Tag Archives: dinner

A Nourishing Progressive Dinner for the Holidays

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NPDHolidays3
November 19 – Appetizers will be served by Katie B. of Simply Food and Danielle of More Than Four Walls.

November 26 – Shannon of Growing Slower will be creating a delicious salad to share with us.

December 3 – What meal is complete without sides? You are in for a double treat with the dishes Jackie of LittleOwlChrunchyMomma and Virginia of George Town, MN are whipping up! 

December 10 – Chara of Stiching Hearts Together and I will be sharing two delightful homemade breads.

December 17 – Katie S. of Nourishing Simplicity will be sharing a main dish that has been a family favorite for years. 

December 24 – Pour yourself a couple of glasses of the festive beverages being served by Virginia of George Town, MN and Sherry of Nourishing Faith and Family.

December 31 – Dessert will be served by Mare of Just Making Noise and Sara of Simple Life Abundant Life

Come back here each week for updated links to each host’s contribution. We also want you to join us in the holiday fun. How does a real food recipe exchange sound? Each host will have a link-up live on her post where you can share your favorite holiday courses or grab some new recipes to try! 

Check out all the link ups here. 



Dinner Tonight

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I love this picture!

I was gone for 3 days attending a family wedding in Phoenix.  When I came home, I brought a nasty sinus infection back with me.  Not sure what I was thinking there…Anyway, today is the first day I have actually felt good in almost 2 weeks.  So of course, I spent the day in the kitchen!  Well, not all of it.  🙂  But since it was stormy and rainy it seemed like the thing to do.

Dinner menu for tonight:

Beef and Vegetable Soup

Cracked Wheat French Bread

Lemon Poundcake with home canned peaches.  Yummy!

Right now the soup is in the crockpot, the poundcake is in the oven and the bread is rising on the cabinet.  Wow my house smells good.  I’m so glad I can smell again!

I’m not sure if Beowulf and the Village People survived my unintentioned neglect, though.  Right now Beowulf (my sourdough starter) has been newly fed and is snuggled up to the crockpot.  And the Village People (my water kefir grains–there’s a lot of them and they look funny 🙂 ) have been submerged in a fresh batch of sugar water in hopes of having a lemon-lime soda-y beverage soon.  I’ve only gotten one batch of water kefir so far–hope these Village People aren’t a one-hit-wonder…Y-M-C-A…But I digress…

Things are slowly getting back to normal, although I haven’t had the energy to tackle the bathrooms yet.  Maybe tomorrow?

What’s on your menu tonight?

Chicken and Broccoli in Wine Sauce

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Last week a friend and I went to dinner at an Italian place.  My friend ordered a dish in a wine sauce and she let me have a taste.  I decided right then that I needed to come up with a recipe that had a wine sauce.  This is what I came up with using ingredients that I already had at home.

Chicken and Broccoli in Wine Sauce

Here’s what I used:

3 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces (preferably organic, free range)
2 bunches of broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
1 medium onion, thickly sliced and the slices cut in half
4 oz button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
2 c homemade chicken stock
1 c white wine (I only had a white zinfandel, so that’s what I used)
1 tsp fresh minced garlic
pinch of sea salt
ground pepper
thyme
toasted sesame seeds
Put the chicken stock, wine, minced garlic, and 1 1/2 tsp sea salt in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Continue boiling, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is reduced by about half.
While the sauce is reducing, heat the olive oil in a large skillet.  Add onions and saute until they are translucent.  Add the mushrooms and chicken.  Cook, stirring, until the chicken is no longer pink.  Put the broccoli in the skillet.  It will steam beautifully just sitting on top of everything else.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Check sauce and adjust seasonings if necessary.  Pour the sauce over the mixture in the skillet.  Sprinkle with fresh thyme and toasted sesame seeds.  Stir to distribute sauce and seasonings.  Serve with a green salad and garlic toast.
This was a really quick and easy meal and it made the house smell really good.  The kids liked it so much that they ate it all and didn’t leave me any leftovers for today! 🙁  You could serve it over pasta or rice for a more filling meal, or if you want to stretch it.  This will easily served four adults, or in my case, 1 adult and two teenagers.  I just love it when an experiment works out!
Do you experiment in the kitchen?  What has been your favorite experiment so far?
I shared this post at Simple Lives Thursday, Real Food 101, Pennywise Platter Thursday, and