Recipe Exchange

Well, it's been official for a long time-I don't cook. Why don't I cook? Because I am intimidated by my husband's fine ability to do so. I have some dishes that I can cook all on my own, and they usually come out yummy. We have a TON of cook books, thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law, who taught my dear husband all his fine culinary skills. They are both wonderful cooks.

I HATE the planning involved with dinner. I HATE eating dinner late. But now that I'm home for the next 5 months with my dear children, I want to try my hand at some more interesting dinners that I COOK ALL BY MYSELF! Can I do it? I'm gonna need some help, inspiration, motivation and TIME to plan!

So have you heard of DREAM DINNERS? I hadn't until my lovely next-door neighbor popped in a couple of weeks ago with a dinner for us. We had Hawaiian chicken, all prepared and ready to go, with cooking instructions. She came in, we chatted and she told me all about how it works. She said it would be great for our family. Chris was all ears. "Sounds good to me if Anne is gonna take charge in the dinner department-you should try it!" By the way, this was the yummiest chicken I have ever eaten!!

So, I finally stopped in today. I had a nice chat with the lovely women who were working, they shared the August menu with me, and gave me a brief walk-around the dinner stations. They were all set to go, waiting for a crew to come in and fix their dinners for the next few weeks. They sounded YUMMY! But is it really worth the money? $75.00 for 6 choices off the menu-3 servings each. Hmmm, I'm not so sure. Why not try cooking these things myself?

I had some time to kill, so I called hubby at work and asked him to look up a recipe online for me. "Chicken with Honey, Garlic and Orange." Sounds YUM! So Chris emailed me the recipe and I was off to Stop and Shop with my two boys in tow, ready to conquer dinner. The best part, I only had to buy chicken and marmalade!

No, I'm not cooking the exact DREAM DINNER version, but I'm currently baking some marinated chicken with very similar ingredients! I'm also cooking some rice and some asparagus with EVOO and a mix of cheeses. (Oh, and I'm having a glass of wine while I wait....the best part!)

So, like I said, I don't like trying to come up with a dinner plan on a nightly basis. Even when hubby is cooking, I get annoyed that we don't have a plan, that we need to constantly go to the grocery store. RIDIC! With all these cook books in our kitchen and the inspiring, tasty ideas at DREAM DINNERS, I think I can do this. SIt down once per week, decide on 7 or so meals, and make an action plan. Sounds like something at work that would need an ACRONYM. No, it's not MCAS or an IEP or RTI, it's more like AWDP-"Annie's Weekly Dinner Plan" Do you think I can pull this off?

Ok, so let's do it. Let's cook dinner. Let's IMPRESS the hubby. He's not even home tonight to enjoy my cooking because he is sailing on the Charles. Tough life. But I'll let you know how it goes. So far so good, and it smells good in here. Here's where you come in handy-share your dinner ideas with me. I'm pretty adventurous in the taste bud department. I'll eat anything almost anything-sorry, no SUSHI.

If you'd like to share some easy, yummy recipes with a busy mom who wants her kids to eat what we eat, pass it along! Who knows, AWDP could really take off! Could be life changing!


You only need to buy chicken, unless you want to add marmalade...you could also cook it on the grill.



Ingredients

1 (2 to 3 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup orange juice
2 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Directions

To Make Marinade: Combine the soy sauce, honey, orange juice, garlic, oregano, pepper and paprika. Mix all together and pour over chicken pieces. Refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Remove chicken from refrigerator. Place chicken and marinade in a 9x13 inch baking dish and bake, uncovered, in preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours. Baste once.

**I cooked boneless, skinless breasts and added marmalade to the marinade. I baked for 40 mins. at 350.**