Gourmet Food on a Budget
Recipes and techniques for poultry, including chicken, turkey, duck, goose – and whatever flies!
Better Than Best Foods Parmesan chicken has a little secret surprise that gives a more flavor a little satisfying crunch. Have it with white wine, a nice salad, broccoli, and a baked potato you can bake at the same time as the chicken. This is a great dinner for a weeknight, yet impressive enough for company. Enjoy!
These Stuffed Chicken thighs are easy to make and delicious. They are also healthy made with yogurt and grilled.
Recipes in this PostA few days ago, someone asked me for a different way to roast a chicken, and I have her this recipe. I haven’t made this in a long time, and it was a welcome change from the ho-hum regular roasted chicken we all know and love.
Spane and I both love grapefruit, and I was lucky to get some beautiful ruby-red grapefruit at my local corner store. Today, I’m going to go to the local farmer’s market and get some more. Did you know that grapefruit is really good for you? As a member of the citrus family, they are packed with vitamin C, have low sodium, low sugar, high lycopene, high potassium, and fat burning enzymes.
Chicken with Mushrooms in Wine Sauce is good enough for company, but easy enough and fast enough for a weeknight. Pair it with asparagus, new potatoes, and white wine and you have an excellent dinner.
I have been making these Enchiladas with Three Pepper Sauce for years. They are similar to Enchiladas Verde or Enchiladas Suizas. Even though there are three different types of peppers in the sauce, Pablano, Anaheim, and Jalapeño, the sauce is very mild. Because the peppers and tomatoes are charred, the flavor is really spectacular.
I look forward to this day every year. I only get to have this sandwich once a year, because I only have the ingredients once a year. Yes, I could go out and purchase them at other times, and I could make the whole thing so I could have the leftovers at other times of the year, but it wouldn’t be the same. No, it just wouldn’t be the same.
So, it’s just the two of us. We have a lot to be thankful for today. As a work-at-home Mom, I’ve been busy as a one-armed paper-hanger. That’s great for my pocketbook, but for spending time with my wonderful son, not so good. Today, we’re going to cook together, play the Monopoly game we started last night (he’s winning), watch a movie, enjoy our meal, and just enjoy our time together.
When I went to the market looking for our feast, I had a bit of a problem. Since it is just going to be the two of us, I couldn’t see the sense in purchasing a whole turkey, it’s just too much food. All I’m concerned with is The Sandwich the next day. I don’t want to have to eat leftover turkey until I start gobbling. I looked at a breast because it’s smaller, but neither one of us likes breast meat, and I wanted something we both like. I said to Spane, “Gee, I wish turkeys came with just thighs and wings!” He said, “Mom, don’t they have parts? Why not just get parts?” I love my son! He is so smart! Sure enough, there was a nice package with two large thighs, and those were the ones I took home. Hurray! We’re having stuffed turkey thighs in the Nesco.
I have a friend who has a chicken, who I have named Coq Au Vin. She’s a big orange chicken, and she is going to live a nice long life in my friend’s yard, with plenty of food, water and melon treats. Coq Au Vin even recognizes me when I go and visit with her. Why did I name her that? Well, when she is quite old, and not laying eggs anymore, then she will have the glory of becoming a real Coq Au Vin. It will be a good day for her to die because she will know that she is going to make a wonderful dinner.
Well, until that time, I’m not waiting to eat chicken. I bought a chicken, some nice boiling onions, and large mushrooms, most of which became Bacon Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms. I buy most of my produce at the local Armenian store, and they don’t usually have the kind of wine I would need to make Coq Au Vin, but I did have some Marsala in the pantry. I also had some dried leeks in my pantry, which also went into my dish.
A word about whole chickens vs precut chicken. You know, you pay more for the meat-packing company to cut the chicken, and you don’t even know if it’s all coming from the same bird. When you purchase a whole chicken, you know everything is from the same bird, and you save money by cutting it up yourself. It takes about a minute, and you can find plenty of videos on Youtube showing exactly how to do it. Here’s my chicken, all ready to go.
This is just the simplest, best-tasting chicken. A former Pan Am stewardess gave me the recipe – you know it’s got to be good!
I love it when I suddenly have something I didn’t know I had. A few days ago, when Spane and I went to one of the wonderful Armenian stores, the check out lady gave us a loaf of Stone bread. I put it up on top of the refrigerator, and forgot it was up there. We don’t eat a lot of bread, so that’s not a surprise. I should have put it in the freezer, but… When I checked it two days later, it had really turned into its namesake, stone.
What to do with bread that has turned to stone that you know has really good flavor? Why turn it into stuffing mix! The stuffing mix that comes in the box has bread that I swear is dryer and harder.
I also had some ground turkey in the freezer, and cranberry sauce in the pantry. That sounded to me like a great head start on Thanksgiving!