Trying something new

After weeks of running around I finally felt like today I had nothing today. I was almost bored. The morning consisted of gym time, grocery shopping and then a trip to the bigger city nearby of Milford for some Trader Joe action. We needed coffee and nuts. There seems to be nowhere close by to get bulk items. Dare I say something I miss about New York? Anyway in Milford there is a Whole Foods and Trader Joe's within a mile of each other. Yikes! I could do some serious damage at both places. Today Jordan was with me though so he limits my crazy buying a bit. We skipped Whole Foods cause I really only needed a mix of nuts and Trader Joe's has a good variety at good prices. We got cashews, peanuts, almonds, and walnuts - all 50% of the salt. I don't like salt and Jordan loves it. Ah, the compromises of marriage. We also picked up crunchy peanut butter and almond butter. Gotta love the butter prices at Trader Joe's. Anyway as always when Jordan comes grocery shopping with me we end up with a dessert. He quickly eyed this raspberry tart.

It was pretty good but completely ruined my plans to make sugar cookies. Oh well, I will save that for next weekend.

After a walk in the afternoon on the shore, some laundry and a bit of reading. Yes, I was even able to fit in some pleasure reading. It was time for dinner. Here is what some searching online found.

Chicken Cacciatore
From Ellie Krieger on Food Network.com

Ingredients:
4 skinless chicken breast halves on the bone, about 2 pounds
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 pound white mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice, chopped and juice reserved
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes or more to taste

Directions
Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a saute pan over moderately-high heat. Brown the chicken on both sides, about 8 minutes. Remove the chicken.

Reduce the heat to moderate. Add the onion and pepper, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to brown. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the wine and cook until reduced by half. Add the tomatoes and juice, oregano, red pepper flakes and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and simmer the mixture covered for 10 minutes.

Return the chicken breasts to the pan and simmer, covered, until the chicken is just done, about 20 minutes longer.

It was pretty good. The sauce was a bit spicy but that is how I make all of my sauces. I used 3/4LB of chicken tenders so I think it was lacking a bit of the substance. I also used diced tomatoes instead of whole. I didn't have any canned whole tomatoes and it seemed like an unnecessary step to have to cut up the whole tomatoes. Overall I was happy with how it came out. I wonder if it would not have seemed so Italian if I served it with polenta. Maybe next time....