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.

Classic Pot Roast

I was so proud of the males in my family tonight. For dessert I made pudding using silken tofu and they all ate their whole servings. I even sweetened it with sorghum and my oldest thought it was delicious. This just goes along my whole opinion that kids will eat a variety of food if you give it to them and don't make a fuss. I still serve sugar, I just limit the amount of granulated sugar and try to use honey, sorghum and maple syrup when possible. My kids have slowly adjusted, so much so that my oldest has been nagging me to allow him to take a packed lunch to school since he loves my food so much. I love that my kids will eat just about anything without complaints, especially if it contains chicken or pork. One of my family's favorite meals is pot roast. There is something so comforting about starting a pot roast on a Sunday and sitting down in the evening for a delicious meal. This week I tried a new recipe for Classic Pot Roast from the February 2013 issue of Parents magazine.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes a total time of 3 hours, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Since I eat gluten free I used cornstarch instead of all-purpose flour to thicken the pan juices. If you aren't a fan of carrots skins than I would suggest peeling them before chopping. The recipe doesn't state this, but I always do it since my youngest isn't a fan of carrot skin. Make sure to let the roast rest. This rest time is very important for letting the juices stay in the roast. If you cut the roast before letting it rest the juices will spill out making for a drier roast. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My husband really loved this roast. He thought it was one of the best pot roast recipes that I have made in a long time. My oldest was also a big fan, he ate most of the leftovers. The roast was a little on the dry side without the pan juices. I would add additional beef stock to the pan while the roast is cooking to ensure a larger amount of pan juice to serve with the roast.

This recipe is currently not available online, but can be found in the February 2013 issue of Parents magazine. Here is another recipe for pot roast from Parents magazine.

Keralan Vegetable Stew

Cold season seems to have hit my house. Last week I finally recovered from the cold that I had picked-up from my oldest son when my throat started hurting. This week everyone in my house has been sick. I love how once my oldest son started school I have gotten every single cold that has gone around school. The one good thing about when my whole house has a cold is that I can make spicy foods. I love anything spicy. Growing-up my mom invented an peanut noodle dish with chili oil that I loved. The only problem was that my dad hated spicy foods and every time my mom made the dish it seemed to get spicier and spicier. I loved it, my dad hated it. My kids are hit or miss with spicy foods. The older they seem to get the more opinionated and picky they become. So when everyone ends up ill I make dinners spicy. Recently, I made a new recipe for Keralan Vegetable Stew from the September issue of Food and Wine magazine, which looked full of flavor and delicious.

This recipe has 14 ingredients. It takes a total time of one hour, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I have never seen fresh curry leaves in my area, so I chose to use bay leaves instead. I ended up having to go to two separate stores to find frozen pearl onions, which is normal for my area. Instead of serving the dish over white rice I used brown rice. I prefer brown rice and rarely eat white rice. I ended up letting the stew simmer for almost an hour instead of the 30 minutes suggested by the recipe. I kept the heat very low and let the flavors meld. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I must have gotten some very spicy Serrano chiles because this recipe had a lot of kick. It was way too spicy for my kids as written, but once I added Greek yogurt it was much better. I would suggest seeding the chiles or using a milder chile if you are looking for milder flavor. I will say that if you have a cold this dish will definitely work on your sinuses. Additionally, the flavors were very delicious and the vegetables came out perfect. Since my family really loves curry this dish was perfect for us.

For the recipe go to Keralan Vegetable Stew.