Some like it hot.

Chipotle Agave Glazed Chicken with Herbed Israili Couscous and Cheesacon Corn

Looks pretty un-assuming and harmless right?  Be warned!  This was an easy meal that Blake helped me put together last night.  He's such a good baster!  Cook your couscous according to package instructions.  I always swap out low sodium chicken broth for water to add extra flavor and depth.  When it was done cooking I added in the zest and juice of a lemon, some fresh ground pepper, and some cilantro.  It perfectly cut the heat of the chicken.  For the corn I used frozen corn, added a tablespoon of butter, bacon salt (you read correctly) and fresh ground pepper.  Hot out of the pan I added some sharp cheddar cheese to the top and it was good to go.  The chicken was baked with a mixture of adobo sauce and agave syrup.  Add a little salt, pepper, and garlic to the marinade and baste every 10 minutes while your chicken is in the oven (350 for 25-30 minutes).  At the end use the pan juices to top your chicken and add some extra kick to your plated meal.  That's all she wrote!  Super simple, nutritious, and yummy in the tummy.

Xo-Wife of Wright

I may not have a voice, but I have a blog. Same difference if you ask me...

I have not had a voice for three days now.  Writing on the blog is keeping me sane at the moment because I can hear my voice as I type.  Something I can't do when I open my mouth and attempt to speak.  I had my doctor call in some medicine for me yesterday afternoon and when I couldn't get it last night I picked it up this morning on my way to work.  When I got to work and read the indication on the medicine label it said "May cause drowsiness and dizziness."  Perfect.  Long story short, I still have not taken any medicine and I cannot wait for this day to be over so that I can put on my cozies, crawl on my couch and get all crazy drowsy and dizzy on it!  Party at the Wright's!

Last night when I got home feeling all sorry for myself because Wal-Greens didn't have my medicine ready I decided to make something new to cheer myself up.  I wanted something cozy, warm, and yummy.  I came up with this.

Garbanzo y Arborio

It's basically an Italian version of Red Beans and Rice.  Only it's Italian white beans and plump yummy Arborio rice (normally used to make rissoto) with Italian sausage.  Oh my goodness did it turn out good.  The flavors are deep and rustic, but not overwhelming.  I don't know why someone didn't think of this sooner, but I'm glad they didn't cause now I can take all of the credit (as far as I know).  Blake and I both think we like it better than the traditional stuff that I normally make.  It is so filling and so comforting and quick and easy to make.  It's even good for you!

Here's the recipe:

Garbanzo y Arborio

(Italian White Beans and Rice)

1 lb. ground chicken/turkey Italian Sausage

4 strips of bacon (I use Oscar Meyer Center cut-very lean and tasty)

2 cloves garlic-minced

2 bay leaves

4 cups of chicken broth/stock- I use low sodium

1 8oz can of tomato sauce

2 cans of Garbanzo beans-drained and rinsed

Salt and Pepper to taste (I did not add any salt, only pepper, but season according to your taste.  In my opinion the broth and bacon will make it salty enough.)

1 cup Arborio Rice

1 tbs. olive oil

1tbs. butter

Start the water for the Arborio Rice.  1 and ½ cups water and a tablespoon of butter and 1 cup of Arborio rice.  Bring to a boil, stir, reduce heat to simmer for 20 minutes.  At the end of 2o minutes remove from the heat and let sit with the lid on for 10 minutes, fluff with a fork and leave with lid on until ready to serve.

While the rice is cooking start your sausage and bean mix.  Pour one tbs. of olive oil into the pan on medium high heat.  Add your diced bacon.  Fry until almost crisp.  Add the Italian chicken/turkey sausage.  Crumble and cook until no longer pink.  Add minced garlic and two bay leaves.  Stir.  Add broth, tomato sauce, and beans.  Stir to combine.  Let come to a gentle boil and cook down for about 20 minutes.  Add pepper to taste.  Remove bay leaves before serving.

Serve over the Arborio rice with crusty bread on the side. Or cornbread, it's all I had on hand last night and it was delicious.   

Serves 4-6

Recipe by: Gena M. Wright a.k.a. Wife of Wright

I hope you all love it as much as we did.  Let me know if you make it and what you think.

Xo-Wife of Wright

Gena vs. Giada

Sidenote:  All of my pictures that have to do with food are of the food itself, or of me eating it.  I think I need to work on getting someone to take some of me cooking it.

Sidenote #2:  I totally look this put together when I'm at home cooking too.  Seriously, I tell no lies.

While both Giada and I are Italian, have names that begin with G and end in A, and love to eat, let's be honest.  There's really no competition between Giada and I.  That would be silly for a number of reasons.  Reason #1-I don't know Giada DeLaurentiis.  Therefore, realistically, there cannot be a competition.  Reason #2-Giada went to Le Cordon Blue in Paris, France to become a chef.  I went to my own kitchen to become a cook.  Reason #3-She has a number more years of experience and that whole born in Italy amoung fabulous cooks thing going for her.  Reason #4-I don't want to compete with her.  I adore her and her cooking and learn a lot from watching her shows and reading her cookbooks.  With that being said, here is my interpretation of one of her fabulous dishes I made last week.  Believe it or not, this was yet another "We haven't been to the grocery store so I need to work with what I have in my freezer/fridge/cabinets night." 

Giada's Carbonara

Which one is mine, which one is hers?  It's un-canny right?  I mean I know you want to dig into BOTH pages fork first and pig out!!  In case you really can't tell, and I'm sure you can, my dish is on the right.  This version of carbonara is absolutely lovely and different from traditional carbonaras.  You start by making a basil aoli in the food processor, there is no bacon or peas, and the fried egg to top it off is pure heaven.  I tweaked mine a bit due to ingredients I had on hand and it was still so, so good. 

