Arroz con Pollo

2 chicken breasts, bone-in & skinned

2 whole chicken legs, bone-in & skinned

2 chicken drumsticks, bone-in & skinned

2 T extra-virgin olive oil + 2 T for cooking

2 t paprika

2 t mild chile powder

2 t dried oregano

2 t cumin

2 t salt

1 t garlic powder

1 t onion powder

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 C rice

3 C chicken stock

3 tomatoes, chopped

 2 bay leaves

1 cup peas

1/3 C sliced black olives

In a large dish, combine 2 T oil with seasonings.  Coat the chicken in the seasoned oil and marinate for at least 4 hours and up to overnight. 

Preheat the oven to 350.  In a large oven-proof skillet or Dutch oven, heat 2 T oil over medium-high heat and brown chicken on both sides, in batches if you necessary (don’t overcrowd your pan because you won’t get a good sear on your chicken).  Transfer the chicken to a plate.  Add onions to the pan and cook until translucent.  Add garlic and rice and cook until the rice is translucent.  Add the tomatoes and stir to combine.  Season with a good pinch of salt.  Add the chicken back to the pan along with the stock and bay leaves.  Cover and bake for 1 hour.

Take the chicken and rice from the oven and add peas and olives and mix to combine.  Re-cover and allow to sit for 10 – 30 minutes before serving.

Slow-Cooker Black Beans

I got this recipe from one of my favorite slow-cooker cookbooks, Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker:  Recipes for Entertaining by Beth Hensperger & Julie Kaufmann.  I’ve slightly adapted it with a few additions.  I usually serve them over rice as a side dish with chopped cilantro mixed in.

1 lb black beans; rinsed, picked through, and soaked

1 onion, small diced

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 t cumin

1 t onion powder

1 t garlic powder

1 t dried oregano

2 bay leaves

¼ C extra-virgin olive oil

12 C water

1-1/4 lb ham hock

S&P, tt

Add onion, garlic, seasonings, oil, and beans to the crock pot and stir together.  Nestle the ham hocks into the beans and cover with water by 2 inches.  Cook on HIGH for 4-6 hours.  The beans should be tender with lots of liquor (term for flavored cooking water).  Season to taste with S&P.  Remove the bay leaf and ham hock.

A few tips for cooking dried beans:

-Soak your beans overnight.  Just put them in a bowl and cover them with water, about 12 cups of water per pound of beans.  It helps decrease the gassiness of beans and also decreases cooking time.  I have forgotten many times to soak my beans, but there’s an easy solution.  Put the beans in a pot with plenty of water and bring to boil.  Boil for a couple minutes and then remove from heat.  Cover and set aside for 1 hour.

-Don’t salt your beans during the cooking process.  Rumor has it that this will prevent your beans from softening.  There are arguments in the culinary world about this, but I’d rather not take my chances, so I just don’t add salt until the very end.

-Freeze your beans in their liquor.  I make larges batches of beans and then just freeze the leftovers in small containers to take out as I need.

Chorizo and Potatoes

I use this filling for tacos, in empanadas, as a pizza topping (by the way…chorizo & potato pizza is outstanding!), or just in a bowl over rice.  Any kind of Mexican* chorizo would work with this too, but I use soy chorizo.  This is a very simple dish and a big comfort food for me.  I find that the simplest dishes are my very favorite from my childhood.  Just to make it clear, my mom would never in a million years try soy chorizo…she calls it “the fake stuff.”  That being said, here’s my recipe for chorizo & potatoes.

1 T extra-virgin olive oil

6 oz soy Mexican chorizo

2 red potatoes, par-cooked**

4 green onions, sliced

S&P, to taste

Heat the oil over medium heat, and add chorizo.  Break it up in the pan and cook for about 5-7 minutes.  Add potatoes and cook until cooked through, about another 5 minutes.  Add green onions and cook for a minute or two.  Season with S&P.

*When I say Mexican chorizo, I’m talking about the uncooked, soft version as opposed to the smoked, firm Spanish version.  If you are using beef or pork, there is no need for oil because they're a lot fattier.

**I par-cook the potatoes to make the cooking process go a little faster, but if I’m using it for a pizza topping I don’t par-cook because it finishes cooking in the oven.   I also slice the potatoes if I’m using it for pizza rather than dicing.

Menu #8

This week seemed to just zip by!  Where does the time go???  Making weekly menus does help with grocery costs and dinner-time anxiety, but it also allows me to notice more so how quickly the weeks pass by.  Anyhow, here's my weekly menu...

Monday:  Soy Chorizo & Potato Tacos w/ crock-pot black beans
If you like chorizo but have never tried soy chorizo, you really should at least once.  It has such great flavor and crumbles with the same texture.  I like it with eggs, beans, rice, and potatoes.  I’ll post the recipe with pics along with the recipe for the crock-pot black beans because these black beans are truly great!

Tuesday:  Arroz con Pollo w/ leftover black beans & Southwest salad
Arroz con Pollo is one of many favorite comfort foods that I remember from my childhood. I’m making an extra one for my group’s Meals on Heels.  Meals on Heels is a program in which we take turns making dinners for our friends who just had babies.  The Southwest salad is not only delish but it’s also quite an attractive dish.  It’s layered with greens, corn, black beans, tomatoes, cheese, and tossed with a cilantro-lime dressing.  I’ll definitely post pics & recipes.

