Chicken Kapama: White Girl Version

Guess what we did after school today?  Went to the grocery store.  Aren't you proud of me?  I got a menu and list together this morning.  That's right, it didn't take me three days to organize it.  No new recipes this week.  I'm cookin' with what I've got and what I know.  Five meals for $50 bucks.  Not bad, eh?  I'm kinda obsessed with saving money at the grocery store.  I could do a whole months worth of posts outlining my meal planning and coupon cutting.  Seriously.

The Girl's birthday is this month and I've got a Joann's shopping list.  Therefore, we're eating meals revolving around what we've got in the house.  AKA, cheap eats.

I'm sure if you've been reading for awhile, you've picked up on my meat issues.  I wouldn't necessarily call them "issues", but I can see where you might get that.  When I make spaghetti sauce, I never use ground meat.  Sometimes I'll make some meatballs to go with it for the other members of the house, but never in the sauce.  I prefer it to be tomato sauce, not meat sauce.

This dinner can be adapted to fit your taste preferences.  I always make my sauce the same, but it isn't your typical spaghetti sauce.  It's delicious though, so you should try it at least once.  I use it for any recipe calling for marinara.  Of course, you can certainly tell me to piss off and use the spices and seasonings you would normally use.

Here's my version of Greek-style spaghetti with chicken - if you need exact amounts, or have any questions, shoot me an email and I'll try to answer them the best I can.  I just dump when I'm cooking things that are in my head.

Depending on how much you're making, pick a saucepot accordingly.

Saute up some diced onion in olive oil until it's starting to soften.

Stir in minced fresh garlic and cook until fragrant.

I don't always have these on hand, but this time around, I added some of my oven roasted tomatoes that I chopped up.

Then you dump your canned tomatoes in.  

Use whatever you want or have.  

I've used stewed tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, pureed tomatoes, a combo, etc.

Add in enough tomato sauce to the consistency you like.

Add a glug of red wine and your seasonings.

I use a cinnamon stick (ground works too), a few whole cloves (ground will do), Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Depending on the brand of tomatoes, sometimes I'll throw in a bit of sugar.

Stir everyone around and then nestle in your chicken pieces.

I've used bone-in, but it's more of hassle to dig the bones out.

I like boneless, skinless thighs the best.

Put a lid on it and let it simmer until you're ready to eat.

Mine went for about an hour and a half tonite.

Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Serve over spaghetti noodles - or any pasta you like - with Myzithra or Parmesan cheese.

We had ours with a mixed green salad and bread.

Here's dinner on my plate:

The chicken literally falls apart.