Until last week, I was so happy that Dallas had seen more snow than we had in Ohio. Well....that has now changed. I will admit, the yard looked beautiful this morning. Snow is quite pretty, unless it is on the roads or in parking lots:) My wonderful husband has been doing an excellent job of shoveling the driveway and sidewalks.....something I don't have much experience with.
We were super brave today and made a chicken dish from my Martha Stewart magazine. Martha recipes are often very intimidating, but look so fantastic. We enjoy trying complicated recipes on Sundays because we have more time to play in the kitchen. So, here is our #1 "Sunday recipe" so far. Ryan actually claimed that this dish is his most favorite.
Arroz Con Pollo
(Spanish for "rice with chicken")
1 cup dry white wine ( I just used what we had in the fridge)
pinch of saffron
6 chicken thighs (We used skinless, but with skin is fine)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup oil (we used safflower oil, but olive oil is also good)
1 large onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 large tomato, diced
2 dried bay leaves
4 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
3 cups short grain rice
1 cup olives (with pimentos)
1. Combine wine and saffron and set aside. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet. I used my cast iron skillet. Cook chicken on each side until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to plate.
2. Reduce heat to medium and add onions and garlic. Saute 5-10 minutes or until tender. Add tomato and cook, stirring often, 10-15 minutes. Add wine-saffron mixture, 1 tbsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and bay leaves. Cook until wine is almost completely evaporated, 10-15 mintues. Add chicken, broth, rice, and olives. Bring to a simmer.
3. Reduce heat to low and cover. Cook until rice is tender, 45 minutes. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat and let stand for about 10 minutes. Remove bay leaves and enjoy!
Now for my alteration suggestions:
1. If you do not like olives, they definitely aren't essential to this dish. If you do like olives, you will love them in this dish! They explode with flavor.
2. I don't have any other suggestions. This dish was fantastic. However, we did learn more about saffron today. It is a very expensive spice extracted from a flower. We spent more than we ever thought we would on a spice at Kroger, but it was worth it:) I'm not sure what a good substitution would be for saffron, but I will be looking for new recipes that call for my very expensive addition to the spice cabinet.
I have had a few requests lately for new house pictures. I don't want to make this post longer than it already is, but I'll show one of my new favorite additions to our house. We were looking for an "end table" that sat higher than our couch....and we found it at Pottery Barn outlet. It's actually a small bedroom dresser, but it works perfectly in "carpet room." A run to Hobby Lobby gave us fun red knobs to replace the cream ones that came with the dresser. So, here you have it, our new end table! Until next time....
Our fun banner in carpet room:)
Beverage Station!
Our fun banner in carpet room:)
Beverage Station!
King Cakes delivered from Gambino's in New Orleans, LA. One had cream cheese filling and the other had pecan praline filling. Amazing! The boys had fun betting on where the baby was....Dan won!
I found these masks at Oriental Trading. I had them all over the house...the perfect touch!
The table...pre-jambalaya.
Dirty Rice Balls! The recipe was in my previous post. They were the hit of the party! Besides the baby-guessing game:)
My beautiful sewing machine...
The beginning of my thread collection...It's small now but I've got high hopes for it:) I love all the colors!
Some of the fabric for my super secret projects...
