Spicy Greek Aromatic Chicken

This was a great supper! It was for sure a flavour I have NEVER tasted before! It is strongly spiced, so if you don't enjoy cinnamon, cloves and allspice in your food, this might be too much for you. For those of you who like to try something different and new, TRY THIS. Here is what you need:

• 4-8 pieces of chicken, skinned
• 1/2 lemon, cut into wedges
• 4 tbsps olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced finely
• 1/2 cup or dry white wine
• 400g canned chopped tomatoes with juice
• pinch of sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• salt and pepper
• 400g canned artichoke hearts, cut into halves
• 1/2 can of black pitted olives

Step one:
Rub your chicken pieces with the lemon. Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan. Add the onion and garlic and fry for a few minutes. Add the chicken pieces for 5 minutes, or until browned on all sides. We had about  6 pieces of chicken, we just hadn't added them yet.

Step two:
Add the wine and the tomatoes with their juice, the sugar, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, salt and pepper, and bring it to a boil. Now cover and let it simmer on medium heat for 45 minutes to an hour. You want the chicken to be tender. If medium heat is too high you can turn it down a bit.

Step three:
Ten minutes before the chicken is supposed to be finished add the olives and the halved artichoke hearts. Cook for the last 10 minutes then serve it hot! Enjoy this excellent Greek dish!

xoxo
 Have a great week everyone!

Excellent Baked Greek Fish

Good afternoon! Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, I know I sure did. Dan and I went snowboarding with some friends on Thursday night. For Christmas I bought Dan a snowboard (which he knew about wayyyyy before Christmas because I SUCK at surprises..) because I needed someone to go snowboarding with! Quite selfish, I know. haha. Anyways turns out Dan learns quickly! After only a few times he has no problem going down any hill and soon he will be better than me! We only live about 10 minutes away from a great mountain..so you can't beat that! I hear people complain ALL winter long about how much they hate the snow and that they are already counting down the days until summer. I think that we need to get more active during the winter and enjoy this wonderful country of ours! Come on, there are so many amazing winter sports. Snowboarding, skiing, skating, and snowshoeing to name a few. What is your favourite winter activity?

          Along with a great weekend of snowboarding Dan and I tried some yummy new recipes. This one is from a new Greek cookbook I got for Christmas. Our cookbook collection grew alot over the holidays! haha. I like to modify the recipes a tad, so that they are somewhat my own. Here is what you will need to make this recipe yourself:
-2 tbsps olive oil
-2 onions finely chopped
-2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
-2 carrots. sliced thinly
-2 celery stalks, sliced thinly
-2/3 cup of white wine
-400g canned chopped tomatoes
-pinch of sugar
-1 tsp of lemon juice
-1 large lemon, sliced
-salt and pepper
-2 tbsps chopped fresh parsley
-1 tsp dried marjoram
-2-3 lbs of tilapia (or bass, red snapper, or sea bream)

Step one:
Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onions and garlic, and fry until softened. Add the chopped carrots and celery. Fry them for about 5 to 10 minutes, until lightly softened.

Step two:
Add the white wine and bring it to a boil. Add the tomatoes and their juice. Next add the sugar, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Simmer together for about 20 minutes. Now add the parsley and the marjoram.

Step three:
Place your fish in a lightly greased baking dish. Pour the veggies around your fish (mine also went on top of the fish). Season everything with salt and pepper. Sprinkle some fresh parsley on top to make it look pretty and place the lemon slices on top of everything. Bake the dish for 45minutes to an hour at 350F.

Yes. This was a delicious dinner, and lunch the next day. Try it :)
 I just want to encourage you all this new year to make good food and eat healthy. Make something that you have never made before. I also encourage you to get outside and try to enjoy this winter. Step outside your box this year. Have a great rest of your day!
xo
       

Greek Quinoa with Avocados

I love quinoa. It's a great side dish and it is so good for you! We had some ripe avocados so we found this recipe and loved it! Just last night Dan asked if I could make it again....sadly we didn't have avocado so it didn't happen. Here is what you need to make this yourself..tonight!

-1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, with 1 cup of water. Cook as directed on bag. Make sure you rinse the quinoa before cooking.

-2 tomatoes, chopped

1/2 cup of chopped fresh spinach

-1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

-2 tbsps lemon juice

-2 tbsps olive oil

-1/2 tsp of salt

-2 rise avocados , chopped

-1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Step one:

-Cook up the quinoa as directed on the bag.

-Put your tomatoes, spinach, red onions and avocados in a medium sized bowl.

Step two:
Once the quinoa is cooked add it to the bowl with the veggies.

Step three:
-Add the lemon juice, olive oil and salt.
-Stir it all up and add the feta cheese! yesssss

Enjoy this with a yummy meal. We ate salmon and asparagus!

xo