Chicken and Beef

But not together. Although I have made beef and turkey meatballs and it was fine.

On Friday I made chicken cacciatore. One of the cooking clubs I'm a part of had this recipe and although it wasn't the week for it, I had chicken and wanted to make it.

I really like the colors of this dish

I didn't use as many bell peppers as the recipe called for because one was hidden in the back of my fridge, so I thought I had already used it. (Which is why I'm making it again this week.) I also used baby portobello mushrooms because I prefer the taste over regular mushrooms. You couldn't really taste it, but it's flavor melded together with everything else. The chicken I didn't coat in flour before browning because I don't think it's necessary. It was tender, the sauce was wonderfully seasoned (I added a little more oregano and some whole capers), and although I didn't have any fresh basil and forgot to add dry basil, it didn't mess it up (that's Italian parsley on top). There was a slight nip from the red peppers that I really enjoyed. I served this with fettucini and next time I'm making a salad to have before it.

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On Friday I made beef stew with biscuits. This again was seasoned properly and had essence of whatever red wine I used and coffee, plus the herbs and such. The broth didn't taste like Campbell's canned tomato soup but a robust broth that perfectly suits stew. The ratio of beef to vegetables was perfect, as I don't like too much beef.

The recipe I use for biscuits is a baking powder version off the back off a large Rumford Baking Powder tin. This recipe is amazing, as I've never made biscuits that aren't light, fluffy, tall, and crispy on the outside. No dense hockey pucks here! I made this with Smart Balance shortening because I don't prefer to ingest large amounts of trans fat (or any amount, really, but sometimes I do). I'll type out the recipe in another post because I very much want you all to give this a go and tell me what you think.