Recipe: Moroccan Chicken with Almonds, Apricots, and Cauliflower Couscous

Last week, I planned on making this Moroccan Chicken dish in the crockpot. Let's just say that I'm not always the best at reading through ALL the steps of a recipe (especially crockpot) ahead of time. And that morning, armed with all of the ingredients but with only enough time to dump everything in the crockpot and go (because that's what crockpot recipes should be, right?!), I realized there was a lot more cooking involved than just dumping and going. Oops. So, a seemingly "easy" crockpot recipe turned into an afternoon of cooking. And in all honesty, the cooking wasn't as complicated as I expected AND I personally think it tasted better than the crockpot version. Here is my conversion of the crockpot recipe above to a dutch oven recipe. :)

Moroccan Chicken in the Dutch Oven

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp avocado oil
1.5lbs bone-in chicken thighs, skins removed
salt and pepper to season chicken
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup chicken broth
6 dried apricots, chopped 
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted and crushed
1 tsp cilantro, minced
1 tsp lemon zest
cauliflower rice (I bought the bag of organic frozen cauliflower rice from Trader Joe's)

Directions:
heat oil in the bottom of a dutch oven 
over medium high heat, brown chicken on both sides, 3-5 minutes per side, remove from pot once browned, decrease heat to medium
add onions and garlic to the pot, stirring around to release fragrance, add carrots and spices from ginger to pepper, stirring well for a few minutes
pour white wine and quickly deglaze pan, add the chicken broth, heat to bubbly and then simmer
add the apricots and chicken back in, let simmer for 30-45 minutes until reduced and chicken cooked through
serve with cauliflower rice, top with almonds, cilantro, and lemon zest

Weekly Meal Planning Aug 28-Sept 1

We have a short (by a half day) week and an upcoming long weekend! So I'm not planning anything for the weekend yet because who knows what adventures it will hold! Our kids have Tuesday off as well, which works out because it's my oldest's birthday. So we are going to take advantage and celebrate lots!

Our Tuesday and Wednesday after school are full of activities this week so we will be trying out a Zoe's Kitchen family meal thanks to a coupon I received from my sister. You get a choice of an entree plus two sides to feed 3-5 people. Oh and it's close to the girls' activities/school. No brainer, right? And then I'll cross fingers for leftovers. :)

Sunday: family dinner at my mom's - fennel salad, green salad, roasted chicken drumsticks with roasted veggies, red rice with a meat, tomato, and eggplant topping
Monday: leftovers
Tuesday: Zoe's Kitchen family meal
Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: similar to this grilled summer salad but with hardboiled eggs instead of chicken

Weekly Meal Planning Aug 21-27

TGIF! Now that we have one full week of school under our belts (and some exhausted kiddos!), this upcoming week is the first full week of school PLUS activities. Here we go! Wednesdays are our "full" days. Thankfully the girls have early school dismissal that day, but they jump right in to their activities and go strong until 6:30! So I will try to make sure we always have leftovers or something easy to pack and take with us. One child will eat while the other has a class/practice and vice versa.

Sunday: birthday dinner for brother-in-law
Monday: crustless broccoli quiche
Tuesday: chicken enchilada casserole 
Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: slow cooker Moroccan chicken with almonds, apricots, and cauliflower "couscous"
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: out with friends 

What's on your menu?

Vacation Eating

Vacation eating...always tricky. How do you handle meals on vacations? Do you take a break from cooking healthy foods and let yourself (and your kids) go wild? 

We went on a weeklong trip to the beach with my sister and her family. There was a total of nine of us. We decided each family would cook two meals and then we would eat out the remaining evenings. On the first night, we ordered pizza because there was no time to cook after we arrived. After that, we each cooked meals similar to how we would at home -- wholesome, fresh meals that included healthy options. Did we go out for ice cream more than we do at home? Of course! Did we have a cocktail (or two or three) poolside? Of course! We chose to indulge but also kept a relatively balanced week. And especially on vacation, balance is key! We didn't want to come back and have to completely undo the damage that we created on vacation by going wild on junk but also didn't want to be too strict about our eating (or our kids'). 

How do you vacation? 

Weekly Meal Planning Aug 14-20

The first few days of school went by fast! This is the first full week, so this will really get us back into a good routine. I'm trying some new recipes this week, and some of them are making me want fall weather to hurry up and get here! 

Sunday: Cuban picadillo, rice, steamed lemon broccoli
Monday: vegetarian lasagna from the farmers market
Tuesday: leftover lasagna
Wednesday: okra and tomato stew, rice
Thursday: balsamic chicken and veggies, greek salad
Friday: leftover okra and tomato stew
Saturday: at a birthday party

Do you have new recipes that you've tried out successfully recently? 

Weekly Meal Planning Aug 7-13

It's already here...back-to-school week! In all honesty, I'm not sure I'm ready for it. But here we go! At least it will get us back into a routine. I've tried to continue meal planning weekly during the summer but it is definitely easier during the school year! Here is what we have for this week. We are trying out a new recipe - the banh mi rice bowls. If you've never had banh mi, you are missing out! (If you're a local, get the banh mi from Lee's Bakery. It is so good.)

Sunday: grilled sausages, roasted broccoli, butter beans  
Monday: mac n cheese with peas, kale and peach salad
Tuesday: out for tacos (a night-before-first-day-of-school tradition)
Wednesday: banh mi rice bowls
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: make-your-own grilled pizzas
Saturday: at a school parent social

Little Hands Making Zoodles