A Couple of Easy Dinners

I should be straightening up my house and prepping for tomorrow, but I better share these suppers before they are lost in my iPhoto files forever.First up, Creamy Chicken and Rice from Natasha's Kitchen- this is my favorite kind of meal.  One pot, hearty but healthy, palate-pleasing to my whole crew, and easily prepared in advance. Comfort food that doesn't involve cream of whatever soup?  Yes, please! Even better, I had all the ingredients on hand, and delayed a grocery store visit an additional day.

I added a bunch of fresh spinach to get my vegetables in, but otherwise followed the below recipe pretty exactly.

Creamy Chicken and Rice

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 4 Tbsp butter, divided

• 1  large onion, diced

• 2 large carrots, grated on the large grater or cut into matchsticks

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat and cut into 1″ pieces

• 2 tsp salt, divided

• 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 cup dry white wine 

• 5 cups hot reduced sodium chicken broth

• 2 cups quick-cooking brown rice

• 1 head garlic

• 1 bag baby spinach

• 1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

Instructions

1. Using a dutch oven or heavy bottom pot with tight fitting lid, over medium/high heat, heat ¼ cup olive oil and 2 Tbsp unsalted butter. Once butter is melted, stir in diced onion, grated carrots and 1 tsp salt. Saute until soft and golden (8-10 min).
2. Add trimmed, chopped chicken thighs, 2 bay leaves, another 1 tsp salt and ¼ tsp black pepper. Saute, stirring occasionally until chicken is golden on all sides (5 mins).
3. Increase the heat to high and add 1 cup white wine. Bring to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pot, until most of the wine has evaporated.
4. Add the hot chicken broth, then stir in the rice.
5. Without separating the cloves (leaving the root end intact), slice the end off a whole head of garlic to expose the garlic cloves. Set the whole head into the center of your rice, sliced side down. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until rice is fully cooked (15 mins depending on your type of rice ((check the box to get a good estimate))).
6. Turn off the heat, remove garlic head (you can either push the cloves of garlic out into the rice and eat it or discard it, I of course, recommend the former) and quickly stir in remaining 2 Tbsp butter until fully incorporated. Add the spinach and stir until wilted. Finally, stir in chopped parsley and ½ cup parmesan cheese. 
7. Serve right away or leave the lid on to keep it warm until serving. Garnish with more fresh parsley to serve.

Okay, as for the next, I'm a tad bit embarrassed to share because (a) this is not really a recipe per se and (b) the photo is really ugly.  However, the meal itself was tasty/made my family happy/took five minutes to prep.

The other day the Kroger had organic smoked sausage on sale.  I was laughing to myself, thinking about how excited my brother and I would get when my mom made boiled smoked sausage and cabbage for dinner when we were kids.  My mama is a great cook, and we would get FIRED UP about that dinner.  It's a classic for a reason, I suppose.

I have been digging some sheet pan meals lately, so I put together a roasted version of my childhood favorite.

Roasted Irish Supper:

1 package smoked sausage
1 bag of "angel hair" coleslaw mix (cabbage only)
1 onion, diced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Mix together the cabbage, onion, olive oil, and salt, and spread on a sheet pan.

Slice the sausage into shorter lengths, and then in half length-wise.  Place the sausage on top of the cabbage.

Roast for 20-25 minutes, and enjoy!

Oh, ugly to look at, but soooo yummy.  The roasted cabbage gets some nice crunchy, caramelized bits. The kids ate their own weight, which is always gratifying.

Especially when you remembered you have to feed them 30 minutes before said dinner was served.