Dog gonnit!

Ok, So this blogging thing is harder than I thought. A very dear friend of mine has offered to help me navigate my blog. I need a major tutorial. For example, how do I edit a post that I saved? I just tried to add on to the weekend post, and actually provide the chicken dinner recipe that I talked about, but couldn't do it. Perhaps I should change the focus of this blog to be about "how to put together a blog." But until I figure that out myself, please be patient and bear with me. Those of you who know me are probably laughing and not suprised...you just wait.

Without further ado, here is what I've been cooking this week so far:

CHICKEN WITH TOMATOES, OLIVES, AND CILANTRO:

Serves 4- OR what I did was use 2 chicken breasts for dinner than save 2 for other meals t/out the week. I did not have olives on hand, so I used capers- they worked out great.
Prep Time: about 30 min. Total Cooking Time: about 30 min.
Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2- 2 pounds)
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup pitted green olives, halved ( I used 1/2 cup capers- my kids love them)
1 T fresh lime juice, lemon works fine too
1/4 cup packed fresh cilantro

1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-low. Season chicken on both sides with salt and pepper, and cook until lightly browned and just cooked through, turning once: about 15 min. (I did it 8 min on each side and had to turn the heat up to medium for the last 2 min.) Transfer to a plate and cover loosely with foil. NOTE: Protein raises 5 degrees in temp after being taken off the heat. So if you peak to check on the doneness of your chicken and it's still barely pink inside, don't worry. The steam from the foil tent and that resting time WILL finish cooking your chicken. It also helps to let your meat get room temp for at least an hour before cooking. These tips are important so that you have succulent, tender meat- yum ( not dry chewy chicken- yuck_

2. Raise heat to medium and cook the onion, stirring occasionally, until softened (5-7 min). Add tomatoes and olives. Cook until tomatoes soften and release their juice (1-2 min). Remove from heat, and stir in lime juice and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. Serve chicken topped with tomato mixture.

We 5 ate 2 breasts that night. I then saved one for Pat's lunch and another one I used in Wednesday night's dinner. I'm going to mention that right now......I sliced the last chicken breast and put it over some pasta which I mixed with a cilantro pesto. I had leftover cilantro from Sunday and a jalapeno pepper in my fridge. Now, I don't like to go grocery shopping until my fridge is bare. So I'm looking at these too ingredients and thinking, "what am I going to do with this darn jalapeno?" PESTO!!

Out comes the food processor.
In goes:
- about 2 cups cilantro
- one jalapeno, rib and seeds removed, coarsely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole. You can add more for more heat
- lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
- @ 1/3 cup shredded parmesian cheese
- salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in food processor and start to process. While the mixture of delicsousness is spinning around, take the little top off your FP and add in @ 1/4 olive oil. Watch the texture as it goes and when it looks like pesto sauce, you're done! None of this is from an actual recipe, but the technique is similar to making pesto. Let your imagination run wild!

SO there you go, 2 dinners from basically one night of prep. We don't eat a lot of meat. I rarely look at one meal without thinking how I'm going to use one or more of it's components later in the week. I love to cook but I also have to figure out how to keep prep time to a minimum. People ask me if I cook dinner every night. Well, the technical answer is yes, but rarely do I have to make dinner from scratch without adding in some component of last night's meal.

Excuse the picture of the chicken dinner- you see what happened was I took off a chicken breast before taking the photo than quickly had to get the platter "blog photo ready" It looked beautiful before I messed it up.

Coming soon.....Rory's birthday feast!