Cooking Thursday: Pesto Sausage & Orzo Skillet

 

Hello Friends!

I hope you're having a wonderful Friday Eve! Yay for the weekend ahead. I think the weather is supposed to be pretty decent here in the northwoods too. I sure hope so for the sake of a lovely Mother's Day. 

And I'm so excited as our dear Annie is supposed to roll in from college today. Yippeee!! My momma heart is doing a jig of joy. 😊💗

Today I thought I'd share this skillet I kind of made up after seeing some things that were similar on different places in social media. 

It's a pretty straight forward dish and has pesto and some caprese flavors involved. 

Here are the ingredients I used:

1 pack of caprese flavor chicken sausages

a handful of cherry tomatoes (sliced in half)

half of an onion

3 garlic cloves

a carton of chicken stock

1/2 of a small box of orzo (although next time I'd use only about 1/4 of the box or so)

3 big TBSP of pesto

parmesan cheese to taste

I think this is really more of a method and feel free to use the ingredients you prefer (Italian sausage, chicken, different veggies etc) But I started by heating up a big skillet to medium high with some olive oil. I added onion, and the sausages and sauteed a few minutes. Then I added in the garlic and tomatoes and cooked until the tomatoes started to soften up. While you're getting this going fill up a sauce pan with chicken stock and bring to a boil. Then throw in your orzo and cook to package instructions and when done drain and set aside as you continue cooking.

Once everything was getting nice and browned I deglazed the pan with just a little bit of chicken stock. Feel free to do a little wine here instead - whatever you like. I think cooking should be open too interpretation and it should be fun to experiment and play around. 

Once that had reduced a bit and all the flavors were melding I threw in some pesto and some sprinkle parm cheese and mixed it all together.

Then I took the cooked orzo that was set aside and stirred it into the skillet.

 

I drizzled ours with some balsamic glaze and then sprinkled on a bit more parm. We had it with a nice green salad and it was delish! 

Have a wonderful weekend ahead dear Friends. For those Moms that will be celebrating - Happy Mother's Day blessings to you. And for those that struggle with that day, please know you are seen and loved. 😍

It's going to be a busy one once Annie rolls in. I will make the visits to you all as soon as i'm able. 

Enjoy!

xoxo

Cooking Thursday: One Pan Bake Glazed Chicken Thighs in Coconut Jasmine Rice

 

Hey there Blogland Babes!

Thank you so much for all of your kind words about our Hawaii trip. It was so amazing! We feel incredibly blessed for it all. 

Can you believe tomorrow begins another new month?? May is almost upon us and I'm so excited to begin the lovelier warmer months ahead. Bring on the sunshine, planting flowers, sitting out on the deck to watch the sunset, long walks, and getting docks and boats in the water. I feel like it all begins in May. And the bay is open now - yay!! Geese and ducks have been swimming away down there. Grass is even starting to turn green. 🌸💚

For a recipe today I thought I'd share this one I made last night. We both absolutely LOVED it!! And it was really easy as you just dump everything in a 9x13 pan and bake. We have a lot of Asian ingredients around as we make lots of things related to those flavors. But no ingredient is too weird or difficult to find. We will absolutely be making this one again...it's just so good! I'm dreaming on eating the leftovers tonight. 

It's a recipe for Glazed Chicken thighs and jasmine rice with coconut milk and potstickers. I found it on social media by simplecleanfit_whit. 

It was really easy. I dumped jasmine rice, coconut milk, chicken stock, ginger and garlic in the bottom of the 9x13 and stirred all together. Then nestled in boneless skinless chicken thighs. Seasoned up the chicken. Then brushed on a sticky glaze. Added some frozen chicken & veggie potstickers. Drizzled all with sesame oil and covered with foil and put in the oven to bake. When it was almost done I took off the foil, sprinkled on paprika (gives good color too) and baked uncovered another 5 mins or so. Then take out and rest for a few mins and then dig in! All the yummy juices go into the rice and Matt literally said "I could eat the that rice all day and then lick the pan too!" I think that's a glowing recommendation if I've ever heard one. Lol

All ready for the oven

All golden and baked up and that rice filled with flavor.

We topped ours with some chopped green onion and a little drizzle of chili crunch. But it's so tasty you wouldn't even need to top with anything. 

I love making different things and trying different flavors. A fun departure from the ordinary. 

I hope you try it! 

xoxo

Here's the recipe: