Jamaican Jerk Chicken

J found this 52 week cooking challenge where every week they give you a theme that you are supposed to cook one dish by. We initially were excited about it and were going to do it but I got side tracked pretty quickly and gave it up.  This week I was struggling to come up with my menu so we went back to that list to see what their suggestion was for this week and it was Jamaican.  We are both big fans of jerk chicken but for some reason never make it, so we thought we’d try it.  I have a Jamaican friend whose jerk chicken is just awesome and she would probably cringe at our results but as white people that do not eat a whole lot of Jamaican food we were both pretty pleased and will most likely make this again.

1 cinnamon stick

1 tbs coriander seeds

1 tsp whole cloves

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp nutmeg

½ tsp ground allspice

1 bunch scallions, chopped

1 large onion, rough chopped

2-3 Scotch Bonnet peppers

1 tsp thyme

5 cloves garlic

½ cup white vinegar

1 cup soy sauce

½ cup sugar

10-12 boneless skinless chicken thighs

In a dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast the first 4 ingredients until aromatic.  Grind the spices then add the spices and the next 6 ingredients to a food processor and puree.  Combine the puree and the vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in a large bowl.   Add the chicken to the bowl, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight. 

Heat a large skillet to high heat and sear both sides of all of the chicken thighs.  Once seared add all of the chicken and the marinade to the skillet and cook on medium heat until the chicken is cooked through.  Once the chicken is cooked remove it from the skillet and allow the marinade to cook down, about 10 minutes, so that it can be served atop the chicken.

This could not have been easier to make.  I had J make the marinade one night while I was cooking dinner for that night and we just put the chicken in the marinade in the fridge overnight and the next night when I was ready to cook it I just threw the chicken in the skillet and made my sides.  I made Island Rice and black beans to go with this and could not have been more pleased with my dinner.

Chicken Stuffed Bell Peppers

I know I haven’t posted anything in quite a while and I have two reasons why. I am glad you are still here even though there hasn’t been anything new in some time.  So one of my girl friends did the 21-day sugar detox not too long ago and first I need to point out that she and her husband are paleo and in good shape but by the end of the 21 days her husband lost 10 lbs and she only lost a couple lbs but lost 2 inches in her waist.  There were other positive results that came from the experiment as well but I was more impressed with two whole inches in a skinny girl’s waist.
So we thought we’d try it.  While on this detox you can’t eat dairy, wheat, white rice, any potatoes except for sweet, refined sugar of course, honey, maple syrup, or fruit.  So basically you can eat meat, vegetables, sweet potatoes, brown rice, and other uncommon grains like couscous or quinoa. This was mainly hard for us because I absolutely hate eggs and J (thinks he) doesn’t like the uncommon grains and gets tired of sweet potatoes quick.  So by the end of the week I could not even force myself to eat breakfast anymore and J felt the same way about all of the dang sweet potatoes we were having every night. In that first week J did lose a couple lbs, but I of course saw no change in my weight or how I felt, so it was pretty easy to give it up.
So my point in explaining all of this was that during this time I really didn’t cook anything note worthy.  The food I was making was edible but not really that exciting.  Since then I have been trying to sort of modify the diet to something more reasonable, so we aren’t eating near as much pasta and very little cheese or dairy.  I have started eating cereal again for breakfast; I don’t think I can eat another egg for quite a while.
So this lasted a week, and the modification attempt has been going on for a couple weeks, but the other reason why I haven’t had a lot to write about is because I keep ending up finding recipes that I am not really all that excited about but fit the criteria and it is really easy to say I don’t feel like cooking and just go out.  So this diet actually really backfired for us.
After all of this I do have one recipe that I think is worth sharing.  It wasn’t overly complicated and I liked it quite a bit.

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced small
1 tbs olive oil
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 large red bell peppers
2 large green bell peppers
1/2 bunch green onions, diced
3 cups fresh spinach
14 ounces fire roasted tomatoes
Salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet to medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and seasonings and cook until no longer pink. Stir in the remaining ingredients except for the bell peppers, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and allow the spinach to wilt and everything else to heat through.

Meanwhile, cut the tops of the bell peppers and remove the seeds and white membrane.   Once the spinach is wilted and chicken is cooked through fill each bell pepper with the stuffing.  Arrange the bell peppers upright in a baking dish and bake until the bell peppers are softened, about 50 minutes.

This was pretty simple and tasty, what made this for me was the roasted tomatoes, it added a nice flavor.

Chicken with Mushroom Sherry Sauce

I really want to try to eat Paleo but I’m having a hard time coming up with things to make.  A lot of the recipes I see are some cut of meat with this sauce, or some other meat with another sauce, that to me seems like it would get old quick, and what do you eat with it? I always feel like my plate looks empty unless I have some kind of meat, side, and vegetable.  Besides, I don’t think I can eat enough meat not to still be hungry or need more calories if I don’t have any sides.  So for my first week’s attempt I basically just went to the grocery store and bought a ton of different fruits and vegetables and thought, I’ll just figure out what to do with all this later.  In spite of my lack of planning, last night’s meal I think turned out pretty well, I was pleased with it.

3 chicken breasts
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp marjoram
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½-3/4 cup sherry
Salt and pepper to taste for chicken


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper and bake on a broiler pan for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt 1 tbs butter in a skillet over medium-low heat.  Add the rough chopped onions and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened and browning but not frying.  If your pan is too hot the onions will fry and we want them to caramelize.  Add the mushrooms and allow to cook for another ~10 minutes until browned.  Once the mushrooms are cooked remove the mixture to a plate.  Add the remaining butter to the skillet with the flour and seasonings, stir and cook for one minute.  Don’t let them burn.  Increase the heat to medium, add ½ cup sherry, stir and cook for one minute to cook off the alcohol.  I use Tio Pepe and I think it’s pretty good, but it is the only brand of sherry I’ve ever cooked with, so there may be something better, I don’t know.  If you are clueless about what to buy that is what I recommend.  Return the mushroom mixture to the skillet and stir to coat well.  If the sauce has thickened up and you want it a little runnier add some more sherry a couple tbs at a time and allow it to cook off the alcohol and thicken a little before you decide to add some more, do this until it gets to the desired consistency.

Top the chicken with the sauce and serve.  I had this with peas, carrots, and broccoli and cinnamon apples.

Chicken and mushroom sauce serves 3, 430 calories, 19 g fat
All in all I was pretty pleased with this.  I liked the flavor of the sauce quite a bit and will definitely make this again.  This was one of those dishes that wasn’t terribly complicated but tasted like it.  I have noticed pan sauces are like that, they seem to add a lot to a piece of meat without being as complicated as you’d expect.