While having a weekly meal plan with organized recipes and a stocked pantry is ideal, sometimes you just gotta make dinner with whatever you have on hand. Such was the case Tuesday night. Yes, even chefs have to wing it, and often that is when wonderful things happen.  Now I’m not going to sit here and tell you I whipped up a Michelin Star quality dish. But my number one customer (my Hubby) went back for thirds he loved it so much. And this is a meal you can whip up for your family on a busy school night without too much fuss.

You can tell by the title that it has chicken, rice and chorizo in it, but basically the ingredients are just bits and pieces I could find in the kitchen.  It is flavorful, healthy and an all in one meal.  Hubby’s favorite.  A casserole or stew situation where you have the meat, veg and carb all together in one bite!  What I like is that it is a recipe that is adaptable.  Meaning you can improvise depending on what you have at your disposal.  As you can see from the pic below, this is what I found.  Key here are the spices.  If you keep your pantry stocked with those you’ll be able to work wonders with any meat or veg meal!

Ingredients:

1 skinless boneless chicken breast cut into chunks and seasoned with salt and pepper. If you have left over roasted chicken you can use that or any meat or fish. For instance shrimp would be lovely.

1/2 stick of Chorizo, casing removed, cut up into chunks

3-4 tomatoes (or you can use some from a can)

3 small shallots chopped (or you could use 1 onion chopped)

1- 2 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup basmati rice

1 1/2 cups (12 oz) chicken stock

1 cup mix of Red/Yellow/Orange Peppers chopped (or you can use green bell peppers if you have)

1 Sweet Potato (cooked and chopped. You can microwave it or roast it). Alternatively you could use garbanzo beans or lentils.

1 cup green peas

1 tsp smoked paprika

1./2 tsp ground cumin

sprinkle of mild chili pepper to your liking

salt and pepper to taste

Optional:

Fresh Chopped Herbs of choice such as parsley, coriander or basil (that later of which I used)

Crumbled Cheese such as Feta or Goat’s ( I used the later)

Toasted Pine Nuts

Instructions

Cook chorizo in a dry frying pan (the natural oils will come out so no need to add oil to the pan before hand). Once it is cooked remove and drain on paper bowl (kitchen paper).

Pour off most of the oil but leave a bit to then cook the chicken (if using raw chicken). Once the chicken is cooked remove to a plate and keep warm.

Add a bit of oil to the pan and saute the chopped veg. Once a bit soft, add the salt and pepper and spices and cook for a bit more to bring out the flavor of the spices.

Next add the rice to the veg and cook until the rice is a bit opaque just a couple of minutes. Make sure to keep and eye and stir from time to time so the rice doesn’t burn.

Add in stock and tomatoes. Bring to the boil, cover and cook for 15 minutes or until the rice is fully cooked.

When done add in the chopped sweet potato, peas, chicken and chorizo and give a good stir. Cover the pan again to make sure that it all gets heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Just before serving toss through the freshly chopped herbs. To serve put on a plate or bowl and top with some goat cheese, pine nuts and a little fresh herb garnish.

If I make it again, I will plan in advance as I think sun dried tomatoes would add an extra bit of smokiness and also chopped celery would be a great with the other veg.  Some chefs like to cook a recipe to the letter of the law.  Others like to throw things together and see how it turns out.  Sometimes that can be disastrous.  But with basic ingredient combinations you kinda have a feeling it will be just right.  And I must say the chorizo with the sweet potato combo was a lovely flavor balance.  Since there are two of us and I knew one chicken breast wasn’t going to go very far, by creating a “jambalaya” dish (that is what Hubby called it) we were well fed.  In fact, there were left overs for my lunch the next day. It actually tasted even better!  I love that about food!  The gift that keeps on giving!

Jambalaya LOVE,

YDP

P.S. Vegetarian Friends don’t fret! This meal would be equally delicious without any meat. By adding beans instead of meat and substituting veg stock for the chicken stock you’d be in total bliss with this recipe!

 

 

The LOVE Enthusiast

Greetings to all of you! I was recently honoured to be a guest contributor for Penny’s Internet home and virtual family. In case you might not have seen it, I am re-posting it on here.

