairly heavily at the table, and also used white pepper for an additional kick.

As for the additional ingredients:

• I conveniently had some leftover white rice in the fridge that was getting a bit stale so it was perfect to add to the soup.
• I only added half of the chicken back in. (I'm saving the other half to make chicken salad for my daughter's lunch.) 
• I parboiled frozen Trader Joe's cilantro chicken wontons before adding them to the soup. I made the mistake of adding the wontons to the slow cooker half an hour before serving; the wonton skins kinda disintegrated. 
• And I wanted to have more vegetables so I added shredded nappa cabbage half an hour before serving. For my own personal tastes, that wasn't long enough. I prefer the nappa cooked a bit longer. 

What I Read for Fun :: Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy
by Karen Foxlee