Chicken Cacciatore

This is really good recipe to use if your tired of the same old baked chicken. It has lots of flavor.

1 chicken cut into 8
2 cans diced tomato
2 carrots
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups sliced green olives
olive oil, salt, pepper, flour, thyme, oregano, basil

In a large dutch oven heat 3 tbsp oil. Dredge each piece of chicken in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Sear each piece of chicken till golden brown then remove from pot and set aside. In the same oil, saute minced garlic, chopped onion, and carrot. when the onion in transparent add the cans of diced tomato, sliced olives, and herbs to taste. I like to use 1/4 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp oregano, and 1/4 tsp basil. Bring the sauce to a simmer and add the chicken back into the pot. cover and cook for 45 minutes. Serve with rice or garlic bread.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

This recipe is a classic. It is super easy and quick!

1-2 pounds ground beef
1 egg per pound of beef
1/2 cup breadcrumbs per egg
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 jar marinara sauce

In a large pot combine cranberry sauce and marinara sauce. Add 1-2 cups of water for a thinner sauce. Mix the ground beef with the egg and breadcrumbs and salt and pepper to taste. Form the meat into balls and drop into the sauce. Simmer for about an hour. Serve over rice or pasta.

spaghetti bolognese

this is one of my favorite dinners. i like the vegetables tiny so chopping is a bit time consuming but i make a huge pot and freeze some- it freezes amazingly.
i made it with spaghetti and than had the rest a few nights later (frozen and defrosted) with rice. it was equally yum with rice and so much easier for noach to eat!! we had it with corn on the cob.
the recipe is made up so feel free to tweak it.

1 1/2 kg (3 pounds) ground beef
3 zucchinis
4 large carrots
1/2 celery
2 onions
4 cloves garlic
4 cans crushed tomatoes (the regular size ones)
2/3 cups of water (depeding how saucy you like it)

chop everything very small. saute onions and garlic until just browning. add beef and brown. add all other veggies, tomatoes, and water and cook on low heat for 2 hours. (or on high heat for about an hour) i like mine well cooked so it has lots of flavor so i leave it on for longer. just watch it so it doesnt dry out.
it makes ALOT so half or third it if you dont want leftovers.
enjoy!

Sweet and Savory Chicken

So I made this one up for dinner tonight.... I'll post how it turned out later.

2 chicken breast on the bone
1 apple
3 carrots
4 ribs celery
olive oil, salt, pepper, stock/water, and pereg spices for meatballs*, and honey

*if you don't have it combine 1 tsp of ginger and cinnamon with 1/2 tsp white pepper and allspice, and 1/4 tsp nutmeg and cloves.

In a dutch oven or heavy pot heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil. Rub chicken with spices and sear on both sides. add vegetables and apple to the pot with enough stock to cover halfway. Drizzle with honey and add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, and then lower flame to simmer for about an hour.

Serve with rice or baked potato. This recipe would also work with other cuts of chicken and in slow cooker.

*** We just finished dinner and the verdict is 8/10. I would add another apple and be really careful about the cooking time cause you don't want to over cook the chicken. It had a really good sweet, but savory taste and the carrots were amazing! Next time I would go with chicken thighs.

beef stir-fry

Tonights dinner was beef stir-fry with udon noodles.

I made it up, but here's what I did.

600 grams (about 1 pound) of beef strips marinated in soy sauce

1 red pepper

sugar snap peas

frozen broccoli and califlower

frozen green beans

udon noodles (in the asian section. you can also use soba noodles)

Cook the beef in the wok. add veggies.

Cook noodles on the side.

Waala! dinner :) healthy and filling!

Review: the beef strips were a little tough for my liking and too hard for noach to chew but all in all it was very good, filling, super easy dinner

Chicken pot-pie and corn on the cob

Tonights dinner is chicken pot pie and corn on the cob.

Chicken pot pie recipe

CRUST:

1 cup flour

1/3 cup shortening ( I used margarine)

½ tsp. Salt

2 tbsps. Cold water

FILLING:

6 tbsps. Chicken fat or other oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 potatoes, diced

1 large chopped carrot

6 tbsps. Flour

½ tsp. Salt

1/8 tsp. Pepper

2 ½ cups chicken stock 

2 cups diced cooked chicken (i started with raw chicken, it

cooked in the pot just fine)

½ cup canned peas (i used frozen)

2 tbsps. Chopped pimientos (optional. I did not use this)

Directions for Crust:

Sift flour into medium bowl. Cut shortening and salt into

flour and mix with fork until pieces are about the size of a pea. Sprinkle water

over mixture and blend with fork. Shape into a ball; wrap with plastic wrap and

chill well.

Directions for Filling:

In a large pot, heat oil (or chicken fat until it melts). Add

onion, potato(es), and carrots, and sauté until tender. (if u are going to use

raw chicken, add it to the pot here!) Stir in flour, salt, and pepper and mix

quickly and well, over medium heat, gradually stir in chicken stock (soup

mix!), stirring constantly to make a thick, creamy sauce. Add diced chicken,

peas, and pimientos. Pour chicken mixture into a 2-quart casserole.

To bake:

Preheat oven to 400 (farenheit).

roll out dough on floured surface to size of casserole (baking pan). Place crust

over the casserole, piercing with fork near the center. Bake for 30 minutes or

until crust is browned.

P.S. I doubled the crust so there was one for the top and bottom.


Review-
It was good, not amazing in my opinion but had nice flavour and was super easy to make. My baby LOVED it.
I would make it again.