Chicken Cacciatore

I've always wanted to make this dish and thanks to my friend, Michelle, I finally did! She posted a picture of her dinner and the recipe on Facebook one night and I quickly  nabbed it! Thanks Michelle. She has lots of great recipes posted on her Willow House page too so be sure to check those out.

http://michellepuletti.willowhouse.com/NewsAndEvents/FeatureDetail/25324

But let's get back to me and my blog for now. :-) I love dishes that have tomato flavor and adding peppers and mushrooms just makes it even better. I love that combination. Let's get started on our Chicken Cacciatore. Isn't that fun to say?? Chicken Cacciatore. What did you have for dinner....Chicken Cacciatore. Okay, back to the instructions. Let's make some Chicken Cacciatore!

Ingredients:

1 large package of Pick of the Chix (or really whatever you like, anything works)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 lb white mushrooms, quartered

2 small onions, sliced 1/4 inch thick

2 large bell peppers (preferably 1 red and 1 green), sliced 1/4 inch thick. I used yellow because it was prettier.

4 garlic cloves, smashed

1/2 cup dry red wine

One 28-ounce can crushed Italian tomatoes

One 14 1/2-ounce can low-sodium chicken broth

3/4 pound linguine (I served with angel hair because I like that better)

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1 T Italian seasoning

3-5 fresh thyme sprigs

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

 flat-leaf parsley

 

parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions:

Remove most of skin from chicken. Heat a deep 10-inch skillet or 6-quart Dutch oven over medium heat until hot. Add the chicken pieces; cook until browned, about 8 minutes, turning once. Transfer to a plate.

In same pan, heat 1/2 tablespoon olive oil. Add mushrooms; cook on medium-high, stirring, until softened and browned, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

Add remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil to pan; add onions, peppers, and garlic; cook on medium-high, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 4 minutes.

I love those colors! See why I like red and yellow? So pretty.

Pour in wine; bring to a boil. Cook until almost evaporated, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, fresh thyme, italian seasoning and broth; return chicken to pan. Simmer, turning occasionally, until meat is tender and sauce is thickened, about 1 hour.

Stir in mushrooms and fresh basil. While the chicken is finishing up, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain; serve with chicken and sauce. Garnish with more basil or parsley and parmesan cheese.

 

Enjoy!

Pesto Chicken w/Goat Cheese

You should recognize this dish. It is my most delicious and popular, Pesto Chicken, but I put another spin on it tonight and added goat cheese! Man, was that delicious! I still sprinkled a little mozzarella cheese on top as well (why not, right), but the goat cheese was the winning flavor! Actually, I had herbed goat cheese which was even better. I do love me some goat cheese. You might have recognized that fact if you read my blog regularly. If you're not a fan, try feta instead.....love me some feta too. :-)

Also, this time I only had boneless chicken thighs so I used them. You can pretty much use whatever type of chicken you have on hand.

See my original blog post for the instructions:

http://dawnsblogalicious.blogspot.com/2012/05/pesto-tomato-chicken-yummy.html

Put your own spin on it and tell me how it turns out! Enjoy!

Awesome Brunswick Stew

 

There is one thing I love more than life....okay, maybe not that much, but I really, REALLY, really LOVE Brunswick Stew. It can’t just be any Brunswick Stew either. I’m a Brunswick Stew connoisseur and the best Brunswick in the world is found in my hometown of Thomaston, GA at Piggie Park. Piggie Park is a local drive in restaurant that honestly makes the best Brunswick Stew I’ve ever tasted.  Since we moved to Richmond, VA I’ve tried to find a stew that can come even close to their recipe. I’ll just skip ahead and let you know that we’ve been in Richmond for 9 years and my friends don’t allow me to order Brunswick Stew at restaurants anymore because they know I won’t like it. So what am I to do? I can't go without! I live so far away from Piggie Park, but I love Brunswick Stew. Well, in walks Trisha Yearwood into my life. Thank you Food Network for giving Trisha her own cooking show. She makes some awesome recipes, but the best one to date is her dad’s Brunswick Stew recipe. I could tell when she was making it that it was going to be close to my all time favorite so I had to give it a try. I actually still can’t believe that I made Brunswick Stew, but I did and it was AWESOME! I’m not even kidding, it is so good. If you love, or even like, Brunswick Stew, this is your recipe. I urge you to try it at least once! Okay, let’s get started because this is going to take a little time.

