Chicken Stew with White Beans and Sausage

Chicken Stew with White Beans and Sausage I’ve never been the bean person I have wanted to be. A big pot of savory beans just always sounds good. Whether it’s at the farmer’s market or in the store, every time I see those clear bags with all sorts of pretty dried beans, I think to myself, “I’ve GOT to have those!” But then I get them home and they sit in my pantry. The good news is they don’t go bad…they just get dusty.

Now that the weather is turning, I have been trying to force myself to do more with beans. Schedule constraints have required that I occasionally use canned beans, but I have also tried to go old school and soak ’em. I have found the best way to cook up something tasty using dried beans is in the crockpot. Throw ’em in, turn it on, and walk away. Come back a few hours later and you have a fabulous One Pot Meal all ready to go for dinner. My kind of awesome.

The recipe below is a good one to try when you want something warm and satisfying after a long day. It takes a little bit more prep work with the browning but it’s worth it. In the meantime, I am still on the hunt for more “cooking with beans” type recipes to try. So look for the “greatest hits” in the coming weeks…

Chicken Stew with White Beans and Sausage
Recipe adapted from of Slow Cooker Revolution
From America’s Test Kitchen
Serves 6 to 8

This Chicken Stew with White Beans and Sausage is inspired by a classic Tuscan white bean stew—we added sausage. Browing the chicken, sausage, and aromatics makes for a richer, deeper flavor. The abundance of spinach wilts down substantially. Read more…

Lisa’s Lazy Pot Roast

Fall Classic
My food calendar is totally confused, and I am blaming it on the start of college football. Here’s the deal: the season officially kicks off (ha ha ha) on Thursday night. Most people would take note of this and think “Cool. I wonder who’s playing on Saturday?” Not in my house. In my house, and the households of my relations, it’s a national holiday. Special meals are prepared. Phones are ignored because who could possibly be calling me now?!

So, back to the food confusion thing. To me, college football means fall.
Fall means cooler weather, colorful leaves, bulb planting, butternut squash, and generously sized meats slow roasting for hours while the Ducks put the smackdown on the Bears (Yep. I said it. Let the trash talking begin…). The problem is that it’s still August. It’s 90 degrees outside. Not exactly pot roast weather.

My mind and my appetite don’t seem to care, so I found myself in the kitchen last Sunday making pot roast with mashed potatoes and glazed carrots. Maybe it was because I had such a wild craving for it, but I gotta say it was the best pot roast I have had in forever. So worth a hot kitchen, though perhaps next time I will try it in the crockpot so it’s a little cooler…

For those brave souls who are willing to take the heat, I have listed the recipe I used below. It’s super easy, and nothing else is as easy to make as pot roast. It’s the ultimate comfort food. (Well, mac and cheese is probably the ultimate but, whatever.) Leftovers make great sandwiches for lunch the next day or even taste good re-heated which, in these days of Back to School can be a blessing. Read more…

Winning Chili & Cornbread Recipes

Max takes the lid off the winning chili recipe.

Chili Cook-Off Winners!

Over the weekend we had our inaugural Piedmont Grocery Chili Cook-Off. Wow, what fun! I had a blast, and the general consensus is the we should do it again next summer. I think we shall.

My life revolves around food. It is my passion as well as my hobby. It’s also what I do for a living which means I talk about food a lot. Talking about food or favorite recipes is a common enough experience in any work environment but it is even more so here at PG. It makes sense–people who work with and around food all day would have a pretty good idea of what ingredient would taste good with what other ingredient and what would be the best preparation for any ingredient. We also have our resident “experts”. These are the individuals who are known for (and sometimes share 🙂 ) their particular specialty, be it crab cakes (Josh) or to die for German Chocolate Cupcakes (Sarah) and, of course, we have a secret weapon in the deli (Phil).

Needless to say, all six of our Chili Cook-Off entries were made by people who knew what they were doing, and it showed. The best part, and what made it interesting, was that each chili was totally different than the others. We had spicy chili. We had chunky chili. We even had duck chili (with duck cracklin’ on top! Are you kidding me? So Good.)

The customers who came by to taste were awesome, and so culinary-aware, and so educated. It was really cool to stand there and talk to them about ingredients while using phrases like “nuance” and “depth of flavor”. Yes, I realize we were talking about chili but it felt like we were discussing the recipes of Thomas Keller.

All of the chili recipes were tasty, but since it was a chili cook-off there has to be a winner. So, without further ado, the winning chili as voted by our fabulous customers is…

Chili #5 by Max & Sarah
Anyone who has been through our checkout stands or had their groceries placed gently in their bag, has probably met one or both of our winning chefs. Their collaboration produced the most classic chili of the bunch, and tasted like what one would want on a cool fall day…preferably during a football game. Well, it’s what I would want in fall after or during a football game…or just about anytime, really. And don’t get me started on the corn bread! Read more…

Oriental Barbecued Ribs

BBQ Ribs The Fourth of July brings to mind many things. Freedom, of course. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, definitely. Fireworks, heck yeah. Food? You better believe it, Sister!

Fourth of July food means corn, potato salad, slaw, melon and ribs…always ribs. Well, at least for me.

In my family there are any number of ways to cook ribs. The Cherry Coke Ribs (See 6/27/12 post.) from last year are probably my favorite, but my grandmother’s Oriental Barbequed Ribs are a close second. We used to enjoy these during the summer for Sunday dinner with some Southern Spoonbread (addictive!), and some Chili Cheese Rice on the side (See Green Chili and Rice recipe from 4/24/2013.)

The original recipe came from Bon Appetit Magazine way back in the dark ages, which probably accounts for the name of the recipe. I remember my Mom’s copy written on a piece of folded, yellow, ruled, legal paper that lived in the back of her recipe box. God help us if anyone lost that paper!

The ribs are tasty, fall off the bone, and are a nice change from the usual “saucy” ribs. Make sure you marinade them overnight. It makes all the difference. And definitely save some of the marinade for basting while they are on the grill.

This year I will be spending my Fourth of July in a pool, because we are apparently now all living on the face of the sun, and will not be cooking the traditional festive meal. Instead I will make some 6th of July ribs to celebrate the weather’s return to “normal” after a week set at nuclear.

No matter what your food and party plans are this Thursday, I wish you all a very happy and cool Fourth of July! Read more…