Muffins and Danish and Bread, Oh My!

      Neither Luis nor Marjorie had good days at work today. I felt bad because I did not have treats with which to comfort them. We did the next best thing, talked about what they would like me to make for them. Luis agreed if I made muffins with streusel only (no fruit) in them they are called coffee cakes, Marjorie described a danish that someone brought to work today; it had purple and green schmutz on it( I love when she says schmutz). She just knew no one would eat it, but alas, it was gone by noon. I was then reminded by both my dear ones we were running low on home baked bread.

     I spoke to my both my contractor and super today and it seems we are a go to have the leaking pipe in my kitchen repaired Saturday and the renovations in my kitchen  begin 2/25. GREAT! I was supposed to begin selling hot lunches from my home catering business about a month ago but  realized on New Year's Eve, while  having a real hard time cooking rice and chicken for 30 people, my stove could not keep up. This was further confirmed when my muffins took an hour to bake that according to the recipe, should have baked in 25 minutes. I'm going to see my financial planner 2/15 review numbers and cash flow and make sure I stay focused on becoming a home based catering business. Time to get busy.

The Chicken Game

    When I want to try out a new recipe its a process to say the least, especially with chicken. My husband does not like chicken cooked in liquid.  He likes it fried, grilled, or baked.  "Please honey", he begs, " just no stews or soups." So when I found this recipe for chicken cacciatore I knew I had my work cut out for me. It became an even greater challenge because the day I made this recipe, my Valentine's day gift (which was just beautiful) arrived.  It was going to be a hard sell. This recipe is an adaptation of Rachel Ray's recipe from her 30 Minute Meals Cookbook. As the Spice of Life cook I had to make this recipe my own. I encourage you to do the same.
     The original recipe calls for boneless skinless chicken breasts and thighs. They are cooked then sliced. I chose to use boneless skinless chicken legs and thighs. I boned them myself, kept the thigh and drumstick in one piece, then whole after cooking before adding to the stew. I'm sure you can find out how to bone a chicken leg somewhere out there on the Internet. Unless you have a really good sharp knife, buy the meat boneless.

Quick Chicken Cacciatore

 Prep time 10-15 minutes
Cooking time 20-30 minutes

Equipment:1- covered sauce pan
                     pot for boiling pasta
                     small  covered stew pot

6-boneless skinless chicken legs preferably with thigh and drumstick intact rubbed in balsamic vinegar.
2-portabello mushroom caps cut in half then sliced
3-garlic cloves minced
1-medium onion chopped
2-pinches of red pepper flakes
1-28 oz can of chopped tomatoes in tomato puree
1- handful of chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 to 3/4 cups of good dry red wine.
2-tsp dried basil
2-tsp dried oregano
3-bay leaves
3-tbs evoo divided
S&P to taste
Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese when serving

Start a pot to boil for pasta on a rear burner.  Heat a sauce pan on high heat, then add one tbs of olive oil. When oil is hot, add your chicken, cook for 5 min on each side cover then set aside.  While chicken is cooking heat a  small stew pot on medium heat, add remaining oil.  When oil is hot, add onions, garlic and pepper flakes.  Saute for 2-minutes then add sliced mushrooms.  Stir all to coat mushrooms in oil, then cover and cook for 5-min.  Add pasta to boiling water, cook until al dente.  Mushrooms should be soft and have released a dark liquid, if not stir, cover and cook for another 2 min.  Add tomatoes, wine, parsley, oregano, basil and bay leaves, S&P.  Cover and cook for 5-min.  Sauce should be reddish brown color.  By now the covered chicken should have released its liquid, put chicken in the stew pot.  Stir up liquid from chicken in sauce pan getting up any bits from pan then add to stew pot.  Cover pot and cook on high heat for 7 minutes.  Taste and readjust seasonings as needed.  Place cooked pasta in a large pasta bowl, pour stew on top.  Serve with grated cheese.  Serves 4-6.

Note: dried herbs give big flavor when boiled, adjust seasonings to taste.
BTW: My husband loved the recipe. Good taste always wins.

I'm a caterer?

  Today  I did 8 loads of laundry, hand washed blouses and made a quick dinner. So much for my plans to make croissants! 
 I've made many transitions in my adult life, but working from home, creating and keeping a schedule that keeps you on track is hard.  So when  I got an email today asking if I was available for an event in May, I thought, finally a catering moment. Of course I was tempted to tell the person I would get back to them after I checked my schedule, but who are we kidding.
   When you start a catering business pricing your menu becomes important because you have to know your profit margin. The general rule of thumb is cost plus 2/3. The formula comes in handy. I know I can offer a $5.00 lunch special with 2 pieces of chicken, a portion of rice, packaged cutlery, food container and bag within this profit formula. When I'm asked if I can do a boxed lunch  for $7-10/person, I can confidently say yes to $8.50/person. Let's see if this offer is accepted. Stay tuned.

Making peace and bread.

Good Bread

I have finally made peace with my daughter and my oven. I will do her laundry and my oven will give me the most beautiful loaves of bread in the world. My brunch guests say it best. "This is really good bread!" I hope you will follow me and my blog as I continue my journey learning how to start a catering business from home.

About Me

Welcome to my blog! My name is Rosa Alicea and Spice of Life is about the transformation of a 50ish diabetes nurse educator turned caterer. Maybe more importantly, this is about my decision to follow my passion for cooking after a lifetime of caring for others.

I realized after being home for a while that I had been cooking for 38 years, and as far back as I can remember, cooking has played an integral role in my childhood experiences and is present in many of my fondest memories. Growing up in New York, I was exposed to diverse cultures and foods. As I continue to reminisce, I recall spending focused time learning to cook certain cuisines in order to perfect them, like Chinese, Greek, and Italian. When I had my daughter I vowed to learn to bake and I did. In fact, I baked all the bread we ate for a number of years.

My daughter graduated from college in May of 2012, my husband works as a science teacher, and I was working really hard at taking care of people who really didn’t care as much about taking care of themselves as I seemed to. After reviewing our budgets and options as a family, some tears and much prayer, I GOT FIRED!  So I guess you could say that the universe helped me along in my decision to follow my passions.

So now I’ll be sharing my journey—along with many fabulous recipes—with you on this blog as I begin yet another career as the owner of my own home catering business.  Although it’s very daunting to put that in writing at this early stage, I have come to understand as a traveler through this marvelous journey called life, it’s better to enjoy the process than to overly focus on the desired end! I hope you will enjoy each step of this culinary adventure with me and in turn share your thoughts and experiences along the way.