Tuscan Chicken and Beans

Tuscan Chicken and Rice

West Virginia has taught me to slow down. Growing up in Seattle everything was always busy. I woke-up early, I worked long hours and I was always stressed. When I moved to West Virginia I stuck out. I didn't understand why it took a week for my paper work to be processed for my apartment or that when I went in to my work study assignment that the office had taken Friday off. After 10 years I have learned to love taking things a little slower. This afternoon my husband and I took my two boys and our dog around taking photos. In typical summer fashion there was a large summer downpour. Everyone at the park ran to their cars and waited. No one pulled away, we just all watched the storm and took a moment. It was perfect. There are many things that can be frustrating about life, but learning to sit on your porch and enjoy the summer warmth, say hello to your neighbor and just relax is something that we could all do with a little more of. So thank you West Virginia for teaching me that sometimes it's okay to just sit and wait, most things can sit at least a few minutes. With slowing down in mind, I made a slow cooker recipe today. I tried a new recipe for Tuscan Chicken and Beans from the September 2013 issue of Family Circle magazine.

Camden Park Wayne County, WV

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 8 hours and 15 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. The major change I made to the original recipe was to make my own Greek seasoning. I try to cut costs as much as I can and making seasoning blends is much cheaper. I already had all the ingredients so it was easy to put together. Instead of using an additional 1/2 teaspoon of thyme I increased the amount of seasoning to 2 teaspoons. The Greek seasoning that I prepared already had thyme so I found it unnecessary to add more. At dinner time I was unmotivated to go down to my garden to pick fresh oregano, so I left it out. The taste was delicious without it.

Camden Park Sign Wayne County, WV

My kids who have been horrible about eating dinner recently, loved this recipe. They ate their entire plates, which for them is a big thing. My husband was also very impressed, especially since he has been burned out on chicken thighs, but was very pleased with them in this recipe. The flavors work very well together and the chicken is fall off the bone tender. The recipe would also work well with lamb instead of the chicken.

For the recipe go to Tuscan Chicken and Beans. (registration required)

Tuscan Chicken and Beans

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A slow cooker chicken thigh recipe for Tuscan Chicken and Beans. Great flavor and easy to prep.

Preparation Time: 0h, 15m

Total Time: 8h, 15m

Yield: Serves 6

Spanish Style Chicken and Rice Recipe

Spanish Style Chicken and Rice

I spent part of my mother's day today donating clothing and household goods. Every spring I go through my house and donate any items that we don't need or want any longer. My kids are so used to going through their toys that they are almost always cooperative and rarely put up a fight. There is something so satisfying about seeing a clean house and teaching my kids about recycling old goods instead of throwing them in the trash. I also put out a number of broken items at the curb and like always  someone took the items off the curb for their own use. This is popular in my area, curbside furniture/trash pick-up is common place. Since it was mother's day today I made yesterday's meal quick and only requiring one pot. I tried a new recipe for Spanish Style Chicken and Rice from the December 2011 issue of Woman's Day magazine.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 35 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. First I used a Dutch oven to make the dish. They are great for making one pot meals and a valuable kitchen investment. I chose to leave off the chopped parsley as a topping and I cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces instead of the 3-inch pieces suggested by the recipe. Finally, my family loves chopped olives so I used 3/4 of a cup of sliced olives for topping.

I really like that this recipe only has 7 grams of fat and 42 grams of protein per serving. It was popular with my whole family, even though it has a slight spicy kick from the diced chilies. Since it only uses one pot it takes very little clean-up, which is always nice for a quick week night meal.

For the recipe go to Spanish Style Chicken and Rice Recipe.

Bucatini with Olive Caper Sauce Recipe

Bucatini with Olive Caper Sauce

My oldest has two weeks of school left. To say that he is ready to be done would be understatement. Getting him to be motivated to actually go to the bus in the morning has not been easy. He has also been very food picky. It might have a lot to do with the fact that he lost his first tooth this week and the new tooth coming in his been causing him discomfort. Due to all the activity in our household I have been trying to make quick and easy meals. Earlier this week I tried a new recipe for Bucatini with Olive Caper Sauce from the May 2013 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

Gluten Free Bucatini with Olive Caper Sauce

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 servings. Since I eat gluten free, but the rest of my family does not, I made two versions of this recipe. For the tomato mixture I used kalamata olives, unrinsed capers (we prefer the taste of the salt) and roma tomatoes. I divided the mixture between the regular spaghetti for my family and gluten free spiral pasta for me. Make sure to serve the dish soon after you add the mozzarella, if you wait it will melt and turn into a big cheese clump.