Wednesday:  Leftovers

Thursday:  BBQ Ribs or Chicken w/ broccoli salad & wheat rolls
I’m making another batch of either ribs or chicken along with broccoli salad for another Meals on Heels. 

Friday:  Cheeseburger Mac w/ corn & garlic wheat buns
I’m going out for drinks & a movie with the girls, but I’m going to make this quick dinner for the boys before I leave.  (Usually they are on their own for dinner if I’m out but I’m feeling a tad bit guilty since I’ll be gone two nights in a row and one of the night’s is to watch Magic Mike.)  ;)  This is an easy family-pleasing recipe that I’ll share with you later. 

Saturday:  French Cooking Class:  Steak w/ Bearnaise Sauce, Chicken in White Wine Sauce, & Crème Brulee
I’m teaching a French Cooking Class, so the boys will be eating leftover cheeseburger mac.  J 

Sunday:  Grilled Shrimp Kabobs w/ steamed brown rice & cheesy squash

Cucumber-Tomato Salad

This salad is one of my hubby's very favorites.  We eat it quite a bit in the summer, especially since cucumbers & tomatoes are at the peak of their season and are very cheap right now.  This salad also makes a perfect accompaniment to grilled food. 

Cucumber-Tomato Salad

 2 cucumbers, peeled & chopped
2 tomatoes, seeded & chopped
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 T sugar
2 T apple cider vinegar
S&P, tt

Toss together all the vegs in a large bowl.  In a small bowl mix together mayo, sugar, vinegar, and S&P to make dressing.  Add dressing & toss again.  Taste for seasoning & serve!

Let's Talk Soup

Let’s talk soup!  I know the weather is calling for outdoor barbecues with grilled foods, but I love soup!  I can have soup at any time year-round, and most importantly my 4-year-old loves soup too.  Two of my very favorite soups are Tortilla Soup and Roasted Red Pepper Soup.  Since I’ve made both within the last few weeks, I thought I’d share the recipes. 

Tortilla Soup

2 T canola oil

1 onion, small diced

1 red bell pepper, small diced

1 jalapeno, minced

2 tomatoes, small diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 qt chicken stock

1-2 cups chopped or shredded chicken

1 T chili powder

½ T paprika

½ t cumin

S&P, to taste

Soup Garnishes:  avocado, cheese, Greek yogurt or sour cream, tortilla chips, lime, cilantro

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large pot.  Add onion, bell pepper, & jalapeno and sauté until translucent, about 5-7 minutes.  Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.  Add tomatoes, season with S&P and stir; allow to cook for about 5 minutes.  Add stock (I used turkey stock because that’s what I had in my freezer, and it worked out great!)  and season with chili powder, paprika, cumin, and S&P.  Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and allow to cook for 20 minutes.  Add chicken and cook for another 5 minutes for chicken.  Taste for seasoning and serve with garnishes.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

3 large red bell peppers

3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

4 cups chicken stock

1 bay leaf

3 thyme sprigs

S&P, to taste

8 basil leave, chiffonade

Soup garnishes:  Parmesan cheese & Greek yogurt or sour cream

Drizzle the bell peppers and whole garlic cloves (skin on) with olive oil and place in the broiler set on high for about 3 minutes per side; you want a good char on them.  Place them in a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.  Leave them to the side while you cut your other ingredients.  After at least 10 minutes, start peeling the bell pepper skin.  It should just peel right off.  Cut off the stems, discard the seeds, and chop up the pepper.

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large pot and add onion and carrot; cook until translucent, about 5-7 minutes.  Add roasted pepper, squeeze roasted garlic out of skin, and add bay leaf and thyme sprigs and cook another 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes and stock, and bring to a low boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and discard the bay leaf and thyme stems.  Puree the soup with an immersion blender, being very careful not to splash around because the soup is really hot.  (You could puree in a blender or food processor, working in batches, but be sure to allow steam to escape from the top so heat doesn’t build up while pureeing.)  Once pureed, add the basil, taste for seasoning, and serve!   

Menu #7

We just got back from a lazy weekend at the Green Valley Lake cabin, and I’m still in that mind set so I’m filling this week’s menu with easy & quick dishes.    

Monday:  Roasted Red Pepper-Tomato Soup w/ grilled cheese sandwiches
Never got to this last week…

Tuesday:  Shrimp Tacos w/ guacamole & green rice

Wednesday:  Leftovers for boys…Book Club for me
I just finished reading Tina Fey’s Bossypants for book club.  The book had me laughing out loud, and I can’t wait to talk about it!  I’m going to take something to munch on while we’re chatting, but I just haven’t decided what yet.

Thursday:  Pasta w/ marinara & turkey meatballs and salad
For the meatballs, I make a huge batch on one of my big energetic days and freeze them so I can use them up on my lazy or hectic days.  ;-) 

Friday:  Crock-Pot Pulled Pork Sandwiches w/ horseradish coleslaw & corn on the cob
On this day, Xavier is having a Slip n Slide playdate!  We’ll be serving cream cheese & jam mini sandwiches, pasta salad w/ bacon, peas, & corn (Xavier’s fave), and berry-yogurt popsicles…yummy! 

Saturday:  Grilled BBQ Chicken w/ cucumber-tomato salad & baked potatoes w/ Greek yogurt & scallions

Sunday:  Storm Game!
Heading to the ballpark with some friends to watch Storm baseball, so it will be hot dogs, nachos, cracker jacks, and beer…yay!