Recipe

All the talk about soup and poring over the various ingredients lists kept me craving all night long. I still haven't decided what to prepare first. I am leaning toward the Turkey/Black Bean as I have most of those ingredients on hand. Tiff asked about the Thai Spiced Chicken, so here it is:

This is a slow cooker recipe, gleaned from a slow cooking magazine published by the Women's Day folks.

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
6 shallots, finely chopped
3 cups carrots, thinly sliced
4 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 red chile, seeded and finely chopped
1 piece fresh ginger root (about 1 in. long), peeled and finely chopped
3 or 4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 1 1/4 lb) diced
1 Tbsp Thai seven-spice seasoning
3/4 cup green beans, halved
4 cups chicken broth
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 ox spaghetti, broken into small lengths
3 Tpsp fresh cilantro, chopped

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet; add shallots, carrots, celery, garlic, chile and giner and saute for 3 minutes.

2. Add chicken and cook until browned all over, stirring frequently. Add Thai spice adnd green beans; cook for 1 minute, stirring. Add broth, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.

3. Transfer to slow cooker, cover, reduce heat to Low and cook 5 hours. Stir in spaghetti, cover and cook on Low 1 to 2 hours, until spaghetti is cooked and tender. Stir in chopped cilantro and serve with fresh crusty bread.

Serves 6 Nutritionial info: 262 cal, 22 g pro, 25 g car, 4 g fib, 8 g fat (1 g sat fat), 28% cal from fat, 71 mg chol, 538 mg sod.

At first glance this soup recipe is not something I would have even considered. I like soup and I like using my slow cooker, or crock pot. Admittedly I can be intimidated by extensive or in my view, exotic ingredients lists. You see, while I can enjoy cooking, I really don't enjoy shopping for the food to cook. But on my seemingly never-ending quest to find foods and dishes that please my palate, my waist-line and satisfy my over-all health goals, I realize that I must step outside of my comfort zone.