CEiMB and BB - Chicken Cacciatore and Easy Sticky Buns!

In the Barefoot Bloggers group, Melissa of Made by Melissa chose Easy Sticky Buns from Ina Garten's Back to Basics and the recipe is on page 240.
Recipe: EASY
Results: Phenomenal
I had all the ingredients already in my pantry so set-up was a snap. Be SURE to try these.

Frozen puff pastry is like the best thing to ever happen to my food stock. I use it on my chicken pot pies, desserts, and now Ina has shown me I can make sticky buns with it! I LOVE it.

It is easy to roll up, and then you just cut them into spirals and put in your muffin pans on top of the butter, brown sugar, and pecan mixture and bake. Then you get these fabuloso buns!
And NOW for CEiMB!!! Drum Roll. Drum Roll.

This week in our Craving Ellie in My Belly group *I* got to choose the recipe!!! Don't EVEN think it is easy to choose! It is such a big responsibility, plus there are so many good recipes to choose from and so many considerations. What appeals to many, would be easy on the budget, and really tasty? After tossing all that around in my head, a few loose nuts and bolts flying around in a normally blank atmosphere, I developed a headache and had to stop and eat a sticky bun. Then I finally just made an executive decision and chose the Chicken Cacciatore. As luck would have it, some friends were coming over for dinner and I thought they would be the perfect taste testers.

My post today has no structure or continuity whatsoever. So in keeping with that, before we talk cacciatore, let me tell you I first served a great fruit dip along with some pineapple, apples, grapes, strawberries, and pretzels. I wanted to show off my new chips and dip dish that my friend Heather gave me for Christmas. The dip recipe came from a friend on GreatCooksCommunity.com. It was a mixture of sour cream, cool whip, instant lemon pudding, and amaretto. It was delicious with the fruit, but I personally liked it best with the pretzels! It is so good you could just eat it with a spoon! And we did after the fruit was gone.

Now then, back to the CACCIATORE. The recipe was very easy to follow and the chicken was very tender. I did add an extra can of crushed tomatoes because the sauce seemed a bit watery. I served it with Ellie's Green Beans, Mushrooms, and Shallots as a side, along with a green salad, some parmesan potatoes, and garlic bread.
It made a healthy looking plate, didn't it? Lisa, don't take ALL the potatoes!! Wait, this one is lacking the cacciatore sauce. Sarah, where is your sauce? And this is the ONLY picture I got of the cacciatore! Bummer!

I would highly recommend you try this, even in the middle of the week on a work night.

Finally, for all you who love crock pot dishes, try this link for some great recipes. http://www.50plusfriends.com/cookbook/crockpot/index-5b.html

Chicken Cacciatore

Cook Time:
35 min

Serves:
4 servings

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.