Chicken with Roasted Peppers and White Wine Butter Sauce

Ok.  Yum.  Can I just say this is amazing!?! Like, super-yum. 

I made this on one of the three days this "winter" when it got cold.  I was looking for some warm comfort food that was kind of fancy.  The butter and the wine make the sauce so rich, and the peppers are soft and sweet.

I serve it over cheddar grits.  I think you should, too.  But if you don't know what grits are, or you're really adverse to them, I'm sure it would be awesome over mashed potatoes.

Well enough talking - let's cook!

**If you are making cheddar grits, I like to start them first so they have plenty of time to get cooked all the way**

Grab your groceries:

Sear chicken and cook through - brown bits = GOODNESS!

While that's going, put the peppers in the oven to roast. 

Put the chicken in a plate and set aside.  Pour the wine in the pot over the browned bits of chicken.  Cook about 4 minutes then add butter.  Oh! My!  This is when it starts to get GOOD!

When the butter melts, add the onion mixture.  Do you smell that???

Then the mushrooms.

When the mushrooms get brown, add in the chicken stock.  Give that a few minutes to marinate while you chop the chicken and skin and chop the peppers.  Then add the peppers and the chicken to the pan.  Make sure to pour in any chicken drippings in the bottom of the plate.

Let it all cook together for a few minutes.  Then dish up the grits...

And add the chicken, peppers, mushrooms and sauce over the top.

Now, pour a glasss of that wine and dig in.
Get the printable here.

Tomato Basil Crock Pot Chicken

As far as weekday thrills go, I'm not sure there are many things that make me happier than coming home to dinner already cooked and waiting on me.  But since I don't have a personal chef, this means my crock pot has become one of my best friends.  Even though I'm usually not a morning person, I believe it is totally worth getting up 30-45 minutes early to get dinner in the crock pot and check that off my list for the day.

You probably could just throw all of this in your crock pot and turn it on with no problems, but I like to do a little stove top prep.

Here's what you need:
1 whole cut up chicken
Salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups chopped vegetables (usually onion, garlic, bell pepper and parsley)
1 (6oz) can tomato paste
2 cup chicken broth (divided)
1 package cherry or grape tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped basil leaves

Heat some olive oil in pan on stove over medium high heat, season your chicken. When the oil gets HOT, add chicken to brown a bit.


In the same pan you browned the chicken, add some more olive oil and the vegetable mix.
***A note about the vegetable mix - this is just onions, bell pepper, garlic and parsley pre-chopped.  You can find it in the produce section.  You can absolutely just chop your own.  However, this doesn't sound like something I want to do at 6am, so I buy the pre-chopped.***  Cook until clear.

Add to crock pot.

Again, in the same pan used for the chicken, then the vegetables, add about half of the chicken stock (you just need enough to wet the pan and un-clump the tomato paste, think of this as a useful pre-rinsing of your pan) plus tomato paste. Using a spatula, scrape the good stuff off the bottom of the pan, and stir until the paste is no longer clumpy. Add this to the crock pot.

Add the rest of chicken stock, cherry tomatoes and basil leaves to crock pot.  Oh. My. Wow.  that looks yummy.

Put lid on the crock, set it and forget it.  When you get home, your house will smell fantastic.  Best of all, THIS will be waiting on you...

Now, everytime you start to panic over dinner for the rest of the day, you can calm yourself knowing it's already ready already.  Which means you have time to do extra laundry, scrub bathrooms or something else equally as glamorous.

Have a great day - and go make friends with your crock pot!

Get the printable here.

Crock pot cooking works for me.  Check out what works for everyone else!

   

When All Else Fails...

Life is busy.  It's been so very busy.  I could list all the reasons why, but I bet one thing: we all have busy lives.  Everything's been so crazy around here that I decided to skip bible study tonight and just stay home.  I was all the way home, with all 3 kids unloaded from the car before I stopped to think about the fact that I had no clue whatsoever about what to do for dinner. 

We had a pack of chicken tenderloins in the fridge.  There were some sweet peppers left from the market this weekend.  I found some evaporated milk in the pantry (don't wince, it's the perfect substitution for cream).  I decided to go with what I know.  When all else fails butter + cream will save the day.

This isn't so much a recipe as it is a reminder.  You can probably make a meal with what you have on hand if you just get creative and confident.

