Wednesday, May 19, 2010

A Little Bit of Knitting and A Little Bit Italian Chicken

Well today (Wednesday) was a very busy day dashing to the medical laboratory for early morning tests, stopping at the post office, doing some thrifting, dropping in on my travel agent, stopping for a lunch of Thai food, stopping at the dollar store, then rushing home to do some laundry, boil some beans and put the dinner on.

At the thrift stores I bought a number of skeins of yarn and various sized needles. I only go for "newish" yarn and needles that are not bent and well worn. I am creating my stash for when I want to branch out with new projects. For now, I am focussing on improving my very newly learned knitting skills with a simple dishcloth pattern. So far I've made four. I finally felt like I could knit on the fourth one. I am on my way! Yeah!

Here are my four facecloths. I will probably give the green/blue ones to my mom and keep the other two for myself. A friend has already asked me to make several but I want to practice other things right now as well as get better at knitting before I try to knit for others.


Given the busyness of the day and the fact it started raining I felt like having something comforting. I don't know what to call this made up and simple recipe so am calling it A Little Bit Italian Chicken *smile.


Recipe:

- 4 medium to large chicken thighs with legs attached
- Italian seasoning
- 1 large can of diced tomatoes
- a handful of parsley.

I baked the chicken pieces with a sprinkling of Italian seasoning on top. The chicken was baked at about 350 Farenheit oven until crispy brown. Once it was browned, I drained out as much fat out of the pan as possible. I then added a large can of diced tomatoes to the chicken along with some chopped parsley and more Italian seasoning. Continue cooking at same temperature for another 20 minutes or so.



Side dishes

Brown Rice
Red Kidney Beans


I bought dried beans and soaked them overnight changing the water twice and rinsing them after the 2nd soak and just before boiling. After such a long soak it didn't take so long to cook them by bringing them to a gentle boil for about 45 minutes. Now if you decide to make your beans this way, you can cook them longer or shorter depending on how crunchy you like your beans.

I like bland foods more than some so if the rice and beans are too bland for your taste you can add other seasonings. Likewise with the chicken, if the tomatoes and Italian seasoning is too bland you can add something like crushed garlic to the "sauce" before baking.


To serve place one piece of chicken leg and thigh on plate alongside a few scoops of rice. Top the rice with your beans and the tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper as needed and a sprig of parsley to garnish.

13 comments:

The Quintessential Magpie said...

I'm proud of you for being able to knit! My sister is the one in our family who does all the beautiful hand work. She does crochet, crewel, embroidery, needlepoint, and counted cross stitch, though these days she is focusing on crochet. You did a great job on those cloths! Pretty soon you will be making wonderful scarves and all sorts of things!

Your dinner looks delicious. We had Caesar salad with grilled chicken, but I think yours looks better!

XO,

Sheila :-)

Joyful said...

Aw Sheila that is such a lovely and kind comment. I've always struggled whenever I've tried to learn knitting before, mainly due to knitting too tightly. This time seems to be working out for me.

I love all kinds of hand crafts also. I first taught myself to crochet and have done a bit of crewel work. I really want to do more of these arts as well as needle point.

Right now I will focus on knitting and take up my crochet again. It is one of my goals to make a larger doily before the year is out.

xx

Susan said...

Your chicken, rice and beans dinner sounds so good! I think it may make tonights dinner menu! Thanks

Diary From Africa said...

Your cloths look great ! I like the striped one on the top of the pile - nice colours ! Your recipe also looks yummy .... you know I eat a lot of chicken & this looks like it's just up my street ;)

Joyful said...

Susan, thank you. I think you will find the chicken dinner just perfect and it isn't terribly hard to make or modify for your taste. Enjoy!

Joyful said...

Hi Lynda. The cloths are actually two colours. I like the stripped one too. The brown ones I made first and the cotton yarn is really nice and soft but it's "nubby" texture makes the edges of the cloth a bit uneven. Perhaps they will become less so with more practice. I can't wait to hear if you make this recipe. That would be my honour. I still have so many recipes of yours to try. Happy weekend.

Heidrun Khokhar, KleinsteMotte said...

Since rain came along I just had to stop by and comment. Your day was a busy one. Happiness is sharing your time. Thank you.

Joyful said...

Hello KleinsteMotte, so nice to see you again. Sorry to hear it is raining where you are. It poured here yesterday too and I think there may be another storm watch though today turned out to be a rather nice day.

Kilauea Poetry said...

This was so cool-I liked your litte journey- a peek into your day. Your face cloth's are just terrific- I think very inspirational! Really pretty too_you should be proud! Those dishes looks tasty -yet simple enough and they complement each other.. Hope I'm noty leaving anything out, have a wonderful weekend friend!

Joyful said...

Regina, thank you so much for the kind comments. You rock! I am proud of myself for finally learning how to knit but realize I have a ways to go to improve :-) Glad you were able to visit. You have a wonderful weekend.

Kilauea Poetry said...

Hi there..my e-mail is seven_amps@yahoo.com
Thanks for responding (I had a feeling you would sympathize) lol! Just posting that might help too I'm thinking. Thanks for being here!

Joyful said...

Regina, thank you so much for the kind comments. You rock! I am proud of myself for finally learning how to knit but realize I have a ways to go to improve :-) Glad you were able to visit. You have a wonderful weekend.

Joyful said...

Susan, thank you. I think you will find the chicken dinner just perfect and it isn't terribly hard to make or modify for your taste. Enjoy!

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