The flavors in this recipe are great. My two boys loved the olives and capers and dividing the tomato mixture worked out well. Not rinsing the capers gave the pasta a nice salty flavor, which I really liked. The sauce would work with variety of pasta types in case you aren't a fan of spaghetti or bucatini.

For the recipe go to Bucatini with Olive Caper Sauce.

Recipe for Roasted Chicken Thighs with Tomatoes, Olives and Feta

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Tomatoes, Olives, and Feta

I hope that everyone had a great Easter! We had a nice relaxing day at home. I woke-up early and made homemade yeast rolls. The recipe is from my mother-in-law and they always turn out delicious. For the main food I made glazed ham, buttermilk mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus with goat cheese and crumbled bacon. If you have never tried roasted asparagus before you really should. My two sons love it and ate over a pound of asparagus between the two of them. Roasted veggies are a great way to get kids to eat their vegetables since they take on a caramelized flavor. For dessert I made a gluten free yellow cake with cherry filling and homemade butter cream frosting. My boys had fun helping me decorate the cake with peeps and Cadbury eggs. It was a great day! Today's recipe is for a family favorite, roasted chicken thighs. Last week I tried a new recipe for Roasted Chicken Thighs with Tomatoes, Olives, and Feta from the April 2013 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 1 hour of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I did make a few changes to the recipe. First I had potatoes that needed to be used so I added baby potatoes cut in fourths and tossed with olive oil. My two boys love olives so I doubles the amount and sliced them before roasting. I left off the fresh mint leaves for garnish since I was serving it to my children. Make sure to temp the chicken, over cooking chicken thighs makes the meat tough. As I have said before a great meat thermometer is a must (and a great present for a home cook).

The skin on this chicken turned out crispy and the thighs had great flavor. Oftentimes with roasted chicken recipes that actual chicken part of the dish turns out rather bland, this recipe was an exception. The thighs were well flavored and the vegetables turned out delicious. My two boys loved the olives and told me that this one of their favorite dishes that I have made recently. High praise from two very picky little boys.

For the recipe go to Roasted Chicken Thighs with Tomatoes, Olives and Feta.

Mediterranean Rigatoni

My two boys have decided that they are chefs lately. They enjoy taking things from around the house and my fridge and making a dish. Most of the time they claim that they are experimenting. I think they might watch too many cooking shows with me since they are always creating something with food that they find. They have made some things that I have to admit were pretty good. Yogurt seems to be their specialty lately, they have discovered some combination that have actually turned out pretty well. I love that they like to cook and they don't see it as a pursuit that only girls should do, which I think is great. I try to reinforce with my two boys that they should learn how to do everything around the house since it's always a good idea to be self sufficient. Teaching my kids to cook is something that is very important to me and my oldest helps me with dinner at least three times a week. Tonight for dinner my son helped me make Mediterranean Rigatoni from the March 2013 issue of Family Circle magazine.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 26 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. Since I eat gluten free I used gluten free ziti. I have never seen cubed feta in my area so I bought whole feta and crumbled it instead. After the pasta was done I added it to the sauce and allowed it to cook with the tomatoes until they started to break up. My husband isn't a fan of firm fresh tomatoes so I always allow them to cook slightly longer than recipes call for.

If you have a family that likes a lot of protein in their food I would suggest adding more chicken to this dish. Since their is only a pound of meat for six servings, there isn't a lot of chicken per bite. I would double the chicken and the amount of tomatoes. The flavors are nice and I liked the taste of the olives and fresh oregano. A balsamic vinegar reduction would also be delicious with this dish and the flavors would make the dish even better.

Currently this recipe isn't available online (Family Circle's decision not mine :). Here is the link to the photo on their site or you can find the recipe in the March 2013 issue of the magazine. 

