Creole Skillet Dinner

Chicken Broth

Whole Wheat Rice

Red Onion

Minced Garlic

Chili Powder

Ground Turmeric

Bay Leaf

Red Pepper

Green Pepper

Green Onions

Fresh Parsley

Dried Basil

Dried Thyme

Hot Sauce

Butter

Mushrooms

Tomato

Frozen Peas

Chicken Breast

Lemon Juice

Toasted Almonds

The cookbook calls this one “Creole Skillet Dinner” – I might call it an American Paella.  If you read the original description of this blog, one of the things we like to do is pick a labor-intensive dish to make on Sunday nights.  Today was a cool, crisp day that feels almost like fall.  So we decided to make something hearty.  Well, this dish is certainly that.

The whole house smells delicious after this preparation.  Chock full of fresh vegetables and rice, this dish is filling and satisfying while remaining really good for you too.  This would be a great dish to serve a hungry group on a cool day.  Plus if you like hot sauce, this will really warm you up.  The recipe actually doesn’t call for much heat, but we served ours with hot sauce to taste.  We just felt it should have some kick if it’s going to have Creole in the name.

It isn’t too hard to make either.  So I shouldn't scare anybody away by calling it labor-intensive.  I just mean that it has a lot of ingredients, and I did a lot of chopping fresh veggies.  But you get the rice going in the chicken stock along with the first group of ingredients and let that simmer for 20 minutes.  While that’s working, you can sauté the peppers and mushrooms with the second group of ingredients.  

Add all that together and let them marry while you cook the chicken in lemon juice.  Combine everything and top with toasted almonds and serve.  Invite your friends or family over because this meal fills a crowd. 

See what I mean by "American Paella"?  The chicken stock and turmeric give the rice that yellow color, much like the saffron does for paella.