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 pound Boston butt pork roast (I doubled the pork and didn’t use the beef roast at all)
• 1 pound fresh chicken or hen, bone in
• 1 pound boneless beef chuck roast
• 1 pound red potatoes, peeled and quartered (I also forgot to peel and they were fine)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 small sweet onion, such as Vidalia, chopped
• 6 cups canned whole peeled tomatoes (I'm not sure why I couldn't just use crushed tomatoes since I blended them in the food processor, but again, I just did as Trisha recommended)
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 32 ounces (4 cups) cream-style white corn

Directions:

Place the pork and chicken in a 1 1/2 gallon stock pot with enough water to cover. Cook at a medium simmer for 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender, skimming occasionally. Remove the meat to a bowl and reserve the stock. Meanwhile, in a separate large stockpot, do the same to the beef. Remove the beef and discard the broth. Remember, I left the beef out and only used pork and chicken, but Trisha used the beef so you decide.

Place the potatoes in a medium saucepan, cover with water and simmer until tender. Or you can plop them in with the chicken and pork and cook all in one pot like I did.

Remove and discard the bones and skin from all of the cooked meat, pull apart or cut into chunks and process in a food processor or meat grinder until ground.

Put 2 pints of the reserved pork and chicken stock into a 1 1/2 gallon stock pot, reserve the rest for another use. Add the ground meats to the stock. Dissolve the black pepper and the cayenne pepper in 1 tablespoon water, and add to the stew. Trisha says when you add pepper directly to a pot that the pepper will never mix in correctly so she dissolves in water first. I don't know if I've had that problem in the past, but I wasn't cutting any corners so I did what Trisha said.

Add to the onion and tomato to the food processor, process well and add it to the meat mixture with the ketchup and Worcestershire sauce.

This is just the meat, stock and tomato mixture. It looks yummy already.

Process in the food processor the cooked potatoes, then add to the stew, stirring until any lumps are removed. Stir in the salt. At this point, the stew should be soupy not watery. If the stew is too thick to stir easily with a flat spatula or pancake turner, thin it slightly with more reserved pork and chicken stock. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring constantly.

Puree and add the corn, then continue to cook the stew over very low heat for 1 hour, stirring often and scraping the bottom of the stock pot with a flat spatula or pancake turner to avoid scorching.

Look how much stew this recipe makes! I put two batches in the freezer. This is the best recipe. I really recommend it. If you make it, be sure to come back and tell me how you liked it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Make your own Hummingbird Nectar

See my little hummingbird on the feeder enjoying my homemade nectar....

If you’re like me, you love the hummingbirds to visit your yard. I love to to see them fluttering around my feeders. I used to always buy the red food and would constantly run out. Well, buy the red stuff no longer! You can make the food yourself at home and it’s super simple.....and cheap. The food doesn’t have to be red either. If it’s in a hummingbird feeder, which usually has red decorations, they will come. Trust me! Here’s how you make it:

4 cups of water

1 cup of sugar

 

 

Bring the water to a boil. Remove from heat, add sugar and stir until dissolved. Cool and fill the feeders. It’s that easy!

You can store the excess in the fridge for later use. It is important to the health of the birds to keep hummingbird feeders clean and the nectar fresh. It is recommended that you clean the feeders every few days and fill with fresh nectar. You may use a 10% bleach solution if you rinse well.

Now you can have hummingbird nectar available any time you need it.

See the hummingbird in the air to the right of the feeder? So cute.

Super Simple Stuffed Mushrooms

These are always a party pleaser and you couldn’t make up an easier recipe. Don't you just want to reach into the computer screen and grab one now?? I do!! What’s easier than a recipe with three ingredients?? Nothing! Don’t be fooled though, just because this is so simple doesn’t mean it isn’t delicious. These are always the first to disappear at my parties. They really are the best stuffed mushrooms I've ever tasted. I got this recipe from my friend, Jen. Thanks Jen!

Ingredients:

1 pound sausage – I like to use hot for more flavor

1 (8 oz) block of cream cheese

2 lbs fresh mushrooms

Brown the sausage in a skillet. After it has browned, remove from heat and stir in cream cheese. Stir until melted. While the sausage is browning, remove stems from the mushrooms. I save the stems for another use later. They are great diced and sautéed in butter! Okay, back to the current recipe, take each mushroom and stuff with about a tablespoon+ of the mixture.

Place in a baking dish or on a cookie sheet with a rim (the juices run so don’t use a flat pan like I did once – big mistake!). Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Of course these are best served hot out of the oven. I try to get these ready on the pan and when the guests arrive, pop them in the oven, and you’ll have delicious piping hot appetizers ready to serve your guests.

This will become one of your "go to" party foods, I promise. One of my hubby's favorites. They are so delicious....and EASY!

Enjoy!

