Chicken with Olives and Cherry Tomatoes

I know, I know it has been a while but we were in Chicago for the holidays.
We had a wonderful, very white Christmas with family.

Once we arrived back home we were in need of a trip to the market for food
because of refrigerator was empty but we are back on track now!

Chicken with Olives and Cherry Tomatoes
recipe from Real Simple
Ingredients
1 cup long-grain rice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into thirds
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 cup large pimiento-stuffed olives, quartered
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
3/4 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)
3/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Directions
Cook the rice according to the package directions.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.
Add the onion to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly soft, 5 minutes. Add the olives, garlic, and tomatoes and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes more.
Return the chicken to the skillet, add the wine, and bring to a simmer. Cook until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has slightly thickened, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in the parsley. Divide the chicken among individual plates and spoon the sauce over the top. Serve with the rice.






This is a great dish. The chicken turns out very tender and the tomatoes add such a nice flavor. As you can see, it also a very pretty dish.

Sausage, Lentil and Kale Soup

Soup, wonderful soup, marvelous soup!

Sausage, Lentil and Kale Soup
Ingredients:
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
8oz sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup dried lentils
6 cups chicken broth
1 bunch kale, torn into bite size pieces (stems removed)
coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tsp red-wine vinegar

1. In a large dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high, Add sausage and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until golden brown, about five minutes. Add celery and onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add lentils, broth, and 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a rapid simmer, partially cover, and cook until lentils and vegetables are tender, 25 minutes.





2. Add kale and season with salt. Return soup to a rapid simmer, cover, and cook until kale wilts, about 5 minutes. Remove soup from heat, stir in vinegar, and season with salt and pepper.

Here it is: Sausage, Lentil and Kale Soup:



*For my soup I added a pinch or two of sage and thyme. I also did not use Kale I used Swiss Chard instead. I enjoyed this soup - very good and hearty.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

Tis the season for .............cookies.
If you like Chocolate Cordials ~ you know the kind where you bite into the hard chocolate coating and you get a taste of chocolate, sweet cherry syrup and a little bit of cherry ~ then you will like these cookies!

I brought these Chocolate Covered Covered Cherry Cookies to a Cookie Exchange this weekend. They are a little bit of work because of the different steps but they are very good.






Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 (10 ounce) jar maraschino cherries, drained, reserve juice
1 (6-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
Preparation:
In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and soda, blending well; set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat together butter or margarine and sugar on low speed until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture; beat until smooth and well blended. With hands, shape dough into 1-inch balls; place on ungreased baking sheet. Press down center of dough with thumb. Drain Maraschino cherries well, reserving juice. Place a cherry in the center indention of each cookie.

Bake cookies at 350 for 10 minutes or until done. As soon as they came out of the oven I gently pressed the cherry into the cookie.

In small saucepan combine chocolate pieces and sweetened condensed milk; heat over low heat until chocolate is melted. Stir in 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of the reserved cherry juice. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the topping over each cherry, spreading to cover cherry. If frosting seems too thick, thin with a little more cherry juice.

Panama

I know it has been some time since my last post and I have no photos of
Thanksgiving food but there is a very good reason for that.
My husband and I went to Panama for Thanksgiving.

The best way I can describe our week in Panama is by saying that the whole
trip was more like an adventure than a vacation. For example, the day we
left Atlanta to begin our trip, what should have been about a 4 to 4 1/2 hour
journey turned into a 10 hour journey that included our plane being turned around and eventually after landing in Panama,renting a car which came with a few technical difficulties, and then a police escort to the hotel at around 3:30 am with sirens going and driving about 35 miles an hour the whole way. That was just our first days so please trust me when I say our trip was quite an adventure.

With that said I did capture some great photos of the beauty of Panama.

The view from our balcony at the first hotel: Playa Bonita



Beautiful Flowers Everywhere:











View from our hotel at Gamboa


The Monkeys we saw on our tour to Monkey Island ~ they got a little closer than what I expected because one of the ladies on our boat (who did not follow the rules) had about 3 bunches of bananas in her bag and was throwing them to the monkeys.









The Birds - which is one of the main reasons we went to Panama. I don't normally try to take pictures but for some of these birds we were just so close to them that I had too!











There are many more stories and photos but that is all I have for now since this is a food blog. :)