Friday, February 5, 2016

Quilter's Fuel: Captain's Chicken

My mom had this go-to recipe when I was a kid and she didn't have a lot of time or creative energy at her disposal (usually when my sister and I were driving her nuts). It's a good comfort food that's perfect for chilly nights. She called it "Captain's Chicken", though years later she would admit that wasn't what it was originally called and she has no idea where "Captain's chicken" came from. It was originally called "spicy chicken bake" or something, but I don't know why, because there's no spiciness to it at all. Unless you add cayenne pepper. Which is something my husband does frequently.



Captain's Chicken:

1 cut up chicken (or legs and thighs)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/3 c flour
1/2 tsp paprika
olive oil

1 medium white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 c. chopped celery
1 can stewed or diced tomatoes (14 oz)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, mix the flour, salt, pepper, and paprika. Coat the chicken on all sides with the flour mixture. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or frying pan and brown the chicken on all sides. Place in a single layer in a large casserole dish and set aside.

Put the canned tomatoes in a food processor and pulse two or three times to chop up the tomatoes coarsely. Set aside. In same pan the chicken was cooked in, heat a bit more olive oil and cook the onions and garlic until soft, about 3 minutes. Then, add the bell pepper and celery and sautee about 5 minutes more. Add the chopped tomatoes and herbs and heat until bubbling. Pour over the chicken in the casserole dish and put the dish in the oven. Bake 30-40 minutes until bubbly and chicken reads 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Serve over white rice.

Sensory toys: sound

Sound is a funny thing if you think about it. We can detect so many different frequencies and intensities with our ears. The same note can sound vastly different when played by a flute than by a cello or even a piano.

I decided to make a quick sensory shaking toy for my daughter. I got a 12-pack bead holder from my local craft store. I made sure to get the screw-top ones so it would be harder for her to open.

I also got some beads: rainbow beads and letter beads.

When I got home, I gathered some more materials: some seed beads, some metal clasps, a pipe cleaner, some lace, and a few rocks from outside.

Then I filled each one with a different material. I tried to use different things in each one, and I even filled a few with poly-fil so it would look full, but not make a sound. Just a few little things for baby to explore.

She likes it! She likes stacking and shaking them, especially the one filled with rice. She also likes putting them back in the box they came from.