On Friday, there are no after school activities, so we usually rent movies and eat pizza. But because Eva didn't have Irish Dancing class last Sunday (because of Sarah's Fundraiser), the makeup class is today from 5:30-6:30 (why oh why do these things have to be during dinner time!?!) Well, I have some leftover chicken that I need to use up anyways, so I'm going to try this recipe from the Betty Crocker site.
Southwest Chicken and Couscous
A home-cooked chicken dinner in a skillet can be on your dinner table in less than 30 minutes.
Prep Time: 25 min Total Time: 25 min Makes: 4 servings
1 cup frozen bell pepper and onion stir-fry (from 1-lb bag)
1/2 cup Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers™ Niblets® frozen corn
1/2 cup Old El Paso® Thick 'n Chunky salsa
1 can (15 oz) black beans with cumin and chili spices, undrained
1 package (9 oz) frozen cooked southwest-seasoned chicken breast strips
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups uncooked couscous
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (or parsley if you don't like cilantro)
1. Spray 12-inch nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Add stir-fry vegetables to skillet; cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until crisp-tender.
2. Stir in corn, salsa, beans and frozen chicken. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is thoroughly heated (break up large pieces of chicken with spoon as mixture cooks).
3. Meanwhile, heat water to boiling. Stir in couscous. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 5 minutes.
4. Fluff couscous with fork; spoon onto serving plates. Top with chicken mixture. Sprinkle with cilantro.
Make the Most of This Recipe With Tips From The Betty Crocker® Kitchens
Substitution
If you don't have the stir-fry vegetables, use a combination of one or more colors of chopped bell peppers and onion to equal 1 cup.
Substitution
Use your choice of mild, medium or hot salsa to make this dish as mild or spicy as you like.
What did the kids eat? Well, they tried this, but didn't really like it. They had the couscous and the mini calzones that I had made for their after school snack. Well, it was meant to be an after school snack, but then the phone rang and it was important and 40 mins later, I was back at it. It was a good thing, though, since they didn't like tonight's dinner. I just used pizza dough, pizza sauce, and mozzarella cheese.
My favorite pizza dough recipe:
1 package regular active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsps)
3/4 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1 cup Gold Medal® whole wheat flour
1 cup Gold Medal® all purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1. In medium bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in flour, sugar, salt and oil. Stir with fork until
dough forms. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead 12 times. Return to bowl. Cover; let
rest 20 minutes.
2. Heat oven to 425°F. Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray; sprinkle with the cornmeal.
Gently push fist into dough to deflate. Spray hands with cooking spray; press dough into 15x10-
inch rectangle on cookie sheet or roll out and cut into 6" circles.
3. Cookie Sheet: Bake 8 minutes. Spread pizza sauce over partially baked crust to within 1/2 inch of edge. Top with your favorite toppings.
-or-
spread about 1tsp of sauce to within 1/4" of edge. Sprinkle with cheese on one side. Fold in half. Crimp with fork to seal.
4. Bake 10 to 15 minutes longer, or until cheese is melted and edges of crust are golden brown.
-or- Bake about 10 minutes longer or until golden brown.
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Speaking of Irish Dancing, tomorrow, Eva and I are going to the Pat Roche Feis (fesh) in Chicago. Eva isn't competing yet, but I thought it would be nice for her to see what it's all about before she goes to her first one, sometime in Jan or Feb. But, we have to leave the house by 5am, groan, so that means I've got to make food up ahead of time so we can be on time (and so that everybody else gets fed in this house!). So tonight, I'll make up waffles. The next morning, just pop into the toaster!
It's Saturday and we're always busy. I made pancakes for the triplets while Eva was at choir practice. Then I made a hotdog and carrot sticks for Eva before I took her to hip hop and the trips to swimming at the Y. After the trips swimming lesson, they have family swim, so we stayed and swam for an hour before we had to leave. Got home, got Eva dressed for an irish dancing show and we were off! I had made pizza dough out of my favorite recipe and stuck it in the fridge. When I got home, I just split it into two pieces and rolled it out into a 14" circle. I made two, thin crust pizzas with that recipe!! The pizza on the left was half cheese, half cheeseburger. The pizza on the right I used the leftover slow cooker chicken, some chopped green peppers, some chopped onions, and some sliced black olives. Sprinkled pizza cheese (mozzarella and colby) and some chili powder on top. Baked at a 475 degree oven for 12 mins. YUMMMMMM!!
