Happy Sunday everyone! Hard to believe we’ve had four days off … and they’re over already! Today was all about decorating for Christmas. The Husband and Nicholas got the tree yesterday and spent this morning outside putting up the garland on the fence and lights everywhere. I’ve always been big on lights, and luckily for me, The Husband goes along with it. No matter how many we have, it never seems to be enough, and more lights are already on my shopping list for this week. I’m not a big fan of the colored ones, especially since we put up a lot. I go for the plain white all the time. No Griswald house here. After dinner tonight, Nicholas and I spent some time decorating the tree. As with the outside decorations, I go for the twinkly lights. I’d sooner have a tree with just hundreds and hundreds of lights, and skip the decorations altogether.
The Husband made dinner tonight, satisfying some craving he’s apparently had for awhile. It’s a Cuban chicken dish, and if he knew how to spell it, I’d tell you what it was. Maybe The Sister-in-Law knows. He hasn’t had it since their grandmother died, and asked someone at work for the recipe, winging it after just getting a list of ingredients. I was impressed. It has potatoes, green olives, sofrito, garlic powder, tomato paste, chicken, adobo… and I think that’s it. Pollo something. ;) Cooks for an hour and a half, and smelled mad good. Any clues? Anyways, it was pretty darn tasty, and gave me a respite from the kitchen. After dinner, I made another batch of that Cranberry Conserve from Thanksgiving. So, so good. I way overbought cranberries this year, and will definitely be freezing some, but in the meantime, what’s your favorite cranberry recipe? I still have 2 bags to use up.
Alright folks, all for tonight. Tomorrow – Crate & Barrel love. Until then, the dog roundup.
A year ago today… more dogs.
First up is Kaji from A Transition to Vegan, getting spoiled with some yummy homemade dog treats:
A newcomer joins us this week – love the adorable mug! This is Spyro from A Real Epicurean:
And last, but not least, our Eli, on a trip to the park this weekend. Don’t forget to order your Eli 2007 desktop calendars. The below picture is just one of 13 in the calendar, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit a Bernese Mountain Dog rescue group. Just $7.50 includes shipping and handling … a perfect little stocking stuffer for that animal lover on your list. Drop me a line to place your order.
That chicken dish sounds a lot like Pollo Guisado. One of my favorites.
Fricase de pollo is the name of the dish and I think I might have made it for him once after Abuelita past. Anyhoo it’s a good excuse to have you over for dinner.
The Sister In-Law
SIL – not Fricase, that I’d recognize when he says it. I’ll have to ask him to pronounce it again tonight and see if it’s the Pollo Guisado.
Angela – do you have a recipe you can share?
INGREDIENTS:
* 4 portions of boneless, skinless chicken breast
* 2 medium potatos
* 2 teaspoons of salt
* 3 tablespoons of sofrito
* 1 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
* 5 olives
* 2 bay leaves
* 1 teaspoon olive oil
* 1 ounce green bell pepper
* 2 cups of water
METHOD / DIRECTIONS:
Place the chicken in a pan with enough water to cover the chicken by 1/2″. Add 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook at moderate high heat until the water starts to boil, then lower the heat to moderate and cook for 45 minutes. Remove from the heat and drain all the water. Let the chicken cool for approximately 15 minutes. Cut the chicken into 1/2″ pieces and set aside.
Peel and dice the potatoes into 1/4″ size pieces. Set aside Dice the green bell pepper into 1/8″ pieces. Set aside In a pan add the sofrito, 1 teaspoon of salt, tomato sauce, olives, potato, green bell pepper, bay leaves, olive oil, and 2 cups of water. Cook at moderate heat until it starts boiling. Lower to moderate low heat and simmer for 20 minutes. stir once while simmering. Add the chicken. Continue to simmer at moderate heat for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.
Makes approximately 8 servings
I was going to say pollo guisado as well. My Puerto Rican MIL makes this, and it is always delicious. She cooks from memory, though, so I have to attempt to recreate it from watching her. I’ll definitely be trying Angela’s recipe!