no commute - you rent the apartment downstairs 
very blue right now, the husband of one of the chorus gals passed away this morning. He’d been ill for years and she’d been taking care of him pretty much full time. Poor CG is going to be completely lost for a long time. We’re hoping she doesn’t drop out from grief, but uses us as a support mechanism. I’m going to the wake tomorrow evening
I don’t know if anybody caught my post, but about two weeks ago I came here fishing for some easy potluck recipes to make for the RV Park biweekly potlucks here (I’m in an RV so the easier the better.).
I got a couple of good potluck suggestions from some people here, but I got it in my head to make a mediterranean lamb stew, and although it would have been a nice treat, it was really economically prohibitive (lamb for 15 is very expensive.) So, instead, but working off the same Mediterranean stew idea, I came up with my own version of Chicken Cacciatore.
Although it tasted really good- I think, with the spaghetti pasta mixed in to the big pot for potluck service it just looked really unappetizing and was passed over- very little got eaten. But honestly, it was really tasty and reminded me of the “gravy” recipes here, so I thought I’d include my recipe. It’s an economy, one-pot recipe too, and will feed a lot of people with all of the ingredients coming in at less than $20.00.
Two-Day Chicken Cacciatore Rosemarie
16 chicken thighs
1 large can of Progresso Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
3/4 bottle of white wine
2-3 tbsp. of olive oil or vegetable oil
1 package of sliced Baby Bella (portobello) mushrooms
8 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
2 medium yellow onions chopped
4 or 5 green onions chopped (scallions)
2 sprigs of fresh Rosemary (one sprig stripped and chopped fine)
1 Tbsp. of sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Seasoned Flour for dredging the chicken thighs
Dredge the washed chicken thighs in the seasoned flour and pat off the excess flour. Brown the chicken thighs, skinside down in the hot oil in a large dutch oven or soup pot (5 minutes or so). Remove the chicken thighs to a plate when the skin is thoroughly brown and crispy. Add the chopped yellow onions, mushrooms, and garlic to the oil and drippings and sautee until the onions are translucent. Add the can of tomato paste and sautee with the veggies and oil to concentrate for another couple of minutes.
Add the chicken thighs back to the pot and pour in the can of Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes, about a half of a bottle of white wine (or until the chicken is just covered) and add in the finely chopped sprig of Rosemary. Bring to a rolling boil and turn down the heat to low for a light simmer, cover and let go for three hours (You might need to stir it occasionally and skim off the excessive chicken fat, but not all of it…leave some for flavor.)
Now this is why I call it two-day cacciatore, after three hours, turn off the heat and let the pot come down to room temperature and then refrigerate overnight. The next day, put the covered cacciatore on a low simmer for another three hours* and tuck in the extra sprig of whole rosemary, just before serving add the chopped green onion. Serve over your favorite pasta.
*The chicken thighs will start falling apart and self shredding at this point as you stir the pot. You can easily pick out the bones.
If the sauce starts to dry out, add a little white wine as needed.
Thanks taxi and ellen for the pasta recipes. riggs taters (N.O.T.) recipe and taters’ boobs sound nummy, too.
Oh, and your recipe sound great too, devil. Maybe using a different pasta like rigatoni would work better from the visual standpoint.
I would like a cleaning lady. I would not clean beforehand. She could gossip to anyone she knows for all I care about it. Think about it…after the first week, it it’s dirty, it’s her fault. 
I am soooooo readdy to go home. Let the weekend (for me) begin.
Dangit Devil, now I gotta eat lunch* again*!
Sorry about your pals Hubby Rosy, give her our condolances.
My sympathies to you too Rigs
I usta always get into the lottery ticket pool at the place I used to work. I didn’t at first, but then I realized that if they won, and all quit, I’d be the onliest one left there and I’d hafta do alla their work too! So I figured I’d better cover my butt, so to speak.
I ain’t touching this one. But I’ma thinkin about it <snerk>
Bumba, that’s why I always kick in a coupla bucks for work lottery pools. I’m grumpy enough as it is, that if I were the one left behind, well, I’d be intolerable.
That avocado pasta dish sounds…FAAAAAAABULOUS.
Oh, go ahead! Like I didn’t throw it out there for that 'zact reason.
**FCD ** is staple free! YAY! And Mom made us a yummy lunch. And Bernie is home. And the garage door opener is dead again. Oh well, 3 outta 4…
Today started out really foggy, but it’s pretty and mild at the moment. A teaser before the second half of the weekend when the temps plummet again. <sigh>
Did I mention my ceramics class starts back up this Saturday? I can’t wait to get my hands in the clay again. This session’s plan (at least for me) is for oil lamps. And maybe candle holders. But definitely oil lamps - not Aladdin-style. If I can make them work as I’m envisioning, I may be able to sell them. If not, the whole family will be getting weird oil lamps for Christmas this year.
