Last month's Real Simple included a Slow Cooker feature (above), which I obviously clipped out and saved. I was especially excited to try the Curried Chicken with Ginger & Yogurt - curry is on the shortlist of Kendrick's favorite meals, but isn't something I've ever experimented with making.
I know, I know: I'm obsessed with my slow-cooker. But the recipe that reader Ali posted sounded too good not to make immediately.
Chicken cacciatore is a great way to start embracing fall's rich, rustic flavors: it's filling, easy to prepare, lovely to look at...and costs about $10 for a meal that serves 2 with plenty of leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.
Very excellent, flavorful stuff, and very easy - about 35 minutes start-to-finish, and about $20 for the whole shebang (serves 2 with potential for leftovers).
Last night, I made Chicken Vesuvio based on a Giada recipe sent in by reader Molly.
Everyone in this family has an unfortunate Sugarfish habit.
When I was about thirteen, I announced to my family that I was a vegetarian. I'm pretty sure I gave them a song and dance about loving animals, cows are our friends, etc etc, but really: I was mostly just trying to be irritating, because thirteen.
A few weeks ago, my ten-year-old announced that he is a vegetarian, and shan't be consuming meat anymore. "No meat at all?" I inquired.
Okay, so I had help. A lot of it. And okay, so maybe my primary contribution was to hover around my paella-knowledgeable friends taking photographs and taste-testing ingredients just to make sure nothing was poisonous, rather than actually "cooking." But still.
The first time I ate paella was in Barcelona, which seems like the right place to have your first experience, except mine was kind of traumatic. The bowl arrived and I gave it a stir, and all of a sudden the creature from the black lagoon came launching up at me out of the depths, all claws and tentacles and such. (Spoiler: it was a crawfish. But when you do not expect to see a crawfish and are surprised by one in your food, terror is a totally acceptable reaction to have. Those are scary little fuckers.) I've never tried making it myself because it looks complicated, and saffron is expensive, and it seems like the kind of dish that should be made from a recipe handed down from a relative.
Enter: my friend Erin, whose mother-in-law Linda has a family recipe, and who just so happened to be in town last weekend.
I'm not a very out-of-the-box thinker when it comes to veggie sides: I like them straightforward, easy-to-prepare, and at least passably pretty.
Some inspiration for this week's meals...
