kitchen happy :: meat in marinade

:: handsome painting outside The Chicken Pie Shop ::

like i said yesterday, most of the recipes that we have tried from Not Your Mother’s Make Ahead and Freeze Cookbook by Jessica Fisher are basically marinade for meat.  at first i was thrown off because it didn’t seem like all that much of a help.  and the cooking instructions were to grill the meat.  i know that Jessica lives in Southern California where it’s always grill weather, but for those of us who live in less sunny places, grilling is certainly a seasonal event. but these recipes work great as a slow simmer on the stovetop or in the slow cooker.

our favorite, most versatile recipe is Spicy Southwest Chicken.  all winter i’ve use fire-roasted canned tomatoes, but am looking forward to fresh this summer.  we also cheat on the jalapeno, preferring to add our heat individually.  this dish can go southwest or it can go Italian–very flexible.

and like i said yesterday, the flavors of each marinade are the inspiration for the rest of the side dishes.  it has made meal planning much easier.  we’ve even started eating move vegetables because it’s easy for me to imagine how they coordinate with the meal and i have the energy to fix them!

and through May 18th, *you* can enter to win a copy of the cookbook for your house!