Sweet and Savory Vinegar Braised Chicken with Pancetta and Pearl Onions

I ate way too corn chips today. The majority of the time I eat healthy, but I bought my husband chips to eat during the super bowl and it was downhill from there. It also reminded me why I normally cook everything from scratch. The chips have sat heavy in my stomach all evening. To make up for the over eating of chips I ate leftovers for the last two days. I love utilizing leftovers, it is a great way to save money and I try to change the dish slightly when I re-heat it so my family accepts it happily. Chicken and pasta recipes are my two favorite type of leftovers. They re-heat well and can be adjusted slightly to make new meals. Last week I tried a new recipe for Vinegar Braised Chicken and Onions from the February 2013 issue of Bon Appetit magazine.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes an hour and 20 minutes, 40 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. Finding fresh pearl onions in my area is always a task. They are only available in 6 ounce packages, which are overpriced. Given the price I bought only 18 ounces not the 2 pounds suggest by the recipe. Additionally pancetta in my area comes pre-cubed in 4 ounce packages, so that is the manner I bought them. As I almost always do I made my own chicken stock. This allows me to control the amount of sodium and ensure that it is gluten free. Finally, to thicken up the sauce at the end I added a small amount of cornstarch. Without the cornstarch the sauce was thin and greasy. I skimmed the fat and then added approximately a tablespoon of water mixed with a tablespoon of water. This allowed the sauce to thicken nicely and was perfect served with rice. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The sauce on this chicken was delicious. It was a nice combination of sweet from the vinegars and savory from the onions. The chicken turned out tender and cooked perfectly. The sauce when served over rice worked well and would make a nice pasta sauce as well. The combination of vinegars was perfect and is something I will try again in the future with other dishes and meats.

For the recipe go to Vinegar Braised Chicken and Onions.

Carrot Cake Pancakes

I spent 4 hours last night wrapping presents. Luckily I got everything wrapped and my two kids are now asleep so I can finish up with stockings and then go to sleep. I would love to say that I find the thrill of the pre-holiday prep exciting, but I don't. I'm a perfectionist so I tend to spread myself way too thin. For example last night while wrapping presents I was dying my hair since it was the only time I had. I decided to tip-dye my hair turquoise, which looks great (I know everyone is now dying to know what I look like-blue hair and all :). My house is now quite and this is my favorite time of the holidays, when my kids are in bed and I can relax since everything is done until I cook tomorrow. Everything is quite and perfect. And I'm eating pancakes, no joke, I love them. Last week I tried a new recipe for Carrot Cake Pancakes from the December issue of Southern Living magazine, which looked like a great recipe to make gluten-free.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 50 minutes of total time, 40 minutes of which is active and makes 24 pancakes. Since the original recipe isn't gluten-free I made a number of changes. First I switched out the regular all-purpose flour for gluten-free all-purpose flour. I used low-fat buttermilk instead of full fat since that is the type I normally use in recipes. The recipe states that 1 pound of carrots equals 2 cups. I found that it took me far less than 1 pound of carrots to make 2 cups of shredded. Finally, I chose to top my pancakes with butter and maple syrup instead of the mascarpone cream suggested by the recipe. The cream looked way too rich for a breakfast food. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These were really fun pancakes. My kids liked that they tasted like carrot cake, but were pancakes. I liked that they were delicious with just butter as a topping and could be eaten as a breakfast or a dessert. I found the nuts a little rich, I think if I made the recipe again I would chop them smaller or reduce the amount.

For the recipe go to Carrot Cake Pancakes.