Please make this soon.  It is a very fast recipe.  I think it only took me 30 minutes from start to finish.  Blake loved it and wanted the leftovers for dinner again the following night.  You can find the full recipe here.  Ciao!

Xo-Wife of Wright

Happy Friday from ole' four tooth Castellano...

I had you wondering what you were going to find right?  I only look a little excited to pet that goat.  I wonder what my mom was thinking?  I hope you all have an amazing relaxed weekend!  More recipes to come on Monday.

Xo-Wife of Wright

Who wants breakfast for dinner??!! And then maybe for breakfast again...

Last night as I stared into the fridge that is becoming more and more sparse I had an idea.  I saw the can of Pillsbury thin pizza crust in the back of the fridge.  I also saw some ground breakfast turkey sausage in the drawer.  Oh look, we have bacon.  Is that some leftover goat cheese?  Score, some hard boiled eggs!  And dinner was born, or at least I hoped what would become dinner was...Here it is folks:

Breakfast for Dinner (or breakfast) Pizza

Ewww-weeee was it good!  I put fresh ground black pepper and some olive oil on the rolled out pizza dough and then par-baked it according to the package directions for five mintues at 400 degrees.  While the pizza was in the oven I cooked off my ground breakfast turkey and strips of bacon.  When the crust came out I layered on the turkey sausage, crumbled bacon, diced hard boiled egg, and finally the crumbled goat cheese. Right before I put it back in the oven I topped it with more ground black pepper, some smoked paprika, and a little splash of olive oil to keep it from drying out.  Back into the oven at 400 for 10 more minutes and we were in breakfast pizza heaven.  Both Blake and I like it hot and doused ours with a little hot sauce before we dug in, but that's totally up to you.  Like I said yesterday when I was talking about the tartletts, you could mix and match this anyway you want.  Add more veggies, crack your eggs on raw and let them set up in the oven so you would have an ewwey gewey yummy mess of eggs and bacon on crust (salivate here), or throw on some scrambled eggs with lots of cheese.  The possibilities are endless.



Giddy up breakfast for dinner cowboys and cowgirls!

Xo-Wife of Wright

Tarts schmarts.

A couple of weekends ago on a Saturday morning I wasn't feeling the old eggs, bacon and some sort of potato that we usually have and I decided to get creative.  I have six adorable mini tart pans that I rarely use that I wanted to incorporate into the meal for Blake and I.  I came up with this:

Prosciutto, Sun Dried Tomato and Potato Tartletts

Aren't they adorable?  If you are on Facebook you might have seen them already since Blake posted them right before he ate his that morning, but I had to share here as well.  Instead of a traditional pastry type crust I used my mandolin to thinly slice some Yukon Gold potatoes I had.  I lined the bottom of the tart pans with the potatoes over lapping them slightly.  Next I placed them into a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes to proof (set up) the potatoes slightly.  While they were in the oven I beat together 4 eggs, sliced up prosciutto, diced sun dried tomatoes, a splash of heavy cream and some salt and pepper.  Once the proofed potatoes came out of the oven I poured even amounts in each tartlett and put them back in the oven for 20 minutes or until set.  They came out so cute and tasted delicious!  Not too bad for making something up as I went! 

Give these a try this next weekend, or at least some variation of them.  Blake and I agreed they would be perfect with a salad for lunch or dinner as well.   If you don't have a tartlett pan (regular size or mini) use a pie dish and go the quiche route.  Don't worry too much about specific ingredients either.  I think using a mixture of any kind of meat with veggies would be scrumptious.  Think sausage, green peppers and mushrooms.  Or smoked salmon, capers and cream cheese.  We almost always have eggs, potatoes and some sort of meat and veggies on hand.  They're a great way to use up leftovers, or a good go to when the pantry and fridge are low. 

Xo-Wife of Wright

Back in the saddle again.

Happy New Year! 

I have been off for the past 11 and 1/2 days and with that freedom I un-intentionally completely seperated myself from the computer.  I had more e-mails today that I ever thought possible.  Given, a third of them were spam.  The weird thing was that I didn't miss my e-mail one bit.  I did miss sharing on the blog and seeing up to date news, but besides that, never once thought of it. 

This made me wonder, what has changed about me over the past year?  I used to take the time to check my e-mail over the weekend, and also on any weekdays that I had off or felt under the weather.  Now, not so much.  Whatever that has changed about me in the past year to inflict this change, I'm all about it.  I don't like our cultures dependency on electronics and knowing every little thing at the speed of light. I'm not implying that it's not convenient at times because it certainly is, but until a month ago Blake and I didn't even have phones that could do anything besides make a phone call.  Sure it's nice to touch your phone screen three times and see what movies are playing and at what time, but it's also nice to crack open the newspaper, smell the ink, and search out some afternoon entertainment. 

So I guess realizing today that I had gone so long without the joys of the computer helped me gain a little perspective.  I appreciate the convenience of technology and the knowledge that it can provide.  I especially appreciate the platform it has allowed me to share my thoughts, ideas, and love of food to all of you.  All of this is to be taken with a grain of salt though.  I need to remember to slow down, write a card to mail, read a newspaper, crack open a new book.  Enjoy all of the things that have been around for generations.  Then when I'm done I can boot up the computer, update my status and come over to the blog to let you know all about it.  Remember to have the best of both worlds.  I think it's completely possible.  Here's to 2011 friends...Ain't life grand?



Sunset on Lake Hefner-Oklahoma City, OK

Xo-Wife of Wright