Chicken Tagine with Vegetables, Raisins, Lemons, and Olives

During our trip in Morocco, J and I enjoyed meals cooked in a tagine often. Each dish was always so tender and so full of flavors and scents. The other day J surprised everyone and bought a really high-quality tagine online and it was delivered yesterday. Of course, we had to try it (and it was absolutely fantastic!)
The recipe we used is modeled off of a recipe of Emeril Lagasse's found on the Food Network here. We used a little less salt, a little more veggies, and substituted allspice and nutmeg for the cardamom and lemon juice and zest the preserved lemons.
I kept saying that I hoped I could capture all the smells from the kitchen just as we were gathering and chopping all the ingredients. Seriously just amazing...I so wish I could share them with you all! I do have pictures to share, though (and had many more I originally wanted to add because the dish was just so beautiful). I tried to pick the best...enjoy!

Ingredients:

For tagine:

• 1 teaspoon saffron threads
• 1 tablespoon warm water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice 
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) roasting chicken, cut into 8 pieces (we bought drumsticks and breasts)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 sticks cinnamon
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup thinly sliced yellow onion 
• 2 carrots peeled and sliced thin
• 1 small bell pepper, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 cups chicken stock 
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• zest and juice of one lemon
• 1/4 cup rough chopped green olives
• 1/4 cup toasted almond slivers
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint 

For couscous:

• 2 cups couscous
• 2 cups vegetable broth (low sodium)
• 1 tablespoon butter 

Directions:

Combine the saffron threads and water in a small bowl and allow to steep. In another small bowl, combine the kosher salt, black pepper, cumin, allspice, and nutmeg. Mix well, and season the chicken pieces on both sides with the spice blend.

Set the tagine over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add half of the chicken pieces, skin side down, and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and set aside while you cook the remaining chicken pieces. Remove and set aside.
Add the cinnamon sticks and bay leaves to the tagine and cook, stirring, for 20 seconds. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly caramelized, 4 minutes. Add the carrots, bell pepper, and garlic to the pan and cook 2-3 minutes. Add the stock, saffron, raisins, lemon zest and juice, and olives to the pan and bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the pan, skin side down. Return the sauce to a boil, cover the tagine, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces to the other side and add the almonds. Continue to cook, covered, until the meat is very tender, 15 to 20 minutes longer.
Start the couscous. Boil 2 cups vegetable broth with butter. When the vegetable broth comes to a full boil remove from heat and add the couscous.  Stir, cover, and let sit for 15 minutes. Fluff the couscous before serving.
Display the chicken in the tagine, garnished with the mint. Serve over warm couscous.

Winter in Chicago

Winter in Chicago is not as conducive to participating in our outdoorsy activities as winter in Colorado is...and we have even had a relatively mild winter so far here in the Windy City.
So what to do on our days off? Well, we are trying to stay in the swing of yoga practice for one and J's been shoveling a lot of snow for his part.
J also kept it real by grilling in the snow and he's also slowly transforming into my favorite video game character, Mr. Nathan Drake.

J keeping it cool...

...and heating it up. :P

Yes.

Perry's Vegetable Chili

This is a recipe from recipe.com adapted by J and I's friend Perry. Perry served it over spaghetti, Cincinnati-style when he made it for us. Today we served it over brown rice.
Things we love about it? It's vegetarian, it has so much flavor, and it's spicy with the cinnamon, chili powder and allspice without being hot spicy. (J adds cayenne pepper to his. :P)

Ingredients:

Mmmm...

2 large  onions, chopped

3 medium-size  zucchini, diced

3 large  carrots, peeled and diced

1 large  green pepper, cored, seeded and diced

1 large  sweet red pepper, cored, seeded and diced

4 cloves  garlic, finely chopped

1 can (28 ounces)  peeled tomatoes in puree

1 can (8 ounces)  tomato sauce

1/4 cup  hot Mexican chili powder

4 teaspoons  sugar 

4 teaspoons cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons  ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon  salt

3/4 teaspoon  ground allspice

1 can (15 1/2 ounces)  kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese

Brown rice 

Scallions, trimmed and sliced

In a large nonstick pot, cook onion over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup water if needed to keep onion from sticking. Add zucchini, carrots, peppers and garlic to onions in pot. Cook 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally until vegetables are softened.

 

Add tomatoes and puree, breaking up with a spoon. Add tomato sauce, chili powder, sugar, cinnamon, salt and allspice. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add beans and cook 15 more minutes.

Serve chili over cooked brown rice. Garnish each serving with shredded cheese and sliced scallions.

Mini Cheesecakes

These tiny desserts are great to share or bring to a party. As far as cheesecakes go, these are way easier than using a springform pan and trying to make your own traditional cheesecake. The small size also makes the flavor customizable (and we do so just by using toppings). We always make a batch of cherry and a batch of blueberry (and a few plain). They work best using a 12 cupcake/standard muffin pan. You will need to use cupcake liners. 

Ingredients:
16 ounces cream cheese
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla
Nilla wafers
Cherry and/or blueberry topping (pie topping works great)

Preheat oven to 375.
Mix first five ingredients together.
Line cupcake pan with liners and place one Nilla cookie in the bottom of each. Fill with cheesecake mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
Cool completely, top with fruit, and refrigerate.

Mom's Banana Blueberry Health Bread

This recipe is courtesy of my mom and some over-ripe bananas. :) It is super moist and very tasty. I like to eat it as-is, but toasting it is also very popular around the house.

Ingredients (Makes one 8x4 loaf):
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup flaxseed meal
¼ cup oat bran hot cereal
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt

3 medium, ripe bananas
½ cup sugar
1 egg
2 egg whites
½ cup yogurt
¼ cup canola oil
½ cup chopped, toasted walnuts
1 cup blueberries
¼ cup Nestle Toll House mini morsels


    •    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

    •    Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, flax seed and oats in a bowl. Stir well.

    •    Combine banana, sugar, egg, egg whites, yogurt, oil; beat with a mixer at medium speed until blended.

    •    Add flour mixture to banana mixture, beat at low speed just until evenly blended. Stir in walnuts, chocolate chips, and blueberries. Pour into loaf pan.

    •    Bake 70 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

    •    Cool in pan for 15 minutes, removed from pan and allow to cool.

Cranberry Toss

This is my grandma's recipe. It's a cranberry salad that is an autumnal ambrosia.

Cranberry Toss:
2 cups ground cranberries
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup sugar

1-2 cups chopped apple (my mom likes to make it with 2)
1 cup whipped cream (from scratch)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (we use walnuts)

Mix together first four ingredients and chill them overnight. The next day add the last three ingredients and mix together. Serve. :) 

Crushing the cranberries.

Ta-da!

Taco Soup

Taco Soup is a "Chef J" specialty. My husband makes this any time we are looking for a quick, inexpensive option to feed lots of people. We tend to make it vegetarian, but you can also make it with ground turkey or beef...

Taco Soup
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 cans of kidney beans
2 cans of black beans
2 cans of corn
1 onion (white)
1 or 2 packets of taco seasoning
1 packet of ranch seasoning

The best part is you can add and subtract ingredients to your taste. J would add some jalapenos, for example.

Serve over tortilla chips and with grated cheese.