Two Recipes for the End of Summer

It's been a long time since I've blogged about a recipe, but when I was putting together a dinner for some friends earlier this week I knew I wanted to share it. Even though I'll share two recipes in this post and I did eat them together, they're perfectly fine as individual meals/side dishes as well.

Quinoa and Corn

Quinoa has become really popular recently, and it's a really great substitute for rice or pasta if you're looking for a protein-packed, healthy side dish. The only problem is that it's pretty bland on its own. I've eaten it that way lots of times, but I've always wanted a little something to make it more interesting. This recipe is a pretty easy way to do that. I made it this particular time to eat with and in the chicken chili - recipe below - but it would be great as a side dish to any other meal.

Ingredients:
4 ears of corn, shucked
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 Tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups uncooked quinoa
4 scallions, chopped

Directions:
Place the corn in a large pot and fill it with enough water to cover the corn. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat and let the pot stand, covered, for about 5 minutes.

Remove the corn from the water and let it cool on a cutting board. After it's cool, use a sharp knife to cut the kernels off the cob.

To make the dressing, mix the lemon juice, melted butter, honey, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

Cook the quinoa according to the package directions. (Cooking quinoa follows the same rules as rice and takes about the same amount of time.)

Once the quinoa is cooked, mix it with the dressing, chopped scallions, and corn kernels until the dressing has evenly coated everything, and then it's ready to serve!

Chicken Chili  

I have a classic chili recipe with ground turkey and tomatoes and peppers and beans and it's fantastic, but I just can't think of it as anything but a fall/winter chili. I don't know that I really have a reason why, but that's the way it is. When I was trying to come up with something to make for some friends for dinner earlier this week, I wanted something I could put in the crock pot and that would be easy, and I remembered this recipe I'd seen on Pinterest. It took me a little while to get over the fact that it was the end of July and it's a chili recipe, but it's super fantastic and I was willing to let it go.

Ingredients:
2 uncooked chicken breasts, cut into 1-2" cubes
2 15 oz. cans of white beans (I used Great Northern)
1 15 oz. can of white corn
1 sweet onion/Vidalia chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
1 package taco seasoning
1 7 oz. can of chopped green chilies
1 can cream of chicken soup
14 oz. of chicken broth

Directions:
Place the chicken in the bottom of the crock pot. Add the beans, corn, and onion. Mix the garlic, taco seasoning, green chilies, cream of chicken soup and chicken broth together in a separate bowl, and then pour on top in the crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

When the chili is done but before serving, use a potato masher to break up the chicken and beans. (There's not much of a science to this, I just did it until the consistency of the whole chili went from thin like chicken broth to a much thicker, creamier consistency.)

Possible Toppings:
Sour cream
Shredded cheese
Chopped scallions (I had a lot left over from making the quinoa dish)
Tortilla chips
Quinoa and corn recipe from above (I ended up just spooning the quinoa right into the chili and eating it all together, and it was fantastic.)