Sunday, March 27, 2011

"Its Sunday..so whats for dinner"

Its that time again...time to cook, time to share, time to feed the tummies and the souls..

Family dinner at the Mom in-laws this afternoon...my contributions for today..

"Chicken Cacciatore w/Pasta"


Ingredients:

2 onions slices thinly
2 1/2 - 3 lbs chicken legs and thighs, or I also use chicken tenders, pretty much whatever is on sale or in my freezer...
2 garlic cloves, minced
I like to add zucchini and baby portabello mushrooms too..again, whatever is hanging around in my fridge..
16 oz can stewed tomatoes any kind you like, I like the one with green peppers 
8 oz can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon salt
A couple teaspoons of sugar (yes you read that right, sugar, for me really enhances the flavors and cuts the bitter taste that tomatoey stuff can have..
1/4 teaspoon pepper, (although I am totally a pepper girl and like way more)
1-2 teaspoons oregano (dried)
1 teaspoon basil (dried)
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup dry, good quality white wine (ya know, the kind you would actually drink, not the cooking stuff)

Directions:

Well first you need a crockpot, slow cooker, whatever you call it!!!!

Slightly brown chicken on all sides in olive oil
Place onions in the bottom of the slow cooker
Lay chicken over onions
Combine remaining ingredients, pour over chicken
Cover and cook on low 6-61/2 hours
Remove bay leaf..serve over hot buttered pasta..of course your favorite
or I actually love it over rice pilaf (recipe to follow) so yummy..but when I use pasta I prefer linguini..
Top with a obscene amount of parmesan cheese (I am also a total parm nut)
Thats it...no kidding...so yummy and so easy...


"Rice Pilaf"


Today I kind of cheated because I couldn't find
my sweet Mama's recipe, which is my favorite!!

So basically I bought 2 boxes of Rice Pilaf mix with rice and orzo
and to that I added
some sliced Baby Portabellos Mushrooms
1 large shallot diced and
1 small zucchini grated
I sauted those in a combination of butter and olive oil
added the rice and orzo mix and continued to saute until lightly browned,
then added the seasoning mixes and the water that was called for on the box.
Once it was finished I stirred in about 3 tablespoons of chopped Italian Parsley and a handful of parmesan cheese, for me that goes without saying..
That was pretty much it and it turned out sooo yummy..!

"Italian Salad"



I love the salad they serve at Olive Garden, so I honestly just pretty much copied it..

So thats about it for this Sunday's "Whats for Dinner"
Easy, not too time consuming, and so satisfying!
Well off to family dinner...with 28 people..where did all these people come from?

Blessings for your family dinner today and the love of sharing!!!

Val






1 comment:

  1. Lovely presentation, Val. I too, add sugar to my tomato sauces. Wish I could come to dinner!

    ReplyDelete