Easy Cheesy Jalfrezi Chicken

I got a really positive response to my last quick 'n easy chicken recipe (or at least no one skewered me for using *gasp* a can of soup), so I figured I'd post this one too.

This time around, I used a jar of Seeds of Change jalfrezi cooking sauce. I got some samples from them a while back, but I've gone back and bought more of the jalfrezi. The best way I can describe it is that it's curry for people who aren't sure they like curry. It's got a teeny bit of heat and hints of typical Indian flavors, but it's not in-your-face.

What it is, though, is really, really tasty. Flavorful. Scrumptious.

And then I added a can of (gasp!) cheddar cheese soup.

My first experience with canned cheddar cheese soup was when my mom invite me over for dinner and she was giggling with delight about her new cheese sauce recipe that she used on the broccoli.

Prior to that, she generally didn't put cheese sauce on vegetables. Sometimes she'd sprinkle a little cheese on top of hot broccoli or cauliflower and let it melt, but she never made a sauce.

Until this one time. She gloated. She cooed. She rubbed her hands with glee. She was over-the-moon about her recipe and she waited until dinner was over and she asked me to guess what was in the sauce. And finally she announced that it was nothing but undiluted canned cheddar cheese soup.

Well, how about that.

Once I wrapped my head around the fact that it was nothing but canned soup, I had to admit that it totally worked.

These days, I don't use a lot of canned soup, but lately I've been using it in some slow cooker recipes. Because ... hey, why not?

Easy Cheesy Jalfrezi Chicken

1 tablespoon olive oil
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 4 pounds)
1 onion, diced or chopped
1 orange or red bell pepper, cored, and diced or chopped
1 jar Seeds of Change Jalfrezi sauce
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 teaspoon salt*
1 bag frozen broccoli florets (about 14 ounces, depending on brand)

If you have a slow cooker with a browning feature, heat the olive oil in the cooker and brown the chicken, skin-side down. You might need to do this in batches. If your slow cooker doesn't have a browning feature, brown the chicken in a pan on the stove, then transfer to the slow cooker. If there's a lot of fat in the slow cooker, drain most of it before continuing.

Add the onion and bell pepper and cook for a few minutes in the pan or slow cooker, stirring as needed.

Add the  jalfrezi sauce, cheese soup, and salt. Stir to mix it all together. If you like, you can mix them prior to added to the slow cooker - depending on whether you think washing a bowl is easier, or trying to stir stuff in a fairly full slow cooker.

Cook on high heat until the chicken and vegetables are cooked through - 2-3 hours on high, depending on your slow cooker. Add the broccoli, stir to combine, and continue cooking until the broccoli is done to your liking. It will be crisp-tender and warm in about 15 minutes. If you prefer it cooked until tender, plan for another 15 minutes.

Serve hot. I served it with rice to soak up the sauce.

*Before you point out that canned soup is salty, I totally agree. It's salty - for soup. But for my taste, it's not quite salty enough for 4 pounds of chicken and another pound or so of vegetables. If you don't believe me (which is fine - I don't always believe me!) then leave the salt out until the chicken is cooked and give it a taste. Keep in mind that the broccoli is going in the pool, too. And adjust the saltiness to your taste.

No-Cook, No-Churn Vanilla Malted Milk Ice Cream

When you churn ice cream in an ice cream maker, it freezes the product and at the same time it adds air to the mixture. If it wasn't for the air, the ice cream would be much more solid - like a solid block of frozen dairy product. With this ice cream, you add air first, then freeze. So there's no need to churn.

In the ice cream industry, the air added to the ice cream is referred to as overrun. If an ice cream had a 100 percent overrun, it would mean that whatever amount of ice cream mix you started with, you'd end up with twice as much volume of ice cream because of the added air.

Needless to say, less expensive ice creams have a higher overrun - since they're selling you less product and more air, they can charge less.

With this ice cream, you can control the amount of overrun by allowing the air from the whipped cream to deflate before you freeze it. Or leave it really fluffy. It's different from what you'd get from a churned ice cream, and sometimes a different texture is appealing just because it's different.

When I made this, I froze it right after mixing, so it was pretty fluffy. I ended up with about 2 quarts of finished ice cream. Bonus of the extra air is that you can have an extra-large scoop with the same calories as a smaller scoop.

Vanilla Malted Milk Ice Cream

2 cups heavy cream
1 14-ounce can  sweetened condensed milk
1 cup cashew milk (you can use almond milk or regular old dairy milk)
1/4 cup malted milk powder (make sure it's the kind that dissolves in cold liquids)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

In large bowl using a hand beater, or in the bowl of your stand mixer using the whipping attachment, beat the cream until it forms soft peaks. Make sure you don't overbeat and make butter.

Since the stand mixer is a hands-off operation, you can do the other mixing while the cream whips - just keep an eye on it.

In another bowl, mix the condensed milk, cashew milk, malted milk powder, vanilla extract, and salt until it's completely mixed.

If the malted milk powder is lumpy and there are lumps in the mix that you can't break up by whisking. a stick blender will take care if it nicely.

Mix the condensed milk mixture into the whipped cream, then transfer to storage containers and freeze until firm.

Chocolate Cashew Slushie

Super-quick recipe, but I've been making this just about every other day for the past week or so, and I'm still not getting tired of it. So I figured it was worth writing up, if only so I can remember it when I quit making it for a month or so.

Yes, I do look up recipes on my own blog. All the darned time.

To be honest, I don't measure everything exactly most days, so it might have a little more or less chocolate. I did measure it to write this up, though. But, hey, you know what you like, so adapt it however it makes sense for you.

The protein powder isn't necessary, but it does make this more of a meal replacement rather than a just a drink. Of course, if you're after "just a drink" this is pretty tasty.

I'm also thinking it could be really good with some malted milk powder thrown in.

Cashew Chocolate Slushie

1 cup cashew milk
1 tray ice cubes (Yeah, not an exact measurement, but more or less isn't going to be a deal-breaker.)
1 tablespoon chocolate sauce
1/4 cup cold brew coffee concentrate
2 scoops vanilla cream protein powder (optional)

Blend until smooth. Pour into a glass. Add a straw. SLURP!