Roasted Chicken with Tangerines and Olives

My two sons are really into the holidays this year. Last year my youngest was just too little to really understand what was going on around him and my oldest just wasn't interested. This year is a total 180. They had great fun picking out a little tree that they could place on a table and decorate all by themselves. Granted mommy did have to steer them away from the horribly tacky ornaments and towards a color scheme that would match the rest of my decorations. Then I had the task of explaining that since I was hosting Thanksgiving that the tree would have to wait to be put up until Friday morning. Needless to say that didn't go over too well. I think this might also be the last year for Santa with my oldest. He has made more than one hint that his friends have been talking about who the 'real Santa' is. I am very proud of him though for still keeping up appearances for his younger brother. It's the small gestures like these that make me happy that my kids have each other for brothers. So as Thanksgiving week begins I am very thankful for the fact that my family has each other and that my kids are turning into great little men. However, the one exception to their normally great behavior is food. When they were younger they ate anything. Then about 6 months ago everything began to change. Now they eat more than I would think would be possible for their size, but have also become very, very picky. Luckily they love chicken and it has become my fall back protein choice. Recently I tried a new recipe for Roasted Chicken with Tangerines and Olives from Everyday Food magazine which looked very simple and full of protein.

This recipe has 6 ingredients. It takes a total time of 50 minutes, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. The one big modification that I made to this recipe is to use chicken thighs and drumsticks instead of a whole chicken. I absolutely hate butchering chickens. Any other type of meat I have no problems with, but chicken drives me crazy. Granted it would help if I had more disposable income and could afford the awesome knives that they have on all the cooking shows. As it is I have the knives that I can afford and even when I sharpen them before every use they are still not great for butchering chicken. So I took the easy way out and bought pre-packaged thighs and drumsticks. For the olives I used stuffed green olives. My two kids love pimentos and they are the easiest type of olive to find in my area, so I used them. Honey is a food that I am particular about. I always buy as local of a honey as I can find. My husband and two boys both have nasty allergies and the closer the honey the better. Luckily there are multiple local honey producers in the immediate area that I live, which is great. Finally, I allowed my chicken to cook slightly longer than the final 10 minutes suggested by the recipe. I prefer my skin to be crispy and well browned so I allowed an additional 5 minutes of baking time. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys were big fans of this recipe. They loved the olives and ate the majority of the roasted tangerine slices. I liked that the recipe was very simple and had 53 grams of protein per serving. I try to make most of my family's dinners high in protein so this recipe was a perfect fit. If you aren't a fan of chicken skin this recipe would also work with skinned chicken. I would suggest keeping on the skin until the last ten minutes, then remove it and baste the meat with the honey and tangerine mixture. Overall a simple and sweet roasted chicken recipe.

For the recipe go to Roasted Chicken with Tangerines and Olives.

Slowcooker Mediterranean Chicken

Tomorrow is report card day for my oldest son. He's fine, I'm of course nervous. I know that I shouldn't view reports cards as a reflection of myself, but of course I do. It's as if I am being graded, not him. I know that he is doing great and everything will be fine, but there is something about seeing it in writing that validates all the hours of homework and work books. My plan for tomorrow is to bake gluten free cookies and banana bread. I love to bake and cook and it is one of the best stress relievers that I know. I can literally calm myself down from anything that's bothering me by spending time in the kitchen. The last couple of months have been very busy and as any frequent readers know these are the times that I turn to my crockpot. I love my crockpot and it has saved me so many times. Last week I tried a new recipe for Mediterranean Chicken from the September issue of Parents magazine, which with 40 grams of protein looked perfect for a weeknight meal.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes a total of 7 1/2 hours, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and I made no ingredient modifications. Makes sure to squeeze the lemon over the finished chicken, if you don't do this step the dish will not taste complete. To serve this dish I placed the vegetables on the plate and topped with the chicken. This looked great on the plate and allowed the flavors to be eaten as one bite. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I was very surprised by how great this recipe looked and tasted. Crockpot recipes are often reduced to stews and soups, without a lot of variety. This recipe tasted liked it could have come out of a dutch oven that had been cooking in the oven for hours. The taste is on the mild side, don't expect this recipe to be bold. It tastes like a dish that would come out of a grandmother's kitchen. The meat was perfect and the vegetables were very popular with my two sons. This is a recipe that I would definitely make again.

For the recipe go to Mediterranean Chicken.

