Moroccan Chicken and NEW patio furniture!

We have just had a wonderful Friday evening meal. We are LOVING having a decent patio and yard. I picked out some outdoor furniture this week and it was delivered today, so we ate on the patio.

I decided to do this recipe for Moroccan Chicken - I really like yogurt marinades these days.

When I went to the store last night to buy chicken, two breasts at Kroger were $13. Jawdrop. So we had boneless, skinless thighs! I began this morning by making the marinade - yogurt, cilantro, olive oil, garlic, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper. The chicken sat in this concoction all day.


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When Todd got home, we started the grill and had some appetizers (goat cheese, stilton, olives, and my favorite Wasa crackers)...

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And I had a little Sangria from Target. I give this two thumbs up - it's fruity and very light for summer. If you like Sangria, give it a try. It's a little sweet, but not too much.

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On our great new furniture! We love it!

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Todd grilled the chicken...

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And we ate outside! I LOVE IT! I also made an old favorite...Cucumber, Mango, and Black Bean Salad as a relish for the chicken. When mangoes are in season, this is just a delicious side. We also had green beans and potatoes. I loved the chicken marinade - my only tweak is that it could have used a bit more spice.

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Moroccan Vegetable Stew

In my continuing quest to find easy vegetarian slow-cooker recipes, I decided to try this little Moroccan Stew.

It began with lots of chopping and piling in the slow-cooker. This one includes carrots, eggplant, zucchini, cauliflower, onion, canned tomatoes, garbanzos, currants, and toasted almonds.

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I had never bought currants before - I found these at Kroger in with the raisins. They didn't have them at WalMart. Shocker, I know!

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Then I simmered cinnamon, coriander, cumin, cayenne, and crushed garlic in olive oil until the spices were fragrant. It smelled yummy!

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Then I mixed it all up in the slowcooker with some vegetable broth.

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The recipe said to cook on high for eight hours. I was skeptical about this, but I went ahead and did it since this was my first try. I was right - it was too high, and everything was cooked in about 4 hours. I turned it down to low, but it got mushy by the time we ate. I would have preferred the veggies to still have texture.

I also see now that the recipe says to puree some and add it back to the stew after the cooking time - oops, missed that part. The flavors in this were great, but I would prefer less cooking, more texture, and I think the pureeing would make it nice and creamy.

I served with couscous and yogurt - it was very good and hearty!

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What's on the Menu? 5/5 - 5/8

Monday: SW Falafel with Avocado Spread

Tuesday: Moroccan Vegetable Stew; Pitas

Wednesday: Todd is 38! Steak Fillets; Baked Potato; Aparagus; Cheesecake

Thursday: Kindergarten Open House 6pm! Deli Pizza

Lentil and Rice Pilaf

This was a hit! I loved it, Todd liked it.

It starts by boiling the French green Lentils (bulk bins, Whole Foods) and sauteeing the onions and garlic.


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Instead of using the white rice that it calls for, I used this whole grain blend from Texmati. I had it over at Carla's this weekend, and it was nice and chewy with lots of textures - just my style.


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Added the rice, cumin, salt, and pepper into the onions.

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Then I added the lentils and some water to the onion mixture. After cooking 15 minutes as called for, I had to add a little more water and cook some more - the rice was still crunchy.

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I did squash as a side. It's tossed with a little olive oil and lemon pepper. Then I just baked on a baking sheet at 350 for 15 mins or so.

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Final Results pic 1:

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Final Results, the redo:

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This recipe has a cucumber mint yogurt sauce that I made before I even started the rice and beans. I forgot to take pictures of it, and I forgot to get it out when I served the meal! Argh. But I thought it was great without the sauce - Todd thought it needed more flavor. I loved the texture of the rice and the french lentils together.

The next day, we both ate the leftovers for lunch with the sauce, and it definitely adds more flavor. When I make it again, I'm going to double the amount of cucumber in the sauce and add a little more mint.

Leo report: Leo wouldn't taste this. :)

Just for fun...Leo is getting pretty good with the chopsticks! At lunch the next day, trying to master smoked gouda, corn dogs, and grapes.

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Grapes are challenging!

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Making a spaceship with the base that we took off of the new TV.

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What's on the Menu 4/27 - 5/1

Sun - Salmon w/Mustard Cream; Broccoli; New Potatoes

Mon - Lentil and Rice Pilaf; Lemon-Pepper Roasted Vegetables; Sliced fruit

Tues - Farfalle with Creamy Wild Mushroom Sauce (previously blogged); green salad

Wed - Neighbors over for dinner. Chips and guac; chicken and mushroom fajitas; green rice; chipotle black beans

Thur - Wraps with leftovers from Wed night

Too busy to cook...

We moved in on the ninth, and we've been really busy. Leo has had a stomach bug...got better...and now he has a fever for some reason. We're hoping to all be healthy soon!

We've been eating lots of frozen dinners and lots of take-out. Not much adventurous cooking here lately.


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We finally got most boxes in the house unpacked. I told Todd we were in the danger zone, because we really could just stop unpacking and be ok...but there were still tons of boxes in the garage. We tackled those yesterday and today, and we've made real progress.

We've also been adding lots of little conveniences and extra storage.

Got this little beauty at the container store...

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This is the handy rubber hammer that I bought at the Container Store for putting together that other thing. I thought Todd would think it was pointless, but he liked it immediately, and we've used it for several other projects. He calls it "The Super Hammer."

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Last weekend, Todd put up more shelving in the laundry, which is right by the kitchen. The pantry is kinda small, so I needed more storage.

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Our bedroom doorknob needed a fix, so we put in a new one (and one on the bathroom door) that matched the bathroom hardware. Actually, I did most of this myself while Todd was working on shelving in the garage! I was pretty proud!

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The broken knob.

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New doorknob.

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Some extra hooks in the bathroom for towels and keeping robes handy.

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And my "Sam's Shelves"! I call them that b/c almost everything I buy in bulk at Sam's goes on shelves out in the garage. Todd got them up today, and I feel so much better. Lots of stuff up off the floor now. We got the adjustable kind this time, and we like them much better than the ones we put up in Plano. They are eight feet long and deeper than our old ones.

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We had one of these at our Plano house, and we couldn't live without it. I ordered one the day we moved in!

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