Menu for the week of January 14th

Is it really already Tuesday? When my husband Ben travels for work, my daughter and I tend to get very relaxed with our meals. For example, last nights dinner consisted of ravioli, micro greens, salami, and orange slices for her, and some reheated lentil soup with Parmesan cheese toasts for me. But today...we're back on the wagon! Here goes...

~ Tuesday, January 14th ~ Chicken Tacos, Pinto Beans, and all the fixins

I started last night by soaking a pot of dried beans, which I rinsed, covered with water, and cooked this morning. Next I put a whole chicken into the Slow Cooker to poach all day. Seriously easy stuff here. What to do: Salt and pepper a 3 1/2 - 4 lb whole chicken, place in your slow cooker, add a few shakes of cumin, a couple bay leaves, and squeeze the juice of 1 lime on top, then drop the lime in too. Cover and cook on low temperature for 6-8 hours. The trick with cooking chicken in a slow cooker is to NEVER ever lift the lid during cooking time. Slow cookers heat long and slow, so if you open the lid you let all that good heat out, and your chicken sits in whats called the temperature danger zone, which is between 40*F-140*F (meaning bacteria can grow) for too long. So no peeking. 

When tender and cooked through - remember your meat thermometer should read 165*F - remove the chicken from the slow cooker and place on a rimmed platter / plate, or edged cutting board to cool. Poor juices from slow cooker into fat separator. Pour off the fat once it separates, and reserve the cooking liquid. 

Once the chicken has cooled off enough to handle it, shred the meat from the bones using your hands. Your hands really are the best tool here so you can be sure to remove ALL the little bones. There will be many, so unless you want to visit the dentist this week, don't shortcut this step. 

Put your shredded chicken in a serving dish and cover with the reserved poaching liquid. Now all you need is to mash up some avocados, grate some cheese, dice some tomatoes, and shred some lettuce. Then serve all together with some warmed tortillas and your beans, and you're all set! 

As a side note - kids love interactive food. Let them build their own tacos. They think it's fun, and really, shouldn't dinner be fun?!?

~ Wednesday, January 15th ~ Pasta with Meat Sauce and Steamed Broccoli

Like I said...Ben travels, and my cooking gets a little lazy. This is one of my favorite winter dishes. Super easy and warms you from the inside out.

To make, I just saute 1 lb of ground beef in a little olive oil, drain off fat once cooked through, then add a diced onion, a couple diced carrots, and a clove or two of chopped garlic. Cook until vegetables are soft, maybe ten minutes, then add a 28oz can of whole, peeled tomatoes, salt, pepper, some chopped fresh herbs, or some dried ones if that's what's on hand. Bring to the simmer, then drop heat, cover, and cook as long as possible to let flavors mix. 

Then I'll just boil some noodles and steam some broccoli, and voila, dinner. 

~ Thursday, January 16th ~ Chicken Pot Pie

So remember the shredded chicken from Tuesday? Here's a great way to use your leftovers! I'm using a recipe from The New Best Recipe cookbook, by Cook's Illustrated, page 351. Hanukkah gift from Ben a couple years back. He loves to give me cookbooks. Gee, I wonder why??

That's all I've got this week. Hope everyone is enjoying the blog, maybe trying some new recipes, and eating well this New Year! Until next week...

Your faithful home cook and friend, 

Sabrina