Sicilian Cauliflower Pasta

My oldest son has become quite infatuated with gardening. It all started when the first flowers started appearing at stores in our area and he got the idea into his head that mommy needed to actually plant something this year. Now I always have the best intentions with my gardening, I have a garden bed and great pots for my porch. The first three years after I had my oldest son I always had a great garden and my flowers were always beautiful. Then I had my second son and all my gardening seemed to fly out the window. I grew up with a mother who seemed to be able to grow anything she touched. We had the most beautiful lilac trees that people would ask permission to pick from every year and her tomatoes were always juicy, big and delicious. I have somewhat inherited this green thumb. When I actually get around to planting my garden for the year, it always looks fabulous. Emphasis here is on actually planting the garden. So this year, I actually went out and bought soil, plants and with the help of my three and six-year-old I planted a very nice garden and flower pots are spilling over my porch. They do look very nice and my oldest son is so proud of himself. So much so that today when we drove to the farmer's market in Charleston my son came home with more flowers that he had personally picked out for the porch. In addition to all the gardening supplies we additionally brought home a great bunch of new vegetables, dried beans and spices that I am never able to find in my city. I love shopping at farmer's markets and my two kids have grown to love them also. Cauliflower is one of my kids favorite vegetables to buy and cook from the farmer's market and grocery store, so I was eager to try the recipe for Sicilian Cauliflower Pasta in the March issue of the Food Network Magazine.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and I made no ingredient modifications. I allowed my cauliflower to cook much longer than the four minutes suggested by the recipe in order to be sufficiently browned. Additionally, I allowed the pasta to cook with the dill mixture for approximately 5 minutes in order for the pasta water to fully absorb and the flavors to be enhanced. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I try to keep my reviews as realistic as possible and this recipe I am sad to say did not live up to expectations. The flavor was bland and the whole wheat pasta when combined with the parsley was way too gritty. So here are my suggestions to save this dish. First and foremost use regular pasta instead of whole wheat. The whole wheat pasta, while better for you does not work with the cauliflower and dill in this recipe. The combination of textures is way too gritty. Second, I would suggest roasting the entire head of cauliflower in the oven at approximately 400 degrees until well browned (about 20-30 minutes). Then chop the roasted cauliflower instead of grating and pan frying like the recipe. Finally, I would eliminate the parsley completely and add capers for flavor. I would also increase the amount of cheese to a 1/4 of a cup and double the amount of golden raisins. I think with these changes this recipe can be significantly better and has the potential to be a great dish.

For the recipe go to Sicilian Cauliflower Pasta.

Better Homes and Gardens Curried Chicken Stew

I love my slowcooker. I know I have stated this many times before, but I can't express my love enough. There is nothing better than placing ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning and coming back in the evening to a fully cooked and delicious meal. With two active and growing boys I appreciate anything that saves me time and money during the hectic week. I also appreciate how inexpensive slowcooker meals tend to be, they are normally a fraction of the cost of other recipes. One meal that my family loves in or out of the crockpot is curry. My husband would probably live on curry if I let him. I have had a hard time finding curry recipes for the crockpot that have been up to my expectations and I was interested when the December issue of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine had a recipe for Curried Chicken Stew, which only cost $2.08 per serving and looked very simple to prepare.

This recipe has 10 ingredients (if using all optional ingredients). It takes 8 hours on low to cook in the crockpot and 20 minutes of prep and makes 4 servings. All the ingredients were easy to find at my local grocery store and I made no modifications to the ingredients. For the curry paste I used a jar of yellow Thai curry paste that I already had in my fridge. As I always do I cooked this recipe on low in my crockpot, I prefer to cook low and slow in my slowcooker. For the carrots I used baby carrots since they were on sale and saved me a little bit of prep time. I chose to serve the stew over rice and sprinkled it with raisins and pistachios. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My husband was very impressed with this stew. He was surprised that it was able to come out as well as it did in the slowcooker and he ate his serving and all the leftovers the next day. The recipe states that it makes 4 servings, but it served my family of  four, plus enough for leftover in my husband's lunch the next day. I loved how easy this was to make and how well the flavors came together. Overall, a great new recipe for the crockpot.

 For the recipe go to Curried Chicken Stew.

Taste of Home Apple, Blue Cheese, and Bibb Salad

My family isn't a salad family. For whatever reason I rarely remember to buy or make salad. Growing up my mom made salad with almost every dinner and I always ran to the salad bar at restaurants. Somewhere between moving out of the house and having kids I stopped eating salads. I will still occasionally order a cobb salad at restaurants, but for the most part my love of salad has diminished. The main culprit seems to be the lack of taste of most homemade salads. I find salads to be either overly sweet or just ho-hum. Recently, the October issue of Taste of Home magazine had a recipe for Apple, Blue Cheese, and Bibb Salad, which looked delicious and different from ordinary salad recipes.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 20 minutes of prep and makes 9 servings. I had to make a few modifications to the ingredients due to their lack of availability at my local grocery store. I was unable to find bibb or Boston lettuce, so I substituted baby greens. I had no problems finding any of the remaining ingredients. For the vinegar I used white whine vinegar and golden delicious for the apples. I toasted the mustard seeds on a pan on the stove, watch out they burn easily. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The taste of this recipe was delicious. My husband really loved this salad, he even ate the leftovers for lunch the next day. I served the salad alongside a chicken dish and the combination worked well. The salad would also work well with beef. The combination of apples and blue cheese was perfect and very popular with everyone in my household. The one change I would make to the recipe is to cut down on the amount of olive oil, maybe to 1/3 cup instead of a 1/2. Overall, a great salad recipe, that even this normally non-salad eating blogger enjoyed.

