I have had one heck of a day,  I can’t even begin to tell you. It was a real dooosie.  It was the kindof day where you wore all your hats, and somehow kept spinning your wheels. I did not get much done.
 
Today was also the one day my son had off this week.  I promised myself I would make a nice dinner. Yet, when it came to making it at the magic 4: 30 ish dinner making hour — I really, really didn’t feel like making a thing.  Once I settled in, it was sooo relaxing.  Sometimes I have to remind myself about that. I love to cook!!  

Some dinners are worth calling a family favorite, this one my son will rush home for! Both my kids will go back for seconds of this too.  For me that’s worth it all!  It’s also a recipe that smells so good while making it that I feel all cozy inside and it gets the when’s dinner ready mom question — gotta love that!

There are a few fresh ingredients you must have:   limes, cilanto and a seranno pepper or two.  If you can’t find a serrano a jalepeno works too. 

I couldn’t remember if I had chicken stock or not – turns out I didn’t. So my rice is being made with water instead. The stock that is usually added to the chicken had to be water too. Hey – in a pinch water is just as good!! Normally this recipe calls for stock

*I always double my rice recipe for another meal. 

*A double batch of chicken is also great for leftovers – tacos or tostada’s – mixed with scrambled eggs, made into chicken salad with yellow peppers and celery – yum!!

*I also just make an entire jar of this rub – saves time for future rubs.

*Hot sauce is a must as a condiment
 
Chilean Chicken with Cilantro and Lime

This is from William Sonoma’s “roasting” cook book – I adore these cookbooks! They teach me about ingredients I might not normally know about and all my dishes turn out exactly like the pretty pictures.  I have 14 of them and they take up some pretty prime real estate in my kitchen on a shelf next to my stove.

It’s basically roasted chicken with a rub ( mixture of spices rubbed on the skin of the chicken) – now because it’s soooo wicked hot today, I did this all stove top — it’s not the same as roasted, but it wasn’t bad and my house didn’t get hotter than it already is

You can use any type of chicken you prefer, the recipe calls for a whole chicken cut up, we personally use thighs
 
oil a baking dish and place chicken in skin side up

mix together : 2 Tbls sweet paprika – 1 teas each of chile powder and thyme, salt and pepper
rub into chicken skin

top with fresh crushed garlic and rub that into the skin too

slice serrano peppers over chicken ( careful of hot seeds and oil on hands )

put 1/2 to 3/4 C chicken broth on bottom of pan

roast at 350 for an hour
 
make rice ( I make mine in chicken broth and use a basmati long grain brown and white combined ) 

simmer black beans ( canned is fine ) 

make a vegetable of choice – we like tri – colored raw peppers or steamed green beans ( today we ate a huge bowl of raw green beans from the farmers market)

serve chicken – top rice with black beans and fresh cilantro and squeeze all ( like absolutely everything ) with fresh lime – yum

I know I said this before,  but this dish is very fragrant while it’s cooking – smells sooo good

If i were to go all out ….a small bowl of black bean soup before this is excellant – i know double black beans, but it really does compliment it – i have a superb recipe should you need one

oooooh and a mango tequila ice following

If your serving cocktails either sangria or margarita’s are particularly yummy – i have served this simple meal many times to company

Flickr image credit –cilantro reminds me of the smell of lime green

Do you have any favorite chicken recipes ?? This is something I am always looking for – post it in the comment section so all of us can partake !!

K a r e n     H a n r a h a n
Wellness Educator/Nutritional Consultant
Mentoring YOU to Health Success

Please Contact Me Through My Website

Schetti!! ( is that how you spell that?) Everyone’s favorite!! It’s Monday and it’s pasta night.

Quickly stated here is my all time standard works for me sauce:

Saute onion preferably a sweet vidalia and 3 cloves of garlic thinly sliced, one can press, chop – I like my garlic where I can see it, in several tablespoons of olive oil. Saute until onion is translucent. Add two cans of Muir Glen Organic Tomatoes – I used the crushed with basil and one 1/2 can purified water and for a canned tomatoe I enjoy this product. Add a palmful each of basil and oregano, I like to pour it into my palm and crush it to release the smell and the oils of the dried herbs – I get mine from Penzeys. One teaspoon of salt and oooodles of fresh ground black pepper. Simmer for hours.

To make this with meat buy your most favorite sweet italian sausage – while I adore whole foods, wild oats has a much better homemade italian sausage and I only buy without MSG. For me that is an important detail. Remove from casings and simmer with the onion and garlic — this smells sooooo good!!

This will make one meal and one to spare that I ladel into a jar for freezing

My mom’s version added a can of tomato paste and this thickens the sauce

My sauce lately has been watery - really tasty still,  but for some reason watery  

A wonderful friend of mine was paralleling it to my life – similar to that book that I can’t remember the name of – burnt rice – burnt by my man, he left—that was last may - I could not stop burning the rice – the watery spaghetti sauce started at the end of this school year, tears for the loss of my marriage – watery sauce

does that sound a bit hokey ???

(still can’t remember the name of that book)

Meatballs of course are an ultimate addition and worth saving for another post!!

flickr image credit —simply stated – yum

K a r e n    H a n r a h a n
Wellness Educator/Nutritional Consultant
Mentoring YOU to Health Success

Please Contact Me Through My Website