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.


Comments

Cathy said…
Peggy, the chicken cacciatore was a FABULOUS, FABULOUS pick!!!! This might well be my favorite Ellie recipe yet (and I've been cooking a ton out of that cookbook trying to figure out what I should pick for my week -- yes, it is indeed an awesome responsibility) We LOVED this! Your sticky buns and fruit dip look great, too!!!

Thanks for the great pick, mi amiga.
Pamela said…
It was a great choice, PEggy. We really, really enjoyed this one! And I can't wait to make it again.
Anonymous said…
I made this last night and had to do two different versions, so it was a bit more work (keep having to add and wait) than I like on a week night. Unfortunatelly, my husband who had the real bird, said the chicken was tough.. could Price Chopper have sold us a "tough old bird"? But both of us enjoyed the sauce. I used vine ripe fresh tomatoes instead of canned. Good pick!
Shelby said…
Yum! I could eat it all!
Sara said…
I need to make those sticky buns! The chicken looks great, cacciatore is such a classic italian dish, somehow I never think to make it!
Maria said…
Nice pick!! Everything looks wonderful!
chocolatechic said…
I just loved those sticky buns.

They were just way to good!
MacDuff said…
So glad you loved this! And it's hard for me to see all the Barefoot Bloggers recipes. I mean, come ON. I'm doing Elli because I want to lose the weight I've gained from Dorie, but then you put STICKY BUNS from Ina on your blog? You guys are killing me!!!
Jennifer said…
Thanks for picking a fabulous dish this week! And I am sorry you had a weekend of cooking disasters! Hopefully next go around, the dishes will all meet your expectations!

I think I need the recipe for those sticky buns...they look so good!!!!
Jennifer said…
Well they didn't eat the cacciatore, but they ate the chicken! Seriously, it doesn't matter what I fix...the cats are trying to steal a piece of it off my plate! Oskar got a piece of broccoli the other night and went to town eating it. Cats and broccoli....they really are insane and will eat anything. You would think I don't feed them!
MacDuff said…
GIVE IT UP FOR GINORMOUS BREASTS GIRLS!!!!!!

We should start a club.
Unknown said…
This was tasty, thanks for a great pick! I will surely add this one to my dinner rotation.
Sara/Imafoodblog
Amanda said…
Great pick, Peggy!!! I'm sure your friends loved it!! I'm going to try that fruit dip!!
NKP said…
I have heard lots of good things about the chicken cacciatore, I will have to try it soon.
Your dinner looks awesome, as does your dessert!
ps, you can have Jack, Sawyer is all mine!
Audrey said…
After reading all the rave reviews, I want to try this too...and now that we know you know Cathy, for real, we want some dish about her...:)
Anonymous said…
Awesome pick. We loved it. I will definately make it again.
Anonymous said…
puff pastry is the greatest thing ever.

and i love ellie, i've tried many of her recipes with nothing but awesome results.
Suzie said…
I'm with you on the puff pastry - a pack lines in my freezer!
Anonymous said…
I love puff pastry too. Congrats on picking your Ellie dish! It cracks me up reading all of these posts that have dual members... sticky buns made with 4 lbs of butter (jokes) and a healthy dinner.

~Cat
The Blonde Duck said…
I can't pick which one I like more. So I'll have both. :)
Deb in Hawaii said…
You sticky buns look fabulous and I might have to try the chicken from Ellie's book too. Great job!
Leslie said…
Thanks for picking this week! I agree, the sauce was great! I think next time I'd swap Rotel tomatoes for a bit more punch. This made a ton of food! Can't wait to try the cinnamon rolls!
Nancy/n.o.e said…
Peggy, this post was chock-full of info and reporting! And lots of delicious food. Whew, you did a lot of cooking - I can never do that many recipes for company. I end up too tuckered out!!
Nancy
Marthe said…
Yum.... Lovely rolls!! They look so delicious. I think I still have some pastry in the freezer....

You're right: I did change the layout of my Blog, I felt like something a bit more bright and colourfull

The chicken also looks tasty, sorry I had to miss out on this months CEiMB, but I've been soooo busy. I hope on cooking with you again in February!
This was such a good pick Peggy. Great job!

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