For the recipe go to Apple, Blue Cheese, and Bibb Salad.

Bon Appetit Crispy Cauliflower with Capers, Raisins, and Breadcrumbs

I figured when my oldest son started kindergarten this fall I would have a lot more time during the day to bake, clean and prep dinner. It turned out I was wrong. As soon as my son gets on the bus for school my youngest turns into a one child force of destruction, that mommy spends the rest of the day cleaning up after. By the time my oldest gets home from kindergarten, I am worn out and still have dinner to try to prep while my two sons tear through the cupboard looking for snacks. I have become adept at getting a main dish on the table by the time my husband gets home at 4, but a side dish has proved more problematic. To alleviate the dinner time stress I have been looking for side dishes which are quick and easy, and I was pleased when I saw a recipe for Crispy Cauliflower with Capers, Raisins, and Breadcrumbs in the November issue of Bon Appetit magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes approximately an hour of prep and cooking, with 15 minutes being active, and makes 8-10 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. I chose to leave out the anchovy paste since I was cooking for my two children and they can be finicky. The recipe states to use one head of cauliflower, but I found that was not enough and two would be more effective. I used homemade chicken stock, which I make without salt so I had to add more salt than if I had bought the store bought variety. I prepped most of the recipe in the morning saving me a significant amount of time at dinner. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The breadcrumb mixture is this recipe has a great taste and I have used it again as a pasta topping. The cauliflower came out crisp and delicious, with the capers adding a nice slightly salty touch. The fact that most of this recipe can be prepped in the morning is great for a weekday meal, saving a great deal of time in the evening during dinner prep. Overall, a great way to get a vegetable side dish on the table without a lot of work.

For the recipe go to Crispy Cauliflower with Capers, Raisins, and Breadcrumbs.

Bon Appetit Wild Rice, Fruit, and Pecan Stuffing

Growing up Thanksgiving was always a major event. My mother was one of twelve kids, so large family functions were always the norm. Thanksgiving was always exciting. My mother would make lists weeks ahead of everything that needed to be cleaned, cooked, etc. and eventually her bigger lists would span smaller lists and so on and so forth. The menu would normally stay pretty consistent with turkey, stuffing, and lots of sides. For me everything centered around the stuffing. I absolutely love stuffing and every variation that can be made. A couple of years back I made a rice stuffing, which was delicious and different than traditional stuffing recipes. As I was looking through the November issue of Bon Appetit magazine I noticed a recipe for Wild Rice, Fruit, and Pecan Stuffing, which looked low in fat and full of flavor.

This recipe has 16 ingredients. It makes 8 to 10 servings and takes approximately an hour and a half to prepare and cook. The ingredients in this recipe caused me a few problems. I was only able to find 4 ounce packages of wild rice after looking at multiple stores. Apparently wild rice isn't a common ingredient in my area. Luckily they had the small packages of generic wild rice, which is what I bought. I prepared my own chicken broth. The taste of homemade is much better, and it allows me to make it without all the added salt of the store bought variety. I found that the wild rice took even longer than the forty minutes suggested by the recipe. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The wild rice in this recipe had a great slightly nutty flavor, which worked well with the dried fruit and pecans. This recipe is a great alternative to traditional high fat stuffing. Additionally, the minimal amount of fat comes from olive oil, not butter. My two boys particularly enjoyed this dish. Granted they picked out the dried fruit and nuts, but for them that's progress. Overall, a great non-traditional stuffing recipe, that would work well with a variety of main courses.

For the recipe go to Wild Rice, Fruit, and Pecan Stuffing.