Chicken stuffed with Goat Cheese & Basil

I always order this dish at one of my favorite restaurants in Richmond, Mezzanine. Now I typically wouldn’t order baked chicken out because that’s just boring, but throw some goat cheese in and that’s a different story. It’s so delicious. If you don’t like goat cheese, you won’t like this recipe. Luckily I LOVE goat cheese.....and really, a lot of other cheeses too. I don’t discriminate against my cheeses! I believe I ran across this recipe on Pinterest and it was love at first sight. Look at that picture, didn’t you fall in love just a little?? Well, let’s get busy. I know you are dying to know how to make this one and I really can’t blame you. You can thank me later.

The recipe called for chicken breast, but I had chicken thighs in the freezer so I went went those. I’ll try chicken breast next time because they have more skin area to stuff and that equals more goat cheese!

Ingredients

2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts or 4 thighs

7 ounces goat cheese – you can use herbed or plain.

4 - 6 large basil leaves. I chopped these instead of  putting in whole.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

3/4 teaspoon of black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Wash each chicken breast and pat dry with a paper towel. Place in a pyrex or ceramic baking dish.

With your fingers, loosen the skin from the meat on each breast, leaving one side attached.

Slice the goat cheese into rounds and place half of it under the skin on each breast. It might be easier to crumble so you can get it into every crevice. Place two basil leaves under the skin of each breast. I had some fresh thyme and added that too. It can’t hurt, right?

Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil over each breast and evenly sprinkle breasts with salt and pepper.

Bake chicken breasts for 40 to 45 minutes, until cooked through.

Serve and enjoy!

The Perfect Pork Roast (plus a bonus BBQ recipe)

This might look like a tan brick in the photo, but it was super tender and juicy once I cut it up....trust me!

See, I might have a full-time job again, but I can still find time to make great meals.....even if it is in a crockpot! I have always loved my crockpot and the love affair continues. This is honestly one of the best pork roasts you’ll ever put in your mouth. So flavorful and moist. Make it once and you’ll believe me and want to share the recipe with your friends, I did.

Now don’t let the ingredients scare you off. There is coffee and bourbon in the recipe. Yes, it sounds like a strange combination. I don’t drink either, but I put them in the crockpot because I’m afraid to leave anything out and chance losing the delicious flavor. This is such a great recipe and I don’t want to change one thing. I have always loved crockpot cooking and this is a great recipe made just for the crockpot. The best part is that it can be two recipes in one. You can have roast one night and then make BBQ with the left overs. You will also love the BBQ sandwiches. So juicy and tasty. However, if you love the roast too much you might not want to make the BBQ with the remaining at all. I made the roast tonight and my husband doesn’t want me to make BBQ, he wants to have it as roast a few more times. BTW, we’re still debating that point!

Okay, enough chit chat, let’s get started. Here’s what you need:

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds boneless pork roast
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 2 cups strong brewed coffee
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons bourbon whiskey (optional)
• 10 cloves garlic (yep, 10 cloves!)
• 3 cups beef broth
• 1 cup water
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

Season the roast with salt and pepper. Place the seasoned roast, coffee, Worcestershire sauce, bourbon whiskey, garlic, beef broth, water, onion, and red pepper flakes in a slow cooker set to LOW. Cook 6 to 8 hours. I cooked mine 8 hours on low and it was perfect. Since I have a job now, I got everything prepared the night before, put the crockpot, with everything in it, in the fridge overnight. How could the roast not be perfect with all that marinating time AND cooking it in the juices??

When roast is fully cooked, transfer to a large cutting board, and save some juice to use later as a nice au jus. Should pork technically have an au jus?? I don’t really know, but it was nice to spoon over the roast when serving. I also put a lot on the left over roast to keep it moist in the fridge.

Now here’s how you get two different meals with the work for one.  Shred the remaining roast into strands using two forks. You can either just heat all of this in the microwave or return meat to the crockpot. Stir in  barbeque sauce, and continue cooking on LOW for 1 to 3 hours. I guarantee you this will be the best BBQ sandwich you’ve ever tasted. It is so moist and delicious! Now I love me some Kraft BBQ sauce so I start with that and step it up a little.

Here’s what I do, it’s not an exact recipe though.

Pour about half the bottle in a bowl and add the following:

splash of lemon juice

about a tablespoon or Worcestershire sauce

squirt of yellow mustard

squirt of ketchup

a little granulated garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Or just use your favorite BBQ sauce as is!

Pour this sauce over pulled pork and stir together. You have just created the BEST BBQ sandwich you’ll ever taste! Yummy!!

If I win the battle to make BBQ this time, I'll post pictures of that soon. Let's just be honest...I WILL post pics of BBQ very soon. :-)

And the BBQ pic is posted! Better late than never!