WELCOME TO TEXAS, Y'ALL!

SHE2016©

The latest catering gig was for a meeting where some of the participants were flying into Texas from Indiana.  So providing lunch for this group was FUN because I wanted to welcome them TEXAS-STYLE!  I literally named the menu "Welcome to Texas, Y'all!".  Of course that meant stuffed barbecue chicken thighs, home-made baked beans, mini cornbread muffins, bacon-wrapped green bean stacks, cabbage salad with slaw dressing, and Texas tornado bars for dessert!  It was a huge hit and the chicken was delicious!!  So I have given you the gift of the easy recipe below!  Y'all.

Peppers & Cream Cheese-Stuffed Barbecue Chicken Thighs

extra virgin olive oil (evoo)

1 green bell pepper, diced finely

1 red bell pepper, diced finely

1 yellow bell pepper, diced finely

1/2 red onion, diced finely

1 tbs sea salt

1 tbs pepper

1 tbs cumin

1 tbs paprika

2 pkgs cream cheese, softened

2 pkgs chicken thighs

sea salt

pepper

garlic powder

1 cup barbecue sauce

1/2 cup mustard

1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

In a heavy pan (I use my cast-iron skillet, of course!), sprinkle enough evoo to cover the bottom and heat for one minute on medium flame.  Add all peppers and onion, and cook for two minutes.  Add sea salt, pepper, cumin, and garlic, and then stir and cook another two minutes.  Remove from heat and add to the cream cheese in a bowl.  Stir until creamy smooth.  Pound each chicken thigh out to make sure it is not uneven.  Add a teaspoon of the cream cheese and bell pepper mix to the middle and roll, laying each one on a prepared baking sheet, fold-side down.  Place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, up to an hour.

Remove from freezer and sprinkle the tops with evoo, and then sprinkle a little sea salt and a little pepper and garlic powder as well.  Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.  Meanwhile, mix barbecue sauce, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce together in a bowl.  Once fifteen minutes is up, baste the chicken thighs liberally with barbecue sauce mixture.  Bake another fifteen minutes.  Cowboy up!!

NOTES:  The longer you keep the thighs in the freezer, the less the cheese mixture will run out as the chicken cooks.  This is low-carb, too!

Squash It!

This image is © 2015 by Life As She Does It. Please link back or credit if any content or images are used.

Like many of you, autumn is my most-absolute favorite time of year.  Part of our Annual Fall Family Day consists of vegetable picking as a family, and boy did I get a TON of squash!  So, for this particular dish, I cooked it up with some chicken thighs and the green-and-purple beans we picked wrapped in bacon (let's just say The Hubster was HAPPY!!)

CHICKEN THIGHS AND SQUASH

2 pkgs chicken thighs

extra virgin olive oil (evoo)

sea salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

3 cups squash, any kind, peeled and cubed

 1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

3 tbs dried rosemary

3 tbs dried sage

2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 tsp sea salt

2 tsp pepper

2 cups vegetable (or chicken works here, too) stock or broth

1/2 cup parsley, chopped fine

In a large, heavy oven-safe skillet (I use my cast-iron, of course!), pour enough evoo to cover the bottom and heat on medium.  Meanwhile, sprinkle both sides of the chicken thighs with sea salt and pepper to your taste.  Place thighs top-side-down first into the heated pan.  Let sear and brown well before turning, about four-to-five minutes and the same on the other side.  Remove from heat and let rest on a plate covered in paper towel.  Heat your oven to 350 degrees.  To the same pan and on the same medium heat, add your squash, onion, garlic, rosemary, sage, nutmeg, sea salt, and pepper and stir.  Let cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add your vegetable stock and scrape the bottom of your pan for all those goodie-brown-bits with a wooden spoon.  Turn off the heat and return the thighs to the pan, nestling them in between the squash mixture.  Cover and place the entire pan in the oven and let it braise by continuing to cook it for another 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven, sprinkle with parsley, and cover and let rest for five minutes.  Lift the lid.  Smell the wonder of autumn.  Then, eat the MESS out of it!

NOTES  I served this over brown rice and with the side of bacon-wrapped green bean stacks, but if you want low-carb, simply omit the rice.  

THE THIGHS HAVE IT

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This colorful and tasty Sunday Supper was perfect for the fall transition!  I had some apples and a couple of peaches just about on their last leg, and half a cauliflower head.  So I got some delectable chicken thighs and created an autumnal appetition of chicken thighs with pan au jus, sauteed apples, and au gratin faux-tatoes, and finished it off with a peach upside-down cake!  OhmuhGAH!!  I.  Can't.  EVEN!!

FRESH THYME CHICKEN THIGHS

1 pkg chicken thighs

sea salt

pepper

6 tbs fresh thyme

extra virgin olive oil (evoo)

Season chicken thighs with sea salt, pepper, and thyme.  In a heavy pan (I use my cast-iron, of course!) sprinkle enough evoo to cover the bottom of the pan and heat on medium-high heat for two minutes.  Add chicken thighs to pan, top-side-down to get a beautiful sear on them.  Cook for two minutes before turning heat to medium.  Cook another six minutes on same side and then turn.  Cook eight minutes on bottom side and remove chicken thighs from pan and let rest.

NOTES:  Remember not to overcrowd your pan or you will not get the brown color you are looking for here.

PAN Au JUS

drippings from chicken thighs

1/2 red onion, diced finely

1 cup broth of your choice (but chicken broth works best here, for obvious reasons)

sea salt 

pepper

1 tsp fresh thyme

1 tbs butter

Using the same pan the chicken was cooked in, keep heat on medium and add to the drippings the onion.  Cook for three minutes and add broth, scraping all the meaty bits from the bottom of a pan with a wooden spoon.  Add sea salt and pepper to taste, and then add thyme.  Bring to a slow boil, stirring constantly, and remove from heat.  Add butter and stir until melted.  Serve over chicken thighs

SAUTEED APPLES

6 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into about 1/2-inch chunks

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil (evoo)

4 tbs butter

1/2 tsp ground clove

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp pepper

In a pan on medium heat, add apples to evoo and butter and cook for two minutes.  Add seasoning and cook an addition five minutes.  Serve with chicken thighs and pan au jus.  And then wipe your eyes, because this WILL make you cry a little.  It's THAT GOOD.

Au GRATIN FAUX-TATOES

1/2 head cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized chunks

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup heavy cream

sea salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

1 tbs mustard powder

1 tbs garlic powder

Combine all ingredients into a prepared baking dish and mix well.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Serve alongside chicken-thighs-over-apples.  

This image is © 2015 by Life As She Does It. Please link back or credit if any content or images are used.

PEACH UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

I got this AMAHZ recipe HERE

NOTES:  You're welcome.  ;-)

Chicken Dance

This image is © 2015 by Life As She Does It. Please link back or credit if any content or images are used.

I feel almost BAD about telling you how delicious and how extremely EASY this dinner was!   It tastes like you slow cooked these babies, but truthfully, it is so easy you will have time to do a happy dance!  You would think that's why I named this post what I did, but it was actually in reference to the salsa on the chicken.  Eh.  Either way - you'll be happy you made this for dinner!

SALSA CHICKEN

1 pkg chicken thighs

sea salt

pepper

1 small jar salsa of your choice

shredded cheddar cheese

Season chicken thighs with sea salt and pepper on both sides.  Divvy up the salsa among the chicken, plopping it on top of each one.  Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  Yep.  That's it.

NOTES: I served mine with roasted broccoli because I'm the low-carb girl, but you could always cook up some Spanish rice to go with it.  I also use organic chunky salsa from the natural foods section of my local grocery store.