Chicken Posole

week 2/day 1
I love Mexican food. LOVE IT! The husband, not so much! But with following the Real Simple menu for a month we ate it. I really liked chicken posole. Definitely a meal for a cool day (which was not yesterday). I made some adaptions to the chicken. The recipe called for shredded rotisserie chicken, which would have been a lot easier, but my way was cheaper. I took about six chicken breasts and thawed them. Then seasoned with red pepper and oregano, wrapped in three different tin foil packets and baked at 450 for about 30 minutes. Then I used a fork to shred the chicken. Yum! Chicken posole has a nice spiciness to it and the lime added some good flavor. 1 T olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
Kosher salt
black pepper
32 oz chicken broth
1 can 28 oz diced tomatoes
1/4 crushed red pepper
2 cups shredded chicken
1 can hominy, rinsed (you can find hominy in the Mexican aisle and it comes in a 29 oz can, at least that's all I found, and I used the whole can)
1 lime, cut into wedges

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and 1/4 t of salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and beginning to brown, 10-12 minutes. Add the broth, tomatoes and pepper and bring to a boil. Stir in the chicken and hominy and simmer until heated through. Serve with lime. Serves 4.

Spicy Orange Glazed Drumsticks with Green Beans

week 1/day 3
The only suggestion I have for this, is it needed more of an orange flavor and it definitely wasn't spicy. Besides that it was really good. It's a keeper. I've been racking my brain on how I can make it have a more orange flavor. I would suggest doubling the orange sauce and to put the sauce on again right after you take it out of the oven. I made the cornbread from scratch and it was a great, easy recipe. This is most definitely a kid friendly meal.

1/4 c orange marmalade
1/2 t chili-garlic sauce
8 chicken drumsticks
Kosher salt
black pepper

Heat oven to 400. In a small bowl, mix the marmalade and chili-garlic sauce. Season the chicken with 1/2 t salt and 1/4 t pepper. Roast on a foil-lined baking sheet until cooked through, 35-40 minutes, brushing with the marmalade mixture during the last 10 minutes of cooking. Serves 4.

Cornbread

1 c all-purpose flour
1 c yellow cornmeal
2/3 c white sugar
1 t salt
3 1/2 t baking powder
1 egg
1 c milk
1/3 c vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well. Pour batter into a muffin pan or a lightly greased 9 inch round cake pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serves 12.

Jambalaya

We must really like the South because it seems we are having a lot of food originated from the South. This time we had some delicious jambalaya. It's very similar to the gumbo I make. It's definitely not for the weak. It's has a kick to it, it's so spicy it makes my husband's nose run. If you don't like a lot of spice you can eliminate the Cajun seasoning and do less of the other seasonings. Serve it over some rice.


1/2 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 lb andouille chicken sausage, sliced
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 c chopped celery
1 c chicken broth
2 t dried oregano
2 t dried parsley
2 t Cajun seasoning
1 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t dried thyme
1 lb shrimp

In a slow cooker mix all ingredients except the shrimp. Cover and cook for 7-8 hours on Low or 2-4 hours on High. Stir in shrimp for last 30 minutes.

Gumbo

When I was about a week away from delivery we tried everything possible that could induce labor, including spicy food. We have a Cajun restaurant in town that we went to and I got some spicy food and gumbo. It was delicious gumbo, but looked disgusting. I decided to make my own gumbo that would look and taste delicious. Needless, none of the spicy food helped induce labor but I found a new favorite recipe for us. It always makes enough for dinner and plenty for left overs. I recently discovered chicken sausage and replaced that instead of pork sausage and it's much better.

1 lb Italian sausage links, sliced
1 lb uncooked, peeled and deveined shrimp
3 T vegetable oil
1 red pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 t dried thyme
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t cayenne pepper
3 c chicken broth
2/3 c uncooked rice
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained (I used a fresh tomatoe this time and it was just as good)


In a large pot brown sausage in oil. Meanwhile in a crockpot combine all other ingredients except shrimp. Add sausage to crockpot. Cook on low for 3-4 hours. Add shrimp. Cook for another hour or two. Gumbo should be thick. Serves 12.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

This is a nice take on baked chicken. It definitely is more spicy than sweet but it's enjoyable. I love recipes that requires little preparation and I can just cook it in the oven. I gives me time to spend with my little baby. Plus with the summer around the corner (yes around the corner because it seems like it just keeps raining) it's great to just pop it in the oven and go do what you enjoy. Just don't leave the house with the oven on. The original recipe called for a whole chicken but I used some chicken breast. Serve with some pasta, rice or vegetables.


1 T olive oil
1 T chili powder
1 T brown sugar
1 t dried oregano
3/4 t kosher salt
1/4 t pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast

Heat oven 400 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the oil, chili powder, sugar, oregano, salt and pepper. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Place the chicken in a roasting pan and rub with the spice mixture. Roast until cooked through, 45-50 minutes. Server hot, room temperature, or chilled.

Jerky Chicken

This is a spicy and sweet chicken recipe. It was very simple to make and goes great with rice, zucchini and asparagus. You can take the jerky sauce and put it on beef, pork, shrimp or anything else you can think of. I had a red pepper so I traded that for the habanero pepper and I just used garlic powder since I didn't have any garlic on hand. It still turned out fabulous.

(photo courtesy of allrecipes.com)

1 t onion, chopped finely
3 T brown sugar
4 T soy sauce
4 T red wine vinegar
2 t thyme
1 t sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 t allspice
1 habanero pepper, sliced
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast cut into strips

Combine the onion, brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, thyme, sesame oil, garlic, allspice and pepper in food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Place the chicken into a large resealable bag and pour in 3/4 of the sauce. Squeeze out excess air and seal, Marinate in the fridge for one hour. Preheat oven boiler. Remove chicken from bag and discard marinade. Broil chicken for 7 minutes, then flip and cook for 8 minutes. Heat remaining sauce and pour over chicken when serving. Serves 4.