Frankfort, KY

Frankfort, KY has the capitol building, which was pretty beautiful.  Nick and I went up there this last Sunday to check it out and take some pictures with our new camera.

Afterward, we had lunch of local southern-style food in Lexington and made the trip back to Louisville.  

Kerbey L. Stipp

White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

1-2 lean chicken breasts pieces

Chicken broth to cover

1 can Cannellini beans

1 can Great Northern beans

2 cloves garlic or garlic powder

1 small onion

1 can diced green chiles 4oz

1 cup frozen, fresh, or canned corn

Monterrey Jack cheese, sour cream

Cumin, chile powder, salt, oregano, fresh cilantro, olive oil

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat in a large enough pot to contain all ingredients.  Chop the onion into small pieces, and chop the garlic.  Add these to the olive oil, sprinkle with salt and cook to soften for 3-5 minutes.  Turn up the heat to medium high, clear the center of the pot, and put chicken breasts in to sear.  Sear each side for 3 minutes until there is some brown on them.

Add the can of chiles, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tbsp chile powder, a dash of oregano, and a bit more salt.  Stir.  Add chicken broth just to cover the breasts, about 1-1.5 cups.  Turn heat down to medium low and cover.  Let simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove lid and get a plate and two forks.  Put the chicken breasts on the plate and shred them.  Open and partially drain the beans, do not rinse...leave a small amount of the juice in with them.  Put all the shredded chicken back into the pot, and add the two cans of beans.  Add the corn.

Place on medium-high heat for 5 minutes.  Taste, and if you want more heat add additional cumin or chile powder, and more salt if needed.

When done, add chopped fresh cilantro if desired.

In bowls, put Monterrey Jack cheese on top and a small dollop of sour cream.  Serve with tortilla chips.

This was super yummy!  You could add some jalapeno when you cook the onions if you like a little more heat.

Roasted Vegetable and Shrimp Pasta

Ingredients:

1/2 bag whole wheat or fortified Shell noodles

1 pint Cherry Tomatoes

10-15 Asparagus spears

1 small onion

5-8 cloves of garlic 

20 shrimp, peeled and cleaned

Olive oil, butter, garlic salt, pepper, basil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Take a bunch of veggies that would go well in a sauceless pasta, and of course onions and garlic.

I used 1 small sweet onion, 4 or 6 cloves of rough chopped garlic, about 10-12 skinny stalks of asparagus, and about a pint of cherry tomatoes.

I cut the asparagus spears into little 1" sticks, cut the cherry tomatoes in half long ways.  Chopped the onions really roughly too.

Put all this in a bowl or a tupperware container, sprinkle a little basil in, and pour 2 tbsp olive oil on it.  Toss it around so they're all coated.

Lay them all out on a baking pan sprayed with nonstick, or lined with foil dull-side up.

Sprinkle garlic salt and pepper over the veggies and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.  

In the meantime, cook up the noodles, whatever you have really but I suggested about 1/2 pack of mini wheat shells. 

You could use chicken or scallops for this part probably, but I used shrimp. You don't even have to have protein really but I had shrimp on hand.  Cook however much protein you want in 2 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil, and another clove of chopped garlic.  You cook shrimp on medium low heat for about 3-4 minutes, turning over to make sure they are cooked evenly.  The shrimp came out amazing.

Toss the drained pasta into the cooked protein, and add all the roasted veggies.  If it's looking a little dry, add a little more olive oil until it looks tasty.  Squeeze an entire lemon into the pasta and toss to coat.

This is going to be one of our regulars, it turned out so good!

Remembered to take a picture right as Nick was finishing up his plate!