Friday, March 18, 2011

Spanish Chicken Stew.. the day after

Hello All:

Thank you all for the support and emails.. I really appreciate it..

Well last night I made Spanish Chicken Stew with manchego polenta from my app Rachael Ray's Tasty Bytes.. It's pretty simple, chicken, chorizo, onions, garlic, wine =), tomatoes.. you get the gist.. And a few of ingredients I'd never used.. pimentos, manchego cheese and polenta. manchego cheese is good, I thought similar to a mozzarella cheese.. Polenta is italian cornmeal used in place of pasta or rice..

So, the verdict:: Stew was good.. No need for the manchego polenta. The polenta mixture's suppose to line the bowls of the stew.. Not necessary.. I would have been happy with just a bit of shredded cheese on top.. There are plenty of leftovers and the stew is filling enough that I think I could serve 4-6.

The Should-a/Could-a saved: The cheese costs $3.69 and Polenta costs: $3.99: $7.68

The Kids Opinion: Ms J gave it thumbs flat.. Ava eats everything and was happy to get back to her Pokemon DS game... When I told Ms J about my little adventure with this blog and her role with it. She said "that's great Mom" with just a hint of the teenage ambivalence to come. I made the deal with her that she could have the cupcake she wanted now for a bite of what I was cooking later, she was tentative but the drive for dessert led her to agree.

Let's talk for a minute for those who don't know Ms J's eating terminology. First (and usually) there is a face like she smelled something horrid, nose crinkled.. eyes looking like they are going to start watering.. and she grunts the equivalent of "no way" and looks for the closest way to spit it out! This will be Thumbs Down.

Thumbs Up: Saved for all things fried, fattening, chocolate based and not a vegetable in sight or smell.

Thumbs Flat: This is somewhere in between the nose crinkle and smiling. The face is almost always accompanied by the phrase "It's kinda good". This means, I don't hate it, I don't love it and don't expect me to eat this without some serious bargaining.

The Verdict: Good but needs tweeking..
Do Over: Probably Not..

Tonight's Adventure: Honey Apricot Chicken with Baked Lemon Pilaf..

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