Hi Housewives!

Tonight’s dinner is marinated chicken thighs.  Traditionally, in most Italian households,  Sunday is pasta day.  However, I had these thighs and wanted to use them tonight.  This recipe is so easy that anyone can do this.  It’s a perfect dish for the weeknight when time is something you don’t  have much of.

I have about 5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

• Rinse thighs and place in baking pan
• Pour some extra virgin olive oil over them
• Season one side with garlic powder, oregano, sea salt, black pepper and dried or fresh parsley
• Flip over and season the other side
• Cover with foil and let it marinate in fridge anywhere from 1-4 hours

I have to be honest I don’t measure any of these seasonings out, just be generous with them.  Today, since I am not rushed for time, I let them marinate all day. When you are ready,  bake them in the oven covered at 350 and then uncover for last half hour or so. Bake for an hour and 15 minutes or until no longer pink inside.

I served this dish with sautéed Swiss chard and cannellini beans.

Enjoy!

RHC

Hi Housewives!

Ok…well, I’ve always wanted to make stuffed cabbage.  So, I will have to be honest here.  This was my very first attempt at it!  I always thought how hard could this be??? I make stuffed peppers all the time, is it really that different?  Well, I must say this was not the easiest dish to make and it was not my greatest dish either.  But practice makes perfect and I will attempt this again one day.

First of all, my cabbage was huge!  I still have a lot of it left.  I think I will just sauté the rest for another night.  Ok, so let’s start the recipe.  First, core your cabbage and then boil it.  While the cabbage was boiling in the salted water.  I prepared the meat stuffing.

• 1 package of ground turkey meat
• 1 package of cooked brown rice
• 1 egg
• 1/2 of an onion chopped
• 1 cup of seasoned bread crumbs
• salt and pepper

Mix above ingredients in a bowl and when the cabbage is ready and cooled down peel off a leaf.  I lined the baking dish with some torn pieces of cabbage.  Then, I put a cabbage leaf flat on a cutting board and placed 1/2 cup of meat mixture onto leaf and then roll.  Place in baking dish.  Continue until desired amount of cabbages.  I made 7.

For the sauce –  I just took a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce and poured it over the stuffed cabbages.  Sprinkle with some salt and pepper.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 2 hours.

Then, it came to the real test.  The tasting!  Well, since I am the blogger of “REAL Housewives Cook” I must be REAL with my readers and something was missing.  It was bland.  My husband and I both feel like it needed something more.  So, I am open to suggestions here.  Please feel free to tell me your secrets.  

RHC

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Hi Housewives!

Last night, I made this delicious Swiss Chard Soup with Turkey Meatballs!  It was so good that we had the leftovers tonight.  Not only is this dish tasty but it’s healthy as well!

Turkey Meatball Recipe

• 1 package of ground turkey meat
• seasoned bread crumbs – 1 cup
• 1 egg
• a drop of water
• grated cheese  – pecorino romano or whatever you prefer for your meatballs (I don’t measure this just use a lot of it…1-2 cups)
• salt and pepper

Soup

• Swiss Chard (rinsed well, stem removed and coarsely chopped into pieces)
• 8-10 gloves of garlic
• 2 cans Cannellini beans
• Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Piece of Italian Bread (optional)
• Grated Cheese for serving

In a large pot add some extra virgin olive oil and heat on medium heat.  Meanwhile, mix meatball mixture in a bowl.  I always smell it to make sure I can smell the seasonings and if I need a little more of this or that I add it.  When olive oil is heated make little meatballs and put in pot to brown.  When they are browned but not necessarily cooked completely through add your chopped swiss chard. Take your garlic gloves and smash or chop them and add them to pot.  The Swiss Chard will cook down, so don’t be surprised by that.

While Chard is cooking down drain and rinse your beans.  Then add them to pot and mix.  I then add about 4-5 cups of water to the pot.  Lower the flame and let it all cook stirring occasionally.

I cook it for at least an hour on low.  If needed you can add a can of chicken broth but I find that I usually never need it for this recipe.

Serve with a piece of Italian bread if you like and top with some grated cheese! Delicious!

Enjoy!

RHC

Hi Housewives!

It’s Monday night and after a long day of work and then a 4pm class at the gym I was in the mood for something yummy.  Tonight is the perfect evening for a cozy meal.  It’s getting chillier over here and that makes me want some comfort food.  I decided to make a whole roasted chicken. The thing with this is that I really don’t necessarily follow a particular recipe.  Every time I make a whole chicken I grab whatever I have in the house to season and accompany it.

Since I hit up the farm stand yesterday I knew I wanted our side to be the fresh brussel sprouts.  I will post that recipe a little later on though.  Let’s get back to our chicken recipe. It smells great in here and the oven is heating up the whole house nicely.  I have this All Natural Roasted Garlic & Herb Seasoning by Weber that I used to season the chicken tonight.  Here’s the recipe:

• 1 whole chicken rinsed and salted (I discard the bagged insides)
• Place Chicken in roasting pan or pyrex
• Pour about 1-2 tablespoons over chicken and rub it all over the chicken
• Sprinkle a generous amount of the Weber Seasoning all over the chicken
• 5 cloves of chopped fresh garlic on top of chicken and some inside
• sea salt and pepper
• 1 small onion quartered placed in pan and inside of chicken

I placed some baby carrots and cherry tomatoes around the chicken in the baking dish and seasoned them with salt and pepper.

Cover chicken and place in oven at 350-375.  Cook for about 2 hours or until juices run clear.  I take the foil off for the last portion of it to darken the skin and to give it that nice brown roasted look!

Enjoy!

RHC

Hi Housewives!

Here is my version of Stuffed Peppers!  It’s pretty simple and you can prepare the meat mixture the night before if pressed for time.

• 4-6 Peppers – I usually mix them up to add color…one green, one red, one yellow or orange
• 1 package of ground beef or turkey
• 1 bag of brown rice (I usually use the steam fresh bags)
• 2 cans of tomato sauce
• Few shakes of garlic powder
• One shake of onion powder
• Few shakes of Italian Seasoning
• 1 small can of black sliced olives
• Grated cheese ( I prefer pecorino/romano blend) but whatever you like is fine
• salt and pepper to taste

Brown your turkey meat in a skillet and let cool.  Place your frozen brown rice in micro and cook according to your package directions and let cool.  Meanwhile, cut off tops of peppers and rinse removing seeds.  You can also cut peppers in half and remove seeds.  Preheat oven to 350.  Put olive oil in your baking dish and roll the peppers around in the oil.  I look at this part as getting them ready for a suntan…lol

Next, when meat and rice are cooled down place in a bowl and add your garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, grated cheese, sliced olives, salt and pepper and  a can of the tomato sauce and mix.  Spoon mixture into peppers. There will be extra of the meat mixture so I just put it in pan surrounding the peppers.  I pour the 2nd. can of tomato sauce over the peppers and sometimes I top with some mozzarella or grated cheese (that is optional).

Bake for one-2 hours depending on how soft you like your peppers.  I cover with foil for the beginning portion.  Check them every 15 minutes or so and baste….

Enjoy Housewives!

RHC