Chicken Scarpiello

One of my favorite channels is the Food Network. The chefs rock on that channel and I love to record their shows and watch them when I have time- and make their meals! Anne Burrell, who was Mario Batali's sous chef came out with this super awesome dish that I just HAD to make and I could not change it at all to be my own. Not yet anyway- I have some new ideas to spice it up for the next time I make it :) Scarpiello requires a whole chicken that you chop up- this is where my husband comes in. I said, I will make this meal, but only if you cut up the whole chicken. He agreed and then turned into my sous chef/assistant/partner in Scarpiello crime! Together we got this meal done and it tasted AWESOME!! Beware you need a good 1 hour to prepare everything and less time for cooking, maybe 25 minutes! Ingredient Line Up:

• Olive Oil


• 1lb fennel sausage- we used italian-turkey sausage is a healthy alternative option as well


• 1 whole chicken- diced up, bones intact- get rid of the guts!


• Kosher salt


• 1 spanish onion- or any onion you like sliced


• 3 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped


• 3/4 C white wine- we used Pinot and did NOT use measuring cups :)


• 1 C quartered hot cherry peppers


• 1/2 C hot cherry pepper juice, from the jar


• 1 C Chicken stock, or more if needed


• 3 sprigs fresh oregano, I used dried because my herb garden is not ready yet!

Isn't this chicken chopping lovely?! He did a great job! Cherry Peppers=YUM! Find them in any grocery store Diced onions, garlic and soon to be chopped cherry peppers! Directions:

• Coat a large wide pan with Olive oil and bring the pan to a medium-high heat. Add the sausage and brown well. Remove the sausage, put aside for later use.


• Add the raw pieces of chicken to the same pan the sausage was cooked in, season well with salt and pepper and brown. Once browned on all sides, remove and set aside for later use.


• Drain the oil from the pan, and add new oil to the pan. Add the sliced onions and season with salt. Cook the onions over medium heat for 6-7 minutes, add garlic and cook for 2-3 more minutes.


• Add wine to the pan and reduce it by half, while the wine is reducing scrap up all browned bits from bottom of the pan. Return the sausage and chicken to the pan, add cherry peppers, cherry pepper juice, chicken stock, and oregano. Bring to a boil, and reduce to simmer, simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for 5 minutes, add more chicken stock if the stock has reduced too much.

See the browned chicken and sausage in separate bowls as well as the sliced cherry peppers in the juice and of course the white wine- feel free to pour yourself a glass while cooking! Sweating onions Smells so YUMMY

This was so good!! YUM Enjoy :)

Ooey Gooey Chocolate and Chewy

Time for another sinful treat! My husband decided to buy a bulk container of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough because we are trying to sell our house and he believes he needs to bake cookies everytime we have a showing or open house. I can do without the fresh cookie dough because I will eat it! I do not need to eat this stuff!! That being said, today was an 'I am going to eat Cookie Dough' Day. I had to great creative to make it worth my cheating. So here we go!

• Get a bag of marshmellows and your favorite cookie dough


• Whether you make your cookie dough or buy it already made, do that first!


• Scoop your cookie dough and form a big ball of cookie dough around one big marshmellow


• Put onto your baking sheet, add parchment paper to make for easy clean up.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until nice and chewy. NOTE: the marshmellow wont melt into the cookie until you bring it out of the oven, don't be alarmed! You get a large chocolate chip marshmellow ooey gooey chocolate and chewy cookie! Beware very messy, enjoy with some milk!

Fireside Grilled Veggies

My favorite side dish has got to be grilled veggies. I believe all veggies should be grilled with a little spice and they will taste great. I get tons of compliments on this side dish, which is a huge shocker to me. Who knew veggies would be such a hit! You can play with this recipe all you want. I have specific veggies that I like to make. This recipe has steamed green beans, onions, mushrooms, and peppers. It's super easy- Line Up:

• 1 Onion- Red preferred


• 3 Peppers- any color


• 1 package of mushrooms


• 1 package of green beans

Directions: Steam the green beans in the microwave for 5 minutes. Dice up your onion and slice your mushrooms. Get your grill on med-high- I use an indoor grill pan, however the outdoor grill works just as well, if not better. Use your veggie grill tray to hold all your veggies in and slice your onions, peppers and mushrooms a bit large in size. Slice your peppers to tiny square bits, about 1-2 inch in size. 2 TBSP Olive Oil over your onion/mushrooms- get those started first, they take a bit longer. Add the green beans and peppers on top, mix up, add salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I also switch it up and sometimes add other spices. You might want to sprinkle more Olive Oil as well. I would also suggest doing asparagus or even broccoli on the grill, mixed with other veggies or by themselves are great. I am not a squash or zucchini fan, but if you are- go for those as well! Cook until barely showing grill marks to keep the nutrients in your veggies. This will serve about 6-7 meals. I make this amount and it lasts me an entire week. I reheat with different meals all week long. Saves me time, money, and keeps me healthy and skinny! Enjoy :)