Caramelized Onion Tart (Pissaladiere)

I absolutely love to bake. Not just to taste the foods that I make, but it is something that I find very relaxing. My oldest son seems to have inherited this love and is very interested every time I cook and bake. I highly encourage both of my boys to cook and bake with me, as I did with my mom. Some of my fondest memories involve spending time with my mother in the kitchen. She would tell stories, teach me how to prepare dishes and generally be great to spend time with. I have carried on the tradition with my two kids, I tell them family stories and make a fun time of all our baking and cooking adventures. Recently, my oldest son and I made the Caramelized Onion Tart featured in a recent issue of Saveur magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes approximately 4 hours of prep and cook time and makes 12 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and made no ingredient modifications. I have a horrible time with my eyes watering when I slice and chop onions so before slicing the 12 onions for this recipe I placed them in the freezer for around 5 minutes. I do this every time I chop onions, it really helps my eyes not to water. Make sure to watch the onions occasionally during cooking time or they will burn. My onions ended up taking only a  total time of one hour to fully caramelize, not the hour and a half suggested by the recipe. I let my onions cook for a 1/2 hour covered and then 1/2 hour uncovered. Finally, my dough never rose all that high, nothing like a normal bread recipe. However, the taste was great, so I assume that was the way that it was supposed to be. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys weren't big fans of this recipe. It is definitely more for adult tastes, especially since it has caramelized onions and anchovies. However, both my husband and I really liked this recipe. The taste of the caramelized onions was delicious and it made a large number of servings. It was enough for a meal for my family of four plus leftovers for another lunch. This recipe is time consuming, but worth the time if you are a fan of caramelized onions.

For the recipe go to Caramelized Onion Tart.

Chicken Provencal

As I have talked about before in the last year I have been making attempts to make my husband and two sons eat more chicken breast. They love chicken thighs and will eat them happily, but getting them to eat chicken breasts is a struggle. I am not much better than they are, if given the choice I will pick chicken thighs or another type of meat. Cut-up and cooked in pasta or stir-fry chicken breast can be moist and delicious. However, when it is cooked as a whole breast it often comes out dry and unappetizing. Therefore I have been trying to make a larger variety of chicken breast recipes, hoping that I will find some that are more appealing to my family. The February issue of All You Magazine had a recipe for Chicken Provencal, which looked like a great new chicken breast recipe to try for my family.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes of cooking time and 10 minutes of prep and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store, except for whatever reason they were out of parsley, so since it was just a topping ingredient I left it out. To save time I purchased pitted olives, I hate having to pit olives myself. Make sure to pound out the chicken breasts very flat in order to ensure even cooking and to keep them moist, especially if your chicken breasts are on the large side. I chose to add the capers as suggested as an option to 'dress up' the recipe. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The sauce on this recipe was delicious. It worked well with the chicken breast and even my two sons ate it happily. I do wish that there was more sauce for all the chicken breasts. I think this recipe would be even better if the sauce was doubled. It would allow for the chicken breast to remain moist and the flavors to develop even further. Pan browning the chicken made for a delicious crusty outside with a moist delicate interior. Overall, a chicken breast recipe which is easy to make and has a delicious sauce.

For the recipe go to Chicken Provencal.

Better Homes and Gardens Garlic-Olive Loaf

As I've said before we eat a lot of bread in our house. My two boys will eat over a half of a loaf in an evening. I love bread also, but I tire quickly of the same bread over and over again. Over the summer I got into a rut of making the same whole-wheat bread recipe at least once a week and by the time winter rolled around I couldn't stand to eat any more. I spend most of December and January looking through new bread recipes and trying out a number of new options. I found a recipe for Garlic-Olive Loaf in a special Holiday Recipes magazine from Better Homes and Gardens, which looked full of flavor from the cheese and olives and with 6 grams of protein per slice.

This recipe has 15 ingredients. It takes approximately 2 and a half hours plus chilling overnight and makes 12 servings. I ran out of time the night before to allow the bread to rise overnight, so instead I put it in the fridge in the morning and left it in about 6 hours. For the spinach I microwaved it on high to thaw and then pressed it with paper towels to remove all the moisture. I ran out of eggs before I made this recipe, so I left out the egg wash and brushed the top of the loaf with water instead. For the last 5 minutes of baking time I tented the top with foil to prevent burning. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I was impressed with how well this bread turned out. I served it as a side at dinner and everyone in my family agreed that it was better than the main dish. I love how it has spinach, cheese and olives. The combination of flavors is great in a bread and when toasted with butter for breakfast was delicious. A great way to get spinach into a meal and was friendly enough for my kids to eat.

