Recipe of the Day

Italian Chicken

A great go-to recipe for giving chicken some extra zing!

Ingredients:
Packet of dry Italian dressing mix
White wine (remember, never use in cooking something you wouldn't willingly drink - don't buy "cooking wine", it's just bad wine with extra salt!)
2 T. water
1 T. oil (I use olive oil)
Chicken of whatever quantity you want - you can use this on chicken breasts, a whole chicken, or anything in between!

1. Put chicken in glass casserole dish (I usually use a 9x13 dish)
2. Pour wine over chicken, enough to give a good cover to the bottom of dish (add more for more flavor, less for a more subtle taste).
3. Mix water, oil, and Italian seasoning in a bowl, baste chicken.
4. Bake at 350 till chicken is done (this will vary based on what pieces you used for your chicken).

Alternatives:
1. Easily adaptable to the crockpot, just put everything in there instead and cook on Low till chicken is done!
2. You can use pre-made Italian dressing instead of mixing on your own, but you'll want to add more dressing because the flavor won't be as strong.
3. Especially if using pre-made Italian dressing, I like to marinade overnight before cooking.
4. This is great cooked on the grill if marinated ahead of time!
5. You can serve with mashed potatoes and a green veggie, some sort of bread, and fruit for a good well-rounded meal, or chunk up and put in salad, or whatever you want - it's very adaptable!

We're snowed in for yet another day (maybe we'll finally get to have preschool again tomorrow? I hope!) and it's supposed to be super-windy. Doesn't look too bad yet, more like "breeze" rather than wind. All the trees still have their snow piled on the branches, so it can't be too much on the windy side, can it? I'm wondering what excuse I can make that we *have* to go out, but we've already missed storytime (we were already planning on going tomorrow anyway) and the library books aren't due till tomorrow either. The grocery shopping is already done, and while I need to get new sheets, that's no more urgent now than it has been since we got the new bed almost a year ago. I'm thinking that the best course of action is to put Beth down for her nap, set Thomas up with a movie, and try to nap. Being up in the middle of the night for an hour with a kid wakened up by a bad dream can really set my mood in the wrong direction for the next day!