From My Kitchen: Date night with my grandmother.

I finally got my dinner date with my grandma. See for a long time coming I have been trying to make this happen. With my busy work schedule and school schedule I haven't had the right about of time to have dinner with my grandma. I never gave up no matter how many times we had to push the date back. Everything happens when it is suppose to right? Well, It may have taken sometime to come together, but it was more than worth it.

She arrived at my place around 3pm and for the most part I was ready. By that I mean my morning didn't quite go how I had planned and much of my prep work for our meal didn't get done. I did at least get my entrée in the crockpot before she arrived. The rest was made as we began to talk. I love talking to my grandma. I have always liked talking to both of my grandmas. We began chatting away as I prepared dessert and the rest of the side dishes. 

The kitchen for me has always been a great place to gather. My kitchen in my apartment is rather small, but I dream of the day I have a bigger kitchen in a house. When that day comes the kitchen will definitely be the focal point in my house. 

So, what was it I made my grandmother for dinner?  Well, it's a dish I have made a lot over the last year. It's a very basic dish that I found in my crockpot cookbook, but I have definitely tweaked it over the months I have made it. 

Here is the recipe:

Greek Chicken 

1 1/2 lbs of chicken (breast or thighs) 

1 lemon (I juice it and use whatever amount of juice it yields. You could even save some of the lemon to use as a garnish when you put the chicken on the plate.) 

1/4 Kalamata olives 

1/2 tsp of dried oregano 

1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp pepper 

1/2 chicken stock

1-3 cloves of garlic

For this batch I added: 

1 cup more of chicken stock

1/4 cup more of the Kalamata olives

2 cups of button mushrooms

There are a few things I need to mention when making this dish. I usually use chicken beats because there is less fat to trim off of the chicken. However, if you use chicken breast the cook time is much shorter and you may dry out the chicken if you're not careful. When using chicken thighs you can let them cook longer, but I would monitor them as well. The amount of time the recipe in the crockpot book says is 5 to 6 hours on low. I have found it doesn't take that long to cook this dish. I usually let it cook on low for 1 to 2 hours. Again when using chicken breast I go closer to the 1 hour mark. Either way 5 or 6 hours is far too long I think. You could also cook in a regular pan with a lid on low if you don't have a crockpot. 

Also, I wanted to mention the chicken should be browned on both sides before putting in the crockpot. How you do this is by putting about 2 tbs of oil in a pan on high heat. You can test to see if the pan his hot enough by flicking a little water off your finger into the pan if the oil pops it's definitely ready.  This process of browning the chicken is very quick when the pan is hot. Really your main focus with this part is just get a nice brown on both sides then putting that browned chicken into the crockpot. Please note that when browning the chicken it does not need to be cooked all the way through. The crockpot will have plenty of time to do that. 

Lastly, for the batch I made for this dinner I added more chicken stock for a couple of reasons. The first being I was adding mushrooms and  more olives than normal. The other reason being that I wanted extra both left over to add to other dishes. Sometimes I even put it on my breakfast pile of veggies. 

When served I usually put the chicken over plain quinoa. You could use pasta or rice as well. I just happen to love quinoa. I would even go as far as to just put it over some sautéed greens as well if you need to skip some calories and carbs for that day. 

Sides for this dinner are not as complicated, but just as good! Steamed green beans and some sautéed greens & red onions. Got to get my greens! 

So, after we enjoyed dinner we talked some more. I asked lots if questions about my grandmothers family history and various other things. I think it's very important to know information about your family's history. 

It was getting late and she reminded me we still had dessert to try. Why yes! How could I forget. Yes, I said "try"  because it was my first time making this dessert. I normally don't test dishes out on my guests, but when I saw the name of this recipe I wasn't too worried. Besides it takes a lot to turn a way a dessert. 

The dessert is called "Pistachio-Cherry Crumble" and oh boy did I find a gem here. With a few changes to the original recipe I made it gluten free and dairy free. I have become very good at doing this to recipes I find and I love the challenge! 

Pistachio-Cherry Crumble

Coconut butter to grease the pan

5 cups of cherries (2 lbs cherries or 1 1/2 lbs if they're pitted) 

1/2 cup sugar (I used coconut sugar) 

1 tbs fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup of rice flour

1/2 cup of shelled pistachios 

1/3 cup of quinoa flakes(it's a basically quinoa hot cearal. Like oatmeal) 

4 shelled walnuts 

1/4 tsp of cardamom

1/4 tspsalt

4 tbs of coconut butter

So, for the prep for this dish I chose to pit and cut up my own cherries. Not hard to do when you have a wonderful grandma to talk to while you do it, but there are many other options out there if you don't want to do it yourself. When the cherries are cut put them in a bowl. Then stir in 2 tbs of sugar and 1 tbs of fresh lemon juice. Then add to the greased pan. 

Then put all the remaining dry ingredients  in a food processor (leaving out the butter). Mix in the food processor for a minute or so. Then stir in butter by hand. Pour this mixture evenly over the top of the cherries. Put the pan in oven set at 350° for 25 minutes. 

When the crumble is done either serve hot or wait till it cools. You can really put this crumble over anything you think that would work, but I chose vanilla almond milk ice cream. 

We both took this new dessert on bravely and I think the verdict is that it was quite D-lish! Success. BOOM! That's how it's done my friends. It's never to late to experiment in the kitchen. Keep it wholesome and fresh because the food is the reward! 

Not only was I blessed with a wonderful guest, but I had great food to go along with my guest as well. I can never say it enough, but I'm truly so blessed. Moments like this just help to remind me. I cannot wait till next time I get to share another meal with my grandmother.  

Hmmm... What to make next? 

From my kitchen with so much love and pure D-lite. = )