feed my family

Well, it's been a few weeks of menu-making and I'm persevering!  Some days, like last night, I want to give in and get fast food.... so tempting!  But having things on hand that I can throw together quickly (even when I don't have the mental energy to make what's on the menu) has really helped!  For example, last night I had planned to make chicken stirfry, but I couldn't decide what kind of sauce to make so I threw together whole wheat spagettini and meat sauce.   (it sounds really pathetic that stirfry sauce was more than my brain could handle, but that's just the truth!)

Last week I made another dish from a church cookbook, and that's the recipe I'm going to share and link up to Feed My Family Fridays.  This one was from our own church's cookbook and was submitted by my dear friend (who is an awesome cook!).

I will say, I love this recipe in the book because it lists the ingredients and an 8 step, hour long process to making it, followed by a "variation" that says to throw everything in a roaster and cook for an hour!  Every time I make it, I ask myself 'is there anyone out there that would rather do the 8 steps and stand over the pot for an hour??'

I'll give you the easy method!

PAELLA (spanish rice)

1 19 oz can diced tomatoes

chicken legs or thighs (I usually use breast (3) and thighs (8))

1 Tbsp oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 small onion finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp paprika

3/4 tsp tumeric

dash of cayenne pepper

3 c. chicken stock

2 c. long grain rice

1 red pepper, cut in strips

1 c. frozen peas

(traditional Paella would also include shrimp or other seafood and possibly charizo, feel free to add, but I never have)

Throw all ingredients (except peas) in a small roasting pan and bake in the oven for about 1 hour @350 F, stirring occasionally.

(yes, that's raw chicken in there... the recipe says an hour, but in this corningware dish it usually takes about an hour and 15 or 20.  gotta make sure that chicken is cooked through!)

About 50 minutes into cooking I add the peas.

You can add them at the start, but they get that grey-green colour that is not super pretty.

I served this with 

(guess what?) 

herbed peasant bread,

but didn't take a finished product picture because we had company for dinner  and that may have been weird....

just trust me - it comes out looking and tasting great and the leftovers are even better!

let me know if you try it!