one for all and all for cake: What's for Dinner?

As a marriage and family therapist, I have to be pretty quick thinking when it comes to answering questions. Usually the questions I have the hardest time answering are the ones asking for my opinion or what I think. For example: Do you think my kid is crazy? What should I do about my husband's cheating? Do you think this is normal? And as a trained mental health professional, my answers are usually questions themselves. For example: What does crazy mean to you? What do you want to do about your husband's cheating? Who's to say what is normal? You get the idea.

But when it comes to the question, "What's for dinner?" I get stumped sometimes. Answering this question gets even harder with everyone's schedules in a jumble. BF fences Wed and goes back to work afterwards. Dad-in-law works over in Berkeley from dawn until after dusk and is pooped when he gets home. And mom-in-law is busy busy networking and attending meetings.

Lucky for me, I was preemptive and asked everyone what their schedules would look like for the week so that I could plan who was cooking (if there was to be any cooking at all) and what they would like to eat. I also had the notion to pre-plan when grocery shopping on Monday by buying staples to keep in the refrigerator. Things like chicken, orange juice, dried pasta or whatever else may be on sale that I could use in a variety of dishes is my main goal. All I have to do is figure out what to cook with the things I bought. So to help me with that, I go to foodnetwork.com!

My search on foodnetwork.com brought up one of the best rated dishes on the entire site: Giada de Laurentiis' Roman-style Chicken. She's got more than 600 reviews for this dish and its still rated 5 stars! The best part is it tastes even better the longer it sits! This means I gotta try it and it'll be perfect for BF and mom-in-law who will be coming home late! And it just so happens that I had most of the ingredients she listed, minus the white wine (which I actually do have in the pantry, but I'm not a big fan of wine sauces) and capers. I didn't have skinless breasts or thighs like the recipe asked for, but I did have quarter chicken that was on sale for 67 cents/lb. Chicken is chicken is chicken (unless its chicken of the sea and that's way different). I cooked this dish super early, around 6pm and just left it in the pot on the stove. As the recipe said, it definitely tasted better just sitting there.

Dad-in-law's dinner, on the other hand, did not come from a recipe on foodnetwork.com, but from the amazing place that is my brain. He likes what he likes, so cooking for him usually comprises of a meat, vegetable and rice. I saved 2 pieces of chicken for his dinner and baked them with a sesame ginger marinade and stir fried some frozen veggies in the freezer. Pretty simple and easy I must say. When everything was done, I put dad and mom-in-law's dinners in tupperware and dad-in-law swung by to pick them up. I ate my dinner while watching my Wednesday night shows and BF served his up when he got home around 10pm. Another hump day survived!

EDIT: Here's the recipe:

Roman-style Chicken

Ingredients:
4 skinless chicken breast halves, with ribs (I used chicken leg quarters w/skin)
2 skinless chicken thighs, with bones (I used chicken leg quarters w/skin)
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus 1 teaspoon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus 1 teaspoon
1/4 cup olive oil
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
3 ounces prosciutto, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes (used fresh tomatoes - cherry and roma - since it's what I had)
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (used dried)
1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves (used dried)
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons capers (I didn't have any, so I omitted these)

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves (used dried)

Directions:

Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. In a heavy, large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, cook the chicken until browned on both sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Keeping the same pan over medium heat, add the peppers and prosciutto and cook until the peppers have browned and the prosciutto is crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, wine, and herbs. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken to the pan, add the stock, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 to 30 minutes.

If serving immediately, add the capers and the parsley. Stir to combine and serve. If making ahead of time, transfer the chicken and sauce to a storage container, cool, and refrigerate. The next day, reheat the chicken to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in the capers and the parsley and serve.