Recipes for Average People: Mulligatawny

I grew up helping my mom in the kitchen. So when I made it to college, I was pretty comfortable with basics of cooking; enough that I could whip up a mean batch of rolls and some decent desserts. But when I got married, I came face to face with the reality that chicken nuggets and tater tots don't exactly cut it as far as dinner is concerned (and then of course, kids came along and chicken nuggets always cut it...but that's whole other post ;)

Well, four years later, with several disasters under my belt along with many hours logged in the kitchen, making dinner every night is not nearly so overwhelming as it was those first days (most of the time, anyways). It helps that I've built a small repertoire of meals that I can pull together with relatively minimal effort. I LOVE the internet for finding recipes (how did our moms do it?!) but I've also found recipes that are "SOOOOO EASY!" and halfway through just the ingredient list, my eyeballs are bugging out.

That's why I love it when friends and family post recipes they like and actually use. (Thanks Tracy, Marcelaine, Katie, Whitney!) So, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and post some favorites of mine here and there.

Here's to fairly simple recipes that taste good (in my opinion of course :) Enjoy!

Mulligatawny

(original source: All Recipes)

-1/2 onion, chopped

-2 stalks celery, chopped

-2 carrots, diced

-1/4 cup butter

-1 1/2 TB flour

-1 1/2 tsp curry powder

-4 cups chicken broth

-1/2 apple, cored and grated

-1/4 c white rice

-1 skinless, boneless chicken breast half

-salt and pepper to taste

-pinch of dried thyme

-cream or milk (optional)

Directions:

1. Add flour and curry, and cook 5 more minutes. Add chicken broth, mix well, and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 30 minute.

2. Add apple, rice, chicken, salt, pepper, and thyme. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until rice is done.

3. When serving, add cream or milk to taste.

*For the chicken broth, I generally just use bouillon, since I always have it on hand.

*Don't be shy with the curry powder--it makes the soup!

*I usually cook the chicken ahead of time (usually just throw it in my small crockpot in the morning on low or for an hour or two on high). I like the chicken shredded and to me it is a lot less work--no defrosting and working with raw chicken.

*If I have leftover rice, I will use it instead of putting in the uncooked rice. Just adjust cooking time accordingly.

*I never have cream, so I just add some milk to the bowls as I serve it. You can eat it without as well, but the milk adds a nice dimension, I think. And it mellows out the curry taste too.

*The recipe theoretically serves 6. If you eat a normal person bowl, it does. But if you are like us and use this as a one-pot meal (like I said, I'm all about easy) and fill your bowls to the brim, it will feed two hungry adults and two pretty hungry kids.

And now for the pictures. Just call me Food "Mcbloggity" Blogger. And please, hold the applause till the end.

I doubled the recipe this time. My kids gobble this stuff up. 

The glamorous chicken. Crockpot=easy.

Chop those veggies. Saute 'em in butter.

Add your flour and curry. Mix it up nice. 

Have your cute toddler unwrap the bouillon cubes. Crumbs will get all over the floor, so she can spend the rest of the time you're cooking having fun trying to sweep it all up. Excellent.

Add the broth and simmer. 

Grate the apple when it's time to put it in.

Add apple, rice, chicken and spices. Simmer.

 Dish it up, add milk or cream. Fill your tummy.