So here's what I did:  I melted some butter in a pan and added in the chicken (tenderloin strips), straight from the package.  I sprinkled on some Tony's and threw the bacon press on top.  After a few minutes, I flipped the chicken.  I added some onion and sweet peppers, because I had them and they would probably go bad in a day or two.  While that was all cooking {and smelling pretty good} I poked around the fridge for more ideas.  There was a little bit of the chili paste I'd used making Citrus-Chili Chicken, so I decided to add that.

In a bowl, I whisked a can of evaporate milk, what was left in the jar of chili paste and a little flour.  I poured that in and continued to add a little bit of this and that.  We ended up with a nice, quick meal that I didn't have to think about or plan.

Don't be afraid of your kitchen.  Melt some butter in a pan then add cream and flour (whisk this in a separate bowl first) --- you just made cream sauce.

Too thick?  Thin it our with a little chicken stock.

Too thin?  Add more flour - or cheese(!)

Bland?  Add in some vegetables, the end of a jar of something that's in the fridge, lemon juice, a seasoning packet... whatever you want!

Just remember: Butter + Cream + whatever flavorings you've got lying around = easy weeknight pasta.  And who doesn't need a good cream sauce after a busy day?

Linking up at Tidy Mom

Easy Chicken and Black Bean Casserole

This week has been crazy with the start of school.  I am the proud momma of a Pre-K student!

The start of school had me out of the house Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  By Thursday night, we were all tired of eating pizza and takeout.  I was also pretty tired, and the kids were clingy.  I threw this casserole together with very little prep time, which allowed me some much needed playtime with my little ones.

I used my go-to kitchen staples of chicken, black beans, tomatoes and cheese, then spiced them up with a little jalapeno pepper.

The result was warm, creamy comfort food that I didn't have to slave over!  This is perfect when you don't really feel like cooking, but you want something good to eat.

I made it up as I went along, so I don't have a picture of all the ingredients, but here's what you'll need.

• 2 cups uncooked pasta, I use small shapes
• 3 cups cooked chicken (leftovers work great!)
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste
• Water - after you scoop out the tomato paste, fill that can with water....that's how much you need
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt to taste
• 2 1/2 cups shredded cheese, divided (I get the Mexican blend)

Start by preheating oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly grease 9x13 pan.  Cook pasta according to package directions.

Heat olive oil in large pot (big enough to fit all of this in there eventually) over medium high heat. Add jalapeno and cook about 2 minutes. Add in diced tomatoes, chicken, black beans, tomato paste and water. Cook about 5 minutes. Stir in cooked pasta and 1 cup of the shredded cheese until everything is well blended (think about it like this, "I want a little bit of everything in every bite").

Pour into prepared 9x13 pan.

Bake uncovered for 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven, Top with remaining 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese.  Bake an additional 5-10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Enjoy it with some happy dinner conversation tonight!

Get the printable.

Citrus-Chili Chicken

Have you ever have one of those weeks that was just a little 'off''?  Last week was one of those weeks.  Nothing Earth-shatteringly bad, just a little wonky.  It started early Monday; I got peed on before I even got off the couch (which I had been "sleeping" on since 2am with a restless toddler -- Oddly enough, that was not the child that peed on me).  Then, on the way to a routine checkup for the boy's ears, someone puked in the back seat.  I could have been thoroughly irritated, but it ended up meaning I got to take the day off of work and spend it with my munchkins - so I took it as a win.  We scheduled a tonsilectomy, which we hope will cure the sleeplessness (his tonsils block his airway when he lies down, so he wakes up gasping for air and we end up sleeping upright on the sofa for the night).  So only a few more sleepless nights, and finally (or at least what I hope is the "finally" in a string of non-stop excitement at our house), Bug jumped/fell off a dining room chair that she wasn't supposed to be standing on Thursday night (while I was trying to cook dinner) and lacerated her eyelid.  It looked really bad at first, so everyone got in the car and we headed to the urgent care center.  Alas, no stitches were needed (yay to no needles!) and it was fine by morning.

In the middle of that weird week, I cooked up a little something new.  I can't help it, it's my therapy.  You see, I've had this little jar of THAI Red Chili Pepper Paste staring at me from the pantry for a little while.  It was intimidating me every time I went in there to get gummies (What?  You don't hide in the pantry to eat snacks without the kids seeing you?).  I haven't really cooked much with Asian flavors, and I was scared.  I finally decided to jump right in, and the results were great.  I grabbed some citrus and ginger and some chow mein noodles that were also mean-mugging me from the pantry shelf.  There are some things I'll do differently next time (I'll tell you about that at the end), but overall, we really enjoyed it.

