Provencal Style Chicken

Hubs and I are big fans of the site Reddit (a social news website).  Within the site there are tons and tons of sub-categories.  My favorites, of course, are based around food.  A contributor posted this recipe to the cooking category (I’m not sure where it came from before that) and it looked SO amazing, we put it on our menu for the week right away.

It is delicious!  The flavors are spot on (even though I didn’t use the capers)…it was wonderful!  I suggest you try this soon!

I decided to serve the dish over a small bed of egg noodles to help sop up all the lovely sauce.  It was perfect!

INGREDIENTS
4 Whole chicken legs
1 Small zucchini, cut into 1/2″ rounds
1/4 Medium sweet union, thinly sliced
2 Garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 Medium tomato, cut into eighths
1T. Sherry vinegar
2 Sprigs of fresh oregano
1T. Capers, drained
Thinly sliced basil
Olive Oil

DIRECTIONS
Add 1T. oil to a tall-sided pan and heat over medium-high for 2 minutes.

Pat chicken legs dry and season with salt and pepper.  Place in pan skin side down and brown for 5 minutes.  Flip and cook another 5 minutes.  Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Discard any fat in the pan, add 1-2T. fresh olive oil and heat until it starts to shimmer.

Add the zucchini pieces and cook until lightly browned on both sides.  Add the onions and cook for about 3-4 minutes until the onion starts turning translucent.  Lightly season with salt, add garlic for about a minute, then add the tomatoes and stir together.

Once most of the tomato juices are cooked out, add the vinegar and cook until almost gone.  Add chicken back to the pan on top of the vegetables.  Add enough water to come up to the top of the vegetables (keep below level of chicken skin so it stays crispy).  Add the sprigs of oregano, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low.

Simmer 15-20 minutes.  As the chicken is braising, keep adding water so the pan does not dry out.  Once the chicken is done, let it rest for about 5 minutes.  Add the capers to the vegetable mixture and mix through.

Husband Rating – 5 out of 5 – “Wonderful, simple flavors, amazingly crispy chicken skin!”

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Creamy Taco Mac

Gather around – it’s story time.   I’m only telling you this because I know my twin brother doesn’t read this blog.  He’d smack me.

Anyway, the year after we graduated from High School he went to work with AmeriCorps while I went to college.  One night, he went to make Hamburger Helper…but found he was out of hamburger and milk.  In a moment of sheer starvation and desperation he decided to make the box mix anyway – using only butter he figured it would be just like boxed mac and cheese, right?  WRONG!!  He says it was the most vile thing he’s ever tried to eat and couldn’t take more than a couple of bites (and for him that’s saying a lot).  In our house, it’s commonly referred to as “the Helper Incident”.  We won’t let him live it down.

This recipe, on the other hand, is something he could have totally made without the meat and it would have been perfect – it tastes just like Hamburger Helper!

I love when I come across recipes that look incredibly tasty and can easily be converted to a dairy free version…this is definitely one of those recipes. It was amazing!  So creamy – you’d never know it was dairy free!

I found this recipe on Annie’s Eats (it’s originally from Delish).

INGREDIENTS
1¼ lbs. Ground turkey
1 Box small pasta
1 Small onion, chopped
1 Clove garlic, minced
1 (14 oz.) can Diced tomatoes, drained
4T. Taco seasoning (I used a packet of hot and spicy taco mix b/c that’s what I had in the house – the extra heat was great!)
3oz. Soy cream cheese
½C. Soy sour cream
Salt and pepper
Shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Cook pasta according to the package directions.  Drain, reserving ½ cup of pasta water.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet or sauté pan, cook the ground turkey over medium-high heat until no longer pink.  A few minutes before the turkey is cooked through, add the chopped onion to the skillet.  Once the turkey is cooked through, mix in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Mix in the diced tomatoes and taco seasoning and let simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes.  Stir in the cooked pasta, cream cheese, sour cream and reserved pasta water, and continue stirring until the cream cheese is melted and the sauce is well blended.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer over medium-low heat 3-5 minutes to reduce the sauce a bit.  Remove from the heat and top with shredded cheddar cheese, if desired.

Husband Rating – 4 out of 5 – “A healthier Helper for the 21st Century!”

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