What We Had for Dinner

The fall back to school schedule is a bit full this year, I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow the boys have at least one commitment most weekdays. Tuesdays are my favorite, there is cross country, intramural sports, baseball and piano, and Tuesdays happen to be the day that I have most of my networking events too. Finding the time to make dinner, never mind something that everyone likes and is healthy seems like an impossible feat. This last week we have had the following:

Lemon Garlic Braised Chicken: I made this last Sunday and while it does take a while to make, about one hour of cooking time, I made a lot of extra brown rice which I used later in the week. For this dish, you place whole cloves of garlic in 2 cups of chicken broth and simmer for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, place the chicken thighs a saute pan and brown. When the chicken is done add 1 tablespoon of flour and make a roux with the fat. Slowly add about 2/3 cup of white wine, stirring constantly. Pour the chicken broth in the saute pan and continue to stir until slightly thickened. Place chicken, sliced lemon, and liquid into oven-proof dish and cook for about 45 minutes on 350. I served with local green beans, beets and shitake mushrooms, but you can serve with whatever makes you happy. While it does take a while to make, I love this dish because I can double or even triple it and we have leftovers or I can freeze it for dinner another week.


Fried Rice: With the left-over rice from the Lemon Garlic Braised Chicken I made what we call "Fried Rice" Not exactly Asian, our Fried Rice includes whatever vegetables are on hand at the moment. For this I scrambled 2 eggs and then sauteed, onions, carrots, swiss chard,  and mushrooms. I add the cold rice to the pan and let it heat through, not stirring too often. Once heated I add mixture of tamari, minced ginger, fish sauce and rice vinegar. Toss gently until mixed through. Serve with cashew if you like. Oh, and make sure you stir the ginger in thoroughly. I got sidetracked and we had a lot of ginger in one area.

Stuffed Pumpkins: I made this Saturday with the local Sweet Italian Sausage, red quinoa, and lentils as the base. Again I cooked extra lentils to use in soup later. For this I sauteed onions, garlic, carrots, sweet potatoes and one beet. Mix everything together and stuff your pumpkin. Cooking time is about one hour, but at least you can do something else while it's in the oven.

Lentil Soup:  We'll be having this on Tuesday! I made this on Sunday, while I was making a bunch of other things. Sauteed onions, carrot and sweet potatoes, added the lentils in and the broth that was left over from cooking them. Next add one 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes and I had some broccoli left over from something else so I put that in too. When I reheat I'm going to add some baby spinach and serve with a loaf of this amazing bread I bought from Sweetwater Baking Co. http://www.sweetwaterbakingcompany.com/index.html

Enjoy and try something new