Mexican Chicken Cacciatore Stew

In honor of Cinco De Mayo tomorrow, I decided to make a “Mexican” inspired dish.  This isn’t an authentic Mexican dish but just a potpourri of ingredients and flavors that I think are ‘Mexican-ish.”  The dish features the wonderful commonly used spices such as Adobo, sazon and features herbs such as cilantro and scallions.  The chicken is cooked so tender that it literally falls of the bone while maintaining a rich wonderful tomato based flavor.  

Since its a bit time intensive, I rarely make this dish

  

Ingredients

•  5-7 pieces of Chicken thighs or drumsticks
• 2 packets of Sazon seasoning
• Adobo seasoning 
• 1 Small Red onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 jalapeno
• 2 sprigs of cilantro
• 2 scallions
• 1 can of pasta sauce (26.5 oz)
• 1 can of whole kernel corn, salted
• 1 can of beans (black or kidney)
• 4 Strips of thick cut bacon
• 2 oz of red wine of choice, I used Shiraz
• Hot sauce to taste
• Optional: Shredded Cheddar or Mexican Cheese
• 1 Box of  Goya Spanish Rice or white long grain rice

Directions

Preparation

I marinated chicken thighs for 2 days using Sazon and Adobe seasoning generously.  

Prepare box or bag of rice separately. I cooked Carolina long grain white rice with chicken stock and Sazon seasoning in my Cuckoo rice cooker and set aide.

In a large skillet, heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Sear chicken on both sides to a golden brown.

In another skillet, add chopped red onions, bell peppers (I only had orange) , 1 jalapeno and 2 cloves of garlic.

After a few minutes, remove from heat and add set aside.

In a large sauce pan, add 1 can of tomato sauce, 1 can of chicken broth, and 1 can of water and bring to a boil, 1 packet of Sazon seasoning.

 Add the vegetable mixture and continue to simmer on low heat.

Cook 4 slices of thick cut bacon and coarsely chop.  Wash and cup up 2 sprigs of cilantro and scallions.

Add all the ingredients into the pot including and placing the chicken thighs evenly in the sauce. Let the chicken simmer in the sauce for  1 Hr.

After 1 Hr, add 1 can of corn and 1 can of beans. Let it simmer for another 30

 minutes.  Gently stir occasionally so the beans do not stick to the bottom of the pot.

After 30 minutes, plate the chicken, sprinkle cheese and serve with rice. The chicken should be “fall of the bone” tender.

Happy Thanksgiving…and to many days of Leftovers!

Every year, we always have a surplus of food for our Thanksgiving meal.  I suppose our families lives by the saying, “We would rather have plenty than NOT enough food for everyone.”  For my Thanksgiving Day festivity (Part I), the Mo and I hosted 25 people, 90% being his side.

We usually do it buffet style but this year, the Mo created a seating arrangement out of mismatched chairs and white folding tables using whatever candles and fall decor we had.  Although it wasn’t something that would be featured in Martha’s Stewart’s Living magazine, I thought it was quite lovely and the guests appreciated having a seat and eating their meal without the dogs jumping on them.

We had 2 turkeys, a large pork shoulder and 11 different side dishes not including dessert.  Of course, we had plenty of leftovers, EVEN after the teenagers went for round 2 a few hours later.

I knew we would be eating the leftovers on Friday, but I didn’t want to eat the usual Turkey sandwiches or turkey salad, so I did a few different things today.

Leftover Turkey Meat

For breakfast, I made the Mo a turkey, bacon and cheddar melt omelette with mushroom using the leftover turkey.

Fried Bacon

Chopped up Mushrooms

Turkey and Bacon Cheddar Omelette with Mushroom

For myself, I made a spinach and onion omelette using the remainder of the creamed spinach from yesterday’s side dish.

Leftover Creamed Spinach

Creamed Spinach Omelette

His and Her’s Post Turkey Day Breakfast

After breakfast, I added all the ingredients for Weightwatcher’s Turkey Chili Verde recipe to my slow cooker.  In addition to using the lean ground turkey, I also added 2 cups of shredded leftover turkey breast to the chili.  Instead of cooking it on the stop top as the recipe suggests, I set my slow cooker on High for 4 hours and went black Friday shopping. The original recipe is 6 points per a serving, but since I added additional meal, I’m giving it 8 points per serving. (It’s probably even less) then another point for cheese.

Shredded Turkey Breast

Slow Cooker set on High for 4 Hrs

Bowl of Weightwatcher’s Turkey chili with a tablespoon of cheese

For dinner, I made the Mo turkey and roasted pepper quesadilla using the same leftover turkey meat and leftover corn from last night.

Turkey, Peppers, Jalapeno and Onions

Must Have seasoning, Lawry’s

Turkey Quesadilla with Corn and fresh baked honey corn bread

For tomorrow’s Thanksgiving Dinner part II in CT, I signed up to make a simple Spanish rice among other things.  Although, I usually use chicken breast, I substituted the chicken with leftover turkey breast and the rice still came out delicious! (I only had a taste, not a plate) I kept the rice basic since it would be served as a side dish.  If it was going to be a main entree, I would have added olives, pigeon peas, bell peppers, ham and onions.

Goya Rice

Bottomline, Thanksgiving leftovers doesn’t have to be boring. Be creative and try something new.