That’s all I’ve got for now.
Except rigs - My daughter got a new car on her 16th over my objections. But I did get input, and she has paid for virtually all of her own maintenance and part of her insurance (we told her we’d cover insurance while she’s in college) FCD’s thinking was that she’d been a good kid and worked hard at school and held down a job, so she’d earned the car. I still wish we’d gone for a used car, but the kid is still driving it almost 5 years later, and she has been responsible about it. But if I had been left out of the loop, I’d’a been majorly pissed.
This morning, for some reason lost in the mists of time, I chose to wear earrings. I haven’t worn earrings since about October, as I recall, and my ears itch. Maddeningly.
That is all.
I’d just gotten my ears repierced in Jan (the holes closed up because I went more than a year without wearing earrings) So my 6-8 weeks is up and I cannot get the piercnig studs out - not because they’re stuck or anything - but the back is very tight on the post and my arthritic fingers can’t grasp them well enough to pull them apart. <sigh>
So many yummy-sounding recipes on a day i’m going out for dinner!!! I wanna cook. The orientalish noodles, yum. The avocado pasta, yum. The chicken-tater (N.O.T) casserole, yum. Mr. Tater’s boobs (OK, not his personal ones), yum. Rosemary-chicken pasta, yum. What’d I miss? Yum.
I’m supposed to meet a friend for dinner at 6:15; not sure I’ll make it that long.
Hey rigs, it’s not too soon to get your daughter started on some good financial habits, especially if she’s going to be indulged by Daddy… There are lots of personal finance books and websites out there that are targeted to young people. Might want to find a way to get her looking at some of these so that she realizes what she’s doing when she spends $20K on a car. Losing massive amounts of money driving it off the lot, for one thing. Losing the opportunity to earn money on the money. Hope everything goes well with hubby. Keep us posted.
I’m ultra-cheap. As much as I would love to have a cute brand new car, I can’t justify it. There are ever so many better things to spend money on. I’m currently driving the newest car I’ve ever had. And most expensive, I think. (Can’t remember how much I paid for it, but less than 10K. It’s a 2001 model and I bought it in 2004. It’s actually a color I like, for a change (pleasant shade of green). I’ve always focused on making sure the car could get me from point a to point b safely and dependably.
Well…guess I need to do a couple things before I leave for din-din.
GT
We are back from the DMV and she is a licensed driver in the state of IL.
We are going to draw up the Rules tomorrow. Dad brings the car home tomorrow as well.
I am better about the having of it now, but the other issue is not going away. We are going to talk tonoc. I’m so sick of the whole thing, but it needs to be done.
I’ve got a big pot of sketti sauce simmering on the stove - made with baby portobellos. It smells nummy. I figure I’ve got at least 4 or 5 meals in that pot. I’ll let it simmer for a couple more hours, then let it cool, and tomorrow, I’ll divide it into freezer bags, leaving out enough for dinner tomorrow. Yum.
Garage door still stuck open. I’m going to pull the car out and shut the door manually. Stoopit opener. Guess we’ll have to replace it after all. It must have figured out that we just got our tax refund. Sneaky, stoopit opener.
Ugh, this is one of the reasons I stopped wearing earrings. Well, that and the fact that my daughter literally ripped one of the hoops from one my ears when she was a baby. That really, really hurt… A LOT.
I discovered that I could only wear real gold. I couldn’t wear surgical steel, or any of the cheap earrings. If I did choose to tempt the fates and wear cheap earrings, my ears would start itching, then they’d turn red, puffy and pussy. All this in less than two hours.
So, I no longer wear earrings…sigh.
It’s a nickel allergy, most likely–and very common. I have that too. It’s a pain.
Wow, rigs, all I can say is 
. Hope everything goes well for you.
Can’t think of any pasta dishes right now, thats Hubby[sup]tm[/sup]'s job, but I will share this. For dinner tonite is something we have no name for. Hubby[sup]tm[/sup] cut up some chicken boobies into bite size pieces, and dumped them into the slow cooker with diced maters, 3 cans of beans: black, pinto and garbanzos. Seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika and maybe a bunch of other stuff, then served over rice. Way yummy.
FairyChatMom - thanks for the welcome. I don’t go anywhere without dessert
anyrose -sorry about your friend’s husband.
anyrose -sorry about your friend’s husband.
Mom-
Sounds like your opener and my neighbor’s door have been chatting. I’m just hoping mine’s not listening. It works, but was installed at a strange angle so the opener’s body hits me in the head if I’m not paying attention when in the garage. I think the water heater’s been making so much noise that it’s drowning out any other voices in the machines.