If My Mother Could See Me Now -- Chicken Picadillo -- My Way

My mother was a good cook. I could hardly boil water. But, as I work on this new cookbook, I am tackling more complicated recipes.

I think that mom would have liked this dish.

Adapted from original recipe from Dinners_Cookbook_508-compliant

Ingredients

2 tblspns olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

4 chicken thighs, if possible remove skin

1/3 cup tomato sauce (no salt)

1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth (use 1/2 cube chicken or vegetable bouillon)

1/3 cup lemon juice or lime juice

1/4 tspn ground cumin

a few raisins

Garnish of choice

Parmesan cheese

Garnish choices: fresh cilantro, capers, green olives, chopped

Process

Gather all the ingredients together.

Make spaghetti or rice, first.

Save the spaghetti water, if possible after draining.

Add olive oil in skillet, set at medium heat.

Add onion, bell peppers, garlic, cook until soft about 5 minutes. Note, I added a little of the spaghetti water to keep the vegetables from burning.

Add chicken, cook for 5-10 minutes until chicken is cooked (no longer pink inside).

Add tomato sauce, broth, lemon juice.

(I used a coffee cup and added the tomato sauce, then the broth using 1/2 a bullion cube and spaghetti water, then the juice of 1/2 a lime and topped it off with more spaghetti water.)

Add cumin and raisins.

Cover, reduce heat to a simmer, cook for 10 minutes.

Serve with rice or spaghetti and black beans.

Add garnish and parmesan cheese.

Notes

I got off to a good start by collecting all the ingredients in the same place. Plus, I started chopping the onion and green pepper as I made the spaghetti.

Unfortunately, my electric stove top seems to have two temperatures, boiling hot and warm.

While I think the dish came out good and I love olives, they were a nice touch, next time, I think I will punch up the curry powder.

But, I am beginning to see a problem. I am making too much food for me to eat, better start calling friends over for lunch or dinner.