Saturday, January 8, 2011

school pizza!

Last night we had frozen pizza for dinner, I don't usually do the frozen pizzas usually we make our own but I really wanted to try one of them that I saw...well ok really I should say that I should never shop when hungry because it was the picture on the package that made me by It LOL and so I grabbed a cheese pizza for the little kids and a spinach and goat cheese one for me :-)


Well as I was opening the package I realize the cheese pizza is square Jessica was sitting there watching me put it on the pan and she said "is that a pizza?" I told her that it was a pizza  and she said "is it a pizza just like the ones my friends eat at school?" WOW so I will tell you that we never buy the school lunch with her, we figured it was too complicated a process and since she is such a picky eater she would be better off with sandwiches from home. she used to bring either cream cheese and jelly, or Turkey which has turned into just cream cheese and jelly every day. So getting back to the friends eating pizza I asked her if they had pizza in school today and she said "yeah and my friends like pizza at school, I like it too!"


OMGosh I think we might try it, maybe set it up with her Para to help her purchase lunch the next time they have pizza, I just think it would be really cool for her to do something different!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Happy New Year! a million resolutions!

I really want to keep up my blog more regularly
AND I want to cook more and learn more recipes  try new things.

So I will be cooking one new recipe a week and blogging about it  sort of like in that  Julia Childs movie ONLY FAR LESS INTENSE!

Here is my first new recipe for 2011
it's Groundnut stew I got it from a cookbook called "Food and Wine Quick from Scratch Chicken cookbook"


http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/groundnut-stew

Groundnut Stew

  • ACTIVE: 5 MIN
  • TOTAL TIME: 40 MIN
  • SERVINGS: 4
  • FAST

Ingredients

  1. 2 tablespoons cooking oil, more if needed
  2. 1 chicken (3 to 3 1/2 pounds), cut into 8 pieces
  3. 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
  4. 1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
  5. 1 onion, chopped
  6. 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  7. 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes, drained
  8. 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
  9. 2 3/4 cups water
  10. 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
  11. 1 10-ounce package frozen sliced okra

Directions

  1. In a large pot, heat the oil over moderately high heat. Season the chicken pieces with 1/4 teaspoon each of the salt and black pepper. Cook until browned, turning, about 8 minutes in all. Remove. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from the pot.
  2. Reduce the heat to moderately low. Add the onion to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and then the tomatoes and cayenne. Return the chicken legs and thighs to the pot and stir in 2 cups of the water. Bring to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for 10 minutes.
  3. Whisk together the peanut butter and the remaining 3/4 cup water until smooth. Add this mixture to the stew along with the chicken breasts and wings, the okra and the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/4 of teaspoon black pepper. Cook, partially covered, until the okra is just done, about 10 minutes.

Serve With

Serve the stew with rice or egg noodles to capture every drop of the distinctive sauce. 
 
 
 
 
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ok well  I did not realize Until I was writing out this blog that I had made a mistake and this is probably why it didnt seem as though the meal tasted as good as it sounded KWIM? 

in the recipe it says to add 1 cup of canned crushed tomatoes, and I put the whole can in which explained why it seemed as though the tomato flavor overtook the others.

So we still liked it I added a little more Cayenne after I tasted it, didnt make any other changes

if we make it again I will use 8 chicken thighs instead of a whole chicken cut up....the different cuts of chicken cooked differently the breasts were  kind of dry.....but the recipe will definitely be in the keeper file



Who liked it?
Dennis liked it! he added some srirachia sauce to it
he wanted to add more peanutbutter next time we make it.

I liked it and I agreed with DH about the peanutbutter but now that I noticed my mistake I think that, that might by why we couldnt taste the PB
Devin liked it...I didn't really want him to eat if because he has had a tummy bug all day....but he wanted to try it...he thought the sauce was too spicy but still ate it...he must be feeling better!!!

Jessica liked the chicken but not the sauce!

Megan ate rice and veggies  I did get her to try the chicken, she said she liked it but didn't eat it and made death sounds when she tried the sauce LOL 

Sorry I have no pictures My real computer has died and I have not yet figured out how to do that on this laptop!

That is it, If you try the recipe comment back and let me know if you like it!