I’ve been asked to share a secret with you. But before I do I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Karen Geraghty and I am a Yankee Doodle Paddy. A what you say? That’s what I call myself because I am a dual American and Irish citizen. While I am enjoying living in London, my own blog was born out of a longing for my “yankee doodle” and “paddy” roots so I decided to bestow that name with its own URL.

I am a trained chef and baker, and also a cookery teacher. But the truth is that my purpose in life is to spread LOVE. And that is a subject I actually want to share on here today.

I once heard that in order to be a success at something you need to be an expert at it. Malcolm Gladwell spoke of this in his book Outliers. It is estimated that ten thousand hours spent honing a skill will lead to being an expert. Even bloggers can be experts at a particular talent, issue etc. Some may be experts at fashion, makeup or cooking. Some may be experts at overcoming debt or a debilitating illness. But when you become an expert in an area, people come to you with questions, seeking your guidance or maybe just for curiosity.

Well, I’ve become an expert at love. I have been sharing my love through my food for years and now as a blogger newbie I try my best to do the same in my little corner of the Internet. At 51 years old though I am late to the social media world I am making up for lost ground. But in the short span of time I have been involved I have met some amazing people like Penny.

Yet, it isn’t my profession, age or gender that people remember about me so much as my purpose in life, which as I said is to spread love. On my Snapchat stories, you’re bound to see hearts galore and hear talk of love along side some yummy cupcakes of course. I share quotes, books and thoughts on love and even demonstrate ways to spread the love. I’ve even hosted a #lovefest competition whereby people find hearts or love images in their world and snap them to me to win a prize. So while some have called me an expert on love I prefer to use the moniker LOVE Enthusiast. However, for the sake of this post I will use the term expert.

How do I claim to be an expert in love? Well I believe that our highest purpose in life comes from our deepest pain. And that is why I have spent most of my life researching and practicing the art of love. It is my response to the amount of pain, trauma and hate I have endured in my life. And so that is my mission, to share with others this life affirming reaction to the negative things that have happened to me.

To sum it up for you, love is a verb, an action word. And it is also another type of language, which can be foreign to some. But we can all acquire another language no matter our age or learning disability.

Love is actually a combination of 5 different languages according to Dr. Gary Chapman

The key is to figure out what language we speak. And to have successful relationships, it is important to know how to speak the love language of your partner. Here are the five types of love languages:

1. Physical touch
2. Words of Affirmation
3. Acts of Service
4. Gift giving
5. Quality time

Why is it important to speak the language of your partner? Well if you love them, you want to be able to communicate with them. If for instance you are someone who speaks the language of gift giving and you bring home flowers everyday and souvenirs from business trips, yet your wife speaks another language she might not seem as though she is appreciative of your thoughtfulness. She may speak the language of quality time, and all she really wants is for you to sit with her on the couch in front of the fire without you playing on your mobile device. You love each other but feel totally misunderstood and this “lost in translation” can be very detrimental to a successful relationship!

Sometimes the notion of love can seem overwhelming with the world in its current state of affairs. But if you start by spreading love right where you stand, with the people immediate to you and those you come in contact with, I guarantee you will see a shift. Besides you feeling better, you will make someone else feel loved. Whether it is doing an act of service to help an elderly person carry his or her groceries, or paying for someone’s coffee in line behind you. Sadly many people have become numb to niceness and have become accustomed to cold and disconnected human interactions. But you have the power to change that by surprising someone with the warmth of a loving gesture. A smile, a complimentary word, or even a hug can make a huge difference. It works for me and is like a joy generator. I get asked everyday what is my secret for being so happy. Yet, my secret isn’t a secret at all. It is out there in the open for anyone to accept.

So I would encourage you to act with love! Let’s all start a LOVE-olution!

“Love is the force that transforms and improves the face of the world.”

Thank you Penny for the opportunity to share your URL home base with me.   I’m sending you all lots of LOVE!

P.S. I’d also like to take this time to share with you a wonderful video my Hubby made of our trip to Kenya, Africa. I have already spoke of the meaning of the trip here on the blog.  But his visuals put it all in perspective!