For the recipe go to Garlic-Olive Loaf.

Taste of Home Easy Ropa Vieja Stew

This is my favorite time of year. I love when the weather turns colder, the leaves fall and I pull out my crockpot. With two busy boys my life times to be chaotic at the best of times, and especially around dinner. I love how my crockpot can help me make delicious meals that I can prep, put in the slowcooker and the rest is done for me. Crockpot cooking is especially helpful during the cooler months, when a hot home cooked meal provides welcome relief from the cold weather outdoors. During the fall and winter months I normally use my slowcooker about once or twice a week. I've tried just about every type of crockpot meal and I was surprised when I saw a recipe for Easy Ropa Vieja Stew in the November issue of Taste of Home magazine, which looked different than any slowcooker recipe I had tried before.

This recipe has 15 ingredients. It makes 8 servings and takes approximately 25 minutes of prep and 6 hours of cooking. All the ingredients were easy to find at my local grocery store and I didn't have to make any modifications. Be very careful when de-seeding the habanero pepper, it is very hot and will burn your eyes if the oils makes contact with them. I served the finished stew with rice, but it would also be delicious served alone. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written, with no modifications.

I was very pleased with the taste of this finished stew. My whole family enjoyed this recipe, even my two young sons. It made more than enough for leftovers, and it re-heated well the next day for my husbands lunch. A great, easy crockpot recipe perfect for the cooler months ahead.

For the recipe go to Easy Ropa Vieja Stew.

Saveur Pesto Focaccia

Bread is a popular stable in my house. Most weeks I make at least two loaves, sometimes more. Every couple of weeks I try to change up my normal bread routine and try something different such as scones or biscuits. A particular household favorite is focaccia. It takes longer than most breads to prepare and bake, but the end result is well worth the effort. Recently, Saveur magazine had a recipe for Pesto Focaccia using cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives, two foods my family loves.

This recipe has 8 ingredients for the pesto and 12 for the focaccia. It makes 12-14 servings and takes approximately 4 and a half hours to prepare and bake. There are a number of ingredients in this recipe, but I only had problems finding one, durum wheat flour. I looked at every store I could think of in my area to no avail, so I chose to leave it out. Instead of the durum wheat flour I used an additional cup of all-purpose flour, making 5 and a half cups of total flour. I noticed that the top of the focaccia cooked very quickly and I had to tent the top after approximately 10 minutes to prevent burning. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Over the last five years I have made a number of focaccia recipes, about one every month. I was intrigued by this recipe since it used mashed potatoes and lager beer in the focaccia dough, a combination I hadn't tried in previous recipes. The combination of the kalamata olives and cherry tomatoes worked well together and went great with the sun dried tomato pesto. Overall, a recipe well worth the time involved and filling enough for a main dish or side.

For the recipe go to Pesto Focaccia.

Martha Stewart Living Braised Chicken with Potatoes, Olives, and Lemon

Growing up the local 'fancy' grocery store in my area had an olive bar. I remember looking at all the varieties and imagining how they would taste. My family never had a lot of money, so asking for the olives was out of the question, but one day out of the blue my mom let me buy a few. They were absolutely delicious and I fell in love with olives. My two boys have similar tastes to my own, and have been known to eat whole jars of olives out of the fridge. Given my family's love of olives, a recipe for Braised Chicken with Potatoes, Olives, and Lemon from the September issue of Martha Stewart Living caught my eye and loved perfect for my family.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It makes 4 servings and takes approximately 40 minutes of total time, 10 minutes of which is active. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and made no modifications. I do make my own chicken stock and used it in this recipe. The chicken thighs that I bought weighted exactly 2 1/4 pounds for 4 thighs, which was perfect for my family of four. I would suggest doubling the recipe if your family size is larger.I found that the green olives were rather hard to pit, so I ended up cutting them off the pit. I didn't feel comfortable keeping the pits intact with two small boys. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written with no modifications.

The skin on this chicken dish turned out crisp and delicious. My husband complains and won't eat most chicken skin due to its lack of crispiness and he was very pleased with how this recipe turned out. I particularly enjoyed the olive/potato mixture, and the sauce complimented everything nicely. Even my two boys ate this dish without complaints and loved the olives. A great, easy chicken recipe.

For the recipe go to Braised Chicken with Potatoes, Olives, and Lemon.