HOMEMADE MEALS MONDAYS: intro to tagine chicken!

tagine = my new toy

I was going to wait to use our new cooking gadgets until we moved into our new house.  But I couldn't wait to use my new fancy tagine given to us by my cousin, Tina, and her family.  So I was thinking of following this tagine recipe, instead decided to just make one up haha.  I really wasn't sure how it would turn up but man, it was good...it was darn good!  I didn't tell the hubs that I made up the recipe until he tried it and he loved it! I'll have to make it again sometime soon...it's perfect for cold winter nights!


Remy's Bad Ass Tagine Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:

ingredients

2 organic chicken breasts and 2 organic chicken thighs cut into 1in. pieces (or just breasts or just thighs)
1 small butternut squash - seeded, peeled and cut into 1in. pieces
1 medium sweet potato - peeled and cut up
1 carrot - peeled and cut up
1 small yellow onion chopped
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
1 15oz can of organic diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons of garam masala (yes, I am using Indian spice on a Moroccan dish!)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt & pepper

my new recipe - tagine chicken

First add the olive into a tagine (or a skillet with cover would be fine too). Saute the garlic and onions until slightly brown.  Add the chicken and stir.  Once chicken is slightly brown, add the sweet potatoes, carrots and a can of diced tomatoes. Then add salt and pepper and cover. Let the dish simmer for about 30 min in low-medium heat.  Then add the the butternut squash and garam masala.  Cover again for another 15 minutes.  Voila!  That's it!  I realized that I am a pretty efficient cook.  I cook mainly during the weeks after a long day at work so I like things easy and very simple but tasty.  This dish is definitely simple and tasty!  I'll have to make again soon as it's a perfect dish for a cold winter night.  Enjoy it and please feel free to leave feedback, would love to hear it! :)

HOMEMADE MEALS MONDAYS: garam masala roasted chicken

So the hubs and I watched the documentary Food Inc. last year and it totally changed the way we viewed food, specially chicken and beef.  You see he and I love roasted chicken. We would always get a whole roasted chicken from Costco because they are always so juicy and so plumped...until we saw that documentary. There is a reason why those chickens are so big and it is not good! (Watch the documentary if you haven't!)  So we vowed NEVER to eat Tyson roasted chicken from Costco EVER AGAIN.

So I had to come up with my own recipe using organic, free-range chicken. One of my girlfriends from work has suggested that I try garam masala with my protein as it is very tasty.  So I bought a little container of Spicely organic garam masala from Wholefoods a while back. Garam masala is an all-purpose spice used mainly in Indian dishes.  Reading straight from the packaging...it contains cinnamon, coriander, fennel, cumin, black pepper, cardamom and cloves. That's it! So I came up with a very simple roasted chicken recipe using this and I was pleasantly surprised on how moist and tasty it is! The hubs really loved it too, so I'll probably make it quite often!

GARAM MASALA ROASTED CHICKEN
  
1 organic, free-range whole chicken (about 3 lbs)
1/4 cup of organic butter (slightly melted)
1/2 organic apple of any kind (cut in half)
1 tablespoon of garam masala (try the Spicely brand as it has no salt, preservatives, wheat, etc.)
salt & pepper

ingredients

First pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Rinse the whole chicken, removing the giblets, etc. and pat dry.  Now brush the melted butter all over the chicken including the cavity (I used my hand and it was messy so I suggest some sort of a brush).  Add salt and pepper everywhere.  Then rub the garam masala seasoning all over including the cavity.  Then insert the apple slices inside the cavity to keep the chicken moist.  Finally, place the chicken on a roasting pan and bake for an hour and a half (until the internal temp is 180 degrees).  That's it!  Super simple, super moist and super yum!!!  :)

garam masala roasted chicken - yum!!!