Moroccan Chicken, Couscous, and Brussel Sprouts

 Tonight was Jake's night to cook. He pulled out the Rachael Ray cookbook, and decided on Moroccan chicken.

 What you will need: It called for 12 to 16 pieces of chicken (he used 3 leg quarters), salt and pepper, 3 tbs olive oil, 4 tbs butter, 2 large onions cut into wedges (he used 1 medium), 3 meyer lemons cut into thick slices, handful of bay leaves, a couple of handfuls of green olives, 1 tbs coriander, 1 tbs cumin, 1 tbs ginger, 2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, pinch of saffron, pinch of cardamom, 1/4 cup flour, and 4 cups chicken broth. Directions, season the chicken with the salt and pepper to taste. In a large dutch oven, heat the olive oil, and sear the chicken on all sides, do this in batches so the pan isn't over crowded, move the seared chicken to a plate. After all chicken is seared and on the plate, add the butter to the pan, when the butter foams, add the onions, lemons, bay leaves, and olives; stir and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in the coriander, cumin, ginger, turmeric, smoked paprika, cinnamon, saffron, and cardamom. Stir that until it's very fragrant. Sprinkle in the flour and stir to cook out the flour. Whisk in the stock, slide the chicken back in, simmer until the chicken is cooked. I had Jake add in some brussel sprouts when he started simmering it.

 For the couscous he just followed the directions on the box, except for adding some fresh chopped garlic. He served it with a slice of sourdough bread for sopping up the juice. It was pretty good.

Chicken Cacciatore with Red Wine

   We haven't done much cooking lately because Jake and I have been sick. Tonight was Jake's night to cook. He decided to use some of the chicken legs that we bought today from Grocery Outlet. There were 14 legs for $3.17. The red wine was on sale to, it was $1.99 a bottle. For some reason Jake likes cooking with wine, especially red. I am going to be lazy and copy and paste the recipe he used. He did change it buy added 1 large cubed carrot, and 1 tsp. dried thyme.

Salt

Pepper

4

boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/4

cup Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour

3

tablespoons olive oil

2

tablespoons butter

1

medium onion, chopped

1

medium red bell pepper, seeded, chopped

3

cloves garlic, finely chopped

1

cup red wine (Chianti, Cabernet or Merlot)

1

can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes

1

cup Progresso™ chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)

1

teaspoon dried oregano leaves

2

tablespoons julienne fresh basil leaves

Directions

• 1Sprinkle salt and pepper over chicken breasts; coat chicken with flour. In Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook until browned on both sides. Remove chicken from Dutch oven; place on plate. Set aside.
• 2In same Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper and garlic; cook and stir 5 minutes. Add red wine; cook until reduced in half.
• 3Stir in tomatoes, broth and oregano. Place chicken over tomatoes. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer about 20 minutes or until juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut (165°F).
• 4Serve chicken over mashed potatoes or spaghetti, spooning sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with basil.

He severed it over rice. I asked him where was my veggies, he replied by saying I added carrots to it. I had a small dark green salad with this. 

Chicken and Spinach Lasagna

  It's been along time since I have made lasagna. For one it's a pain to make and two Jake's diet never allowed for it. Things have changed with the diet a bit, so I thought I would give it a try. I thought I would change it up a bit, but didn't think it would take over 2 hours to make. I found a recipe for one with white sauce and I liked that idea, but made some changes, like I always do. I had to make changes, because who would make a lasagna without garlic and proper seasonings?  I didn't however read through it all the way, seeing that the cook time was suppose to be an hour. Oh well, so dinner was later than usual.

  Prep took a while, I took 2 bags of fresh spinach, took the stems off and cut into smaller pieces. I then chopped 1 small yellow onion, 4 cloves of garlic, and chopped 8 mini sweet peppers. I forgot I cut 6 skinless, boneless, chicken breast strips into cubes.

  To cook: First start a long deep pot filled with water to boil. I heated 1 tbs. olive oil in a deep skillet, when the oil was hot I added the chicken, cook until done, then remove to a plate, then add 1 tbs olive oil, the onion, the sweet peppers, and 2 teaspoons of salt, cook until the onion is translucent. Then, by handfuls add the spinach, one handful at a time, until all the spinach is wilted, I added the garlic at this time. When all the spinach is cooked, remove to a bowl lined with paper towels. Press out the extra water. Next, add 4 tbs butter to the deep skillet, add 1/4 cup flour, whisk until the flour and butter are well combined and brown, then add 1 quart of milk, continuously whisking until the milk comes to a boil and the mixture thickens, I then added 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg, 1 tsp. dried thyme, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes. Remove from heat and add 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Don't forget to cook your lasagna noodles (like I did). Take a deep baking dish, place a layer of the sauce, then a layer of the white sauce, a layer of the spinach mixture, a layer of the chicken, and finally a layer of shredded mozarella cheese. Keep repeating the layers until you use everything. Top with leftover sauce, spinach, chicken, mozarella, and romano cheese. Cover it with foil, place in a 450 degree oven (the recipe said the place in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, then remove the foil and cook for 15 minutes, remove from oven and set for 20 minutes) for 15 minutes, remove the foil cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Let rest for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Swaii, Couscous, Veggies, and Corn Muffins

  Tonight was my night for dinner. I decided to cook some fish, couscous, and make sweet corn muffins.

