Two Great Recipes

The weekend is almost here and as usual, I've been thinking about food.  I'm obsessed with what meals I'm going to prepare on weekends because I have more time to cook.  I often try new recipes or make more time consuming dishes on the weekends and we usually have a family dinner on Sundays.  However I know not everyone loves to cook like I do so I have a couple of good recipes for you. 

Flipping through my cookbook the other day, I came across a recipe I'd only made once but thought it was worth keeping.  It has few ingredients and I knew I could put it in the crockpot, making it an excellent choice for Tuesday night.  Tuesday was a very busy day and that night I had conferences at both schools and my husband was out of town.  I needed something that would be ready when we all got home.  Monday I bought all my groceries as usual and put the chicken in the crockpot at lunch on Tuesday.  That night we were treated to a wonderful meal.  The chicken just fell off the bone.  We were all tired and the clean up was minimal.  I served this dish with store bought mashed potatoes (yes, I do resort to convenience sometimes) and green peas. 

Sun-dried Tomato Chicken
4 lbs. or so of chicken pieces ( I used legs that I pulled the skin off to reduce the fat and because they are cheap.)
1 cup sun-dried tomato vinagrette with roasted red pepper
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried basil
Arrange chicken in a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish or crockpot.  Pour vinagrette over chicken and sprinkle with pepper.  Sprinkle chopped tomatoes and basil over chicken.  Bake uncovered at 400 for 1 hour or until done if using oven.  If using crockpot, cook on high for 5 1/2 to 6 hours or low for 7.  Easy dish either way and just as good if you don't have the sun-dried tomatoes.

I can eat this next comfort-food dish for my main meal with some bread for a light supper or it makes a great side dish.  It has several of those spices I talked about last week and will make vegetarians happy.  You can easily expand this recipe to feed more people. 

Black Beans and Yellow Rice
1 5 oz. package saffron rice mix
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lime juice (use bottled if you don't have a lime)
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cumin
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
Cook rice according to package instructions.  Keep warm.  Combine beans, lime juice, chili powder and cumin in  a saucepan.  Heat through and stir in cilantro.  Serve over rice with a spoonful of sour cream, if desired. 

I hope everyone gets some fresh air the next two days as the weekend may be rainy and much colder where I live.  I'm taking the dog for a power walk later.  Happy, Healthy Eating!