***Here's the printable***

Gather up this stuff (minus the coconut milk...it didn't make its way in there, maybe next time?).

1 - 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless thighs
1 cup plain greek yogurt
2 Tbsp Roasted Red Chili Paste
1 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp salt
2 tsp orange zest (zest from 1 orange)
2 Tbsp lime juice
3 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup chicken broth

Trim up your chicken first.  I'm a little OCD about the chicken fat, people.  I really can't stand it.  I trimmed it all off and cut the chicken in to little bite-sized pieces.  I'm sorry, there's really no way to make raw chicken look yummy, but I wanted you to see that it's in pieces.

In a separate bowl put your yogurt, chili paste, ginger, salt, orange zest, lime juice and red pepper flakes.

Then wisk them until everything is all blended together,

and pour it over the chicken pieces.

Stir, stir, stir.

Get your pot nice and hot (sorry about the rhyming there, I didn't mean it), and throw in your yogurted chicken.

Cook them all the way, then pour in some chicken broth.  Stir again and reduce the heat to medium for 5 minutes to let the sauce thicken.

That's it!  Serve this over some noodles, and prepare to be adored!

Okay, so if you're eating this and wondering why I would change it because it's SOOOOOOO good the way it is....I want more heat.  I was a little timid with the Roasted Red Chili Paste because I had never used it before, and I had kids to think about.  Definitely would have liked more kick.  Also, I grated the ginger, which basically made it mush.... I think next time I'll mince in instead.  That's pretty much it.  I just wanted more heat.  If you make it hotter, please let me know what you did and how you liked it!


OH - and a June challenge update (I'm apparently not so good at the daily update) ~

Monday, June 6 - Breakfast for supper, remember?

Tuesday, June 7 - Citrus Chili Chicken - super yum!

Wednesday, June 8 - Pizza (we eat with our bible study group on Wednesdays)

Thursday, June 9 - I was in the middle of cooking when we took Bug to the urgent care place to get zero stitches....so we ate a combination of McDonald's and leftovers from mom's fridge

Friday, June 10 - Some crazy good pasta that I was making Thursday night when Bug smashed her eye.  I had to quit cooking mid-recipe, so I'll be re-cooking and sharing that one with you soon.  It had roma tomatoes, garlic and artichoke hearts....you'll love it!

Saturday, June 11 - frozen pizza (yea, I know....but I cleaned out the kids' rooms that day, so no time for cooking.

Sunday, June 12 - frozen popcorn chicken....more cleaning, less cooking this weekend.

Chicken with Green Chiles and Tomatoes over Orzo

So May kind of snuck up on me.  Actually, a lot of things have been sneaking up on me lately.  I'm not exactly what you would consider "on the ball".  In fact, I'm not even sure where the ball is right now.  But I did notice (around 2pm....yea, it's that bad) that yesterday was the first {working} day of May.  And since I LOVE all foods Mexican, Cinco de Mayo is one of my favorite days!  So from now through Thursday I'll be posting Mexican recipes and dreaming of a fiesta.  Actually, thanks to two little boys with some serious congestion I'd much prefer siesta over fiesta...but I'm not likely to get either!

I remembered finding this recipe over at Delish.com and thought it would be great over orzo for a whole meal. 

So I gathered all my ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 can (4oz) diced green chiles
1 pint grape tomatoes, each cut in half
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Salt and pepper
Orzo

Cook the orzo according to package instructions.

Put the chicken breasts between 2 sheets of plastic wrap (or a ziptop baggie) and hammer them out to an even 1/2 inch thickness.  Season both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add breasts to pan.  Cook 6-7 minutes per side until browned and juices run clear (I do this in 2 batches).  Put on a plate, cover to keep warm and set aside.

In skillet add tomatoes, chilies, cumin, chili powder, garlic, chicken broth and any juices from the plate of chicken.  Cook for 3-5 minutes, until reduced.

Meanwhile, slice the chicken.

Stir cilantro into sauce, then return chicken to the skillet.  Serve chicken and sauce over orzo.

  

Make it tonight!!!

Get the printable here.