  For the corn muffins, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 2/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup yellow corn meal, 1 Tbs baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt in a medium bowl. In another bowl combine 2 slightly beaten eggs, 1 1/4 cups milk (I used lactose free), 1/3 cup oil (I used olive oil), and 3 Tbs. melted butter. Mix the wet ingredients together, then add into the dry ingredients. Mix well, pour into muffin tins, either lined with papers or greased tins. Place in 350 degree oven.  Let cook 15 to 18 minutes until, knife inserted comes out clean.

  For the couscous, 1 chopped 3 green onions and 3 cloves of garlic. Add that to 1 3/4 cups of chicken stock, 1 Tbs. of thai seasoning (we got a bottle of thai seasoning at the World Market) and seasoning from the couscous package. Let that come to a boil, add the couscous, remove from heat, cover, and let set for 7 minutes.

  For the fish, I took 2 swaii filet, and breaded them in a mixture of yellow corn meal, flour, pepper, and cayenne pepper. I heated a deep skillet over medium high heat, with 3 Tbs. olive oil. I placed the fish in the hot oil, and cooked it until the fish was crisp on both sides, and the fish was cooked through.

  The veggies were just frozen broccoli and cauliflower. I steamed them.

Hot Wings and Fries

  Jake's turn to cook tonight. He really wanted hot wings. We went to the store and bought a bottle of Frank's Hot Wing Buffalo sauce, our favorite for wings.

 For the wings, he took a few boneless skinless chicken breast tenderloins, and cut them into pieces. Then, he took 2 eggs and a little milk and mixed them together, in a separate bowl he mixed flour, salt, and pepper together. He dredged the chicken in the egg mixture, then the flour, then back into the eggs again, and lastly back into the flour. He fried them in a deep fryer. When they were cooked he tossed them in the Frank's Red  sauce, with melted butter added to it.

  He also made some homemade french fries. He sliced them thin, fried them in the deep fryer, drained them on a plate covered in paper towels. After they cooled he put them back in the deep fryer until they were crisp. Such an easy dinner!

French Bread Pizza

  I thought I would make pizza tonight, but didn't want to make the dough, so I bought a loaf of french bread. The sauce did take hours to simmer.

  For the sauce, I took 1, 15 oz can of crushed tomatoes, 2 small cans of tomato sauce, 1 can tomato paste, 1/2 small red onion, 4 cloves of garlic chopped, dried thyme, dried oregano, dried basil, and greek seasoning. I placed it all in the pot and let it simmer for 4 hours. The last hour I added salt and pepper. All seasoning are to taste.

  To assembly the pizzas, I sliced the french bread in 1/2 and placed them on a cookie sheet, turn the oven to 450 to heat up. Then, we spooned on the sauce, cheese, salami, fresh spinach, diced red onion, and finally more cheese.

  Cook until the cheese is all melted and bubbly. I sliced the bread into slices, and that is it!

               Oh, I did top it with more fresh spinach, red onions, and red pepper flakes,
                                                              after it came out of the oven.

Loaded Potato Soup, and Dinner Rolls

 Tonight was part me and part Jake. I made the soup and Jake made the rolls. I decided to make soup since it was cooler today and it wasn't that hard.

 For the bread, Jake, mixed 2 cups of flour, 1/4 cups sugar, 1/4 cup softened butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 package quick acting yeast in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup warm water, 1/2 cup warm milk (we used lactose free milk) and 1 large egg. The recipe said to beat with a blender, but Jake likes doing it all by hand, he thinks that's where the love comes in. Add just enough flour until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl, it might take 1 to 1 1/2 cups. Next, turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead about 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy. Next place in a lightly oiled ( olive oil) bowl, Jake does take 1 tbs of olive oil and mixes it through the dough, before placing it in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a towel, place it in a warm place, and let rise for 1 hour. He then greases muffin tins, after it has risen, he places a small size ball in each tin, he then lets it sit for another 10 minutes. Meanwhile, he melts 1/4 cup butter, adds 1 tbs honey, 2 cloves grated garlic, 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, and 1 tbs Herbs of Provence. He brushes this on before placing the rolls in the oven. Place in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. These were amazing!

For the soup, I took 3 lbs. of potatoes, poked holes in them, placed them in the microwave for 10 minutes (baked potatoes are normally used, but wanted them done fast). Meanwhile, I placed 1 kielbasa in a skillet, I seared both sides, then steamed it. After letting the potatoes and  sausage cooled, I chopped the sausage into bite size pieces, for the potatoes, I cut them in 1/2, and scooped all the insides into a bowl, then broke them up. I chopped 3 cloves of garlic, and 1/2 a yellow onion. Next, take a large pot, and heat it on medium high heat, add 4 tbs of butter, then the onion, when the onion gets tender add the garlic, and 4 tbs of flour, salt, pepper, and ancho chili powder, whisking the whole time. . Let the flour cook for about a minute. Next add 6 cups of chicken stock, continuously whisking. Next stir in 1 cup sour cream, and 4 oz cream cheese. When that is all mixed in, add the potatoes, and stir. Next, put the sausage in, and add 8oz of sharp cheddar cheese, at the end I added 1 tsp of red chili flakes (optional). I served it with sour cream, more cheese, sriracha, and normally chives, but didn't have any.