When I first scanned the ingredient list of this recipe I immediately knew we would like it. After tweaking the recipe a few times, we LOVE it! One-Pot Rosemary Chicken and White Beans is not only packed with protein, but I've bumped up the produce, for a well balanced dish that comes together in no time. This has quickly become a weeknight go-to meal in our house, and after trying it I can imagine this will easily become a go-to in your house as well.

This latest version happened accidentally when JR picked up escarole at the store. I'd never cooked with escarole before, however, I'm happy this was an accidental purchase because I have a new love to work with in the kitchen. This is such a simple delicious meal, I hope you'll try it in your kitchen this week. Don't forget to serve it with some crusty bread for dipping!
 
I'm sending this post out to Jey at The Jey of Cooking in honor of her mom who received a heart transplant almost 1 year ago. Jey, I'm so glad to hear your mom receive a second chance at life! If you'd like to help Jey spread the word about her cause, check out her post here.

Here is what you'll need:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 spring fresh rosemary, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 chicken, cut into 5 pieces (drumstick, thigh, wing and split the breast into 2 pieces)
• 1 fennel bulb, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 28 oz canned plum tomatoes, low-salt or no-salt added preferred
• 15 oz canned cannellini beans, rinsed
• 1/2 head escarole, rough chopped

Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season chicken with rosemary, salt and pepper. Sear chicken in dutch oven for 3-4 minutes on each side until browned. Remove the skin and move all the chicken pieces to one side of the pot (stack it up if needed).

Add fennel and onion to the pot, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften and brown about 5-8 minutes. Add garlic, stir and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.

Rearrange chicken to evenly distribute among vegetables in the pot. Add wine to the pot, allow to simmer and scrape bottom of pot with wooden spoon to remove browned bits. Add tomatoes and their juice, and crush with wooden spoons. Add beans, stir and cover. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10-15 minutes.

Remove cover, add escarole and stir. Cover and allow to cook for 10 minutes. Serves 4.

Source: Adapted from Cooking Light

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup sofrito or recaito
• 2/3 cup diced ham
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 potato, diced
• 4 oz mushrooms, diced
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 packet Sazon
• 1/2 tsp adobo
• 4 oz. tomato sauce
• 15 oz. can of beans, drained and rinsed

In a medium sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add sofrito and cook until fragrant.

Add ham and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned.  Add carrots, potato and mushrooms.  Continue cooking until slightly browned.

Add chicken stock, bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking ~5 minutes until vegetables are halfway cooked through.

Add remaining ingredients, stir, reduce heat to medium low, cover and allow to simmer 10 minutes..  You will want to be sure there is enough liquid throughout the cooking process.  If the liquid has reduced too much, add chicken stock or water (we like our beans a little soupy) to keep the beans from mashing together.

After 10 minutes, taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.  Cook another 5 minutes.  Serves 4.

As you're reading this post, I'm in Costa Rica and perhaps I have eaten this dish today.  Last weekend, I started getting really excited about our upcoming trip so I decided to make a traditional Costa Rican breakfast for us to chat over as we planned the final details of our trip.  Gallo pinto is part of the traditional Costa Rican breakfast, and in preparation of our trip I decided to try my hand at cooking it. 

As you can imagine, just like with any traditional dish, there are several variations to be found.  I settled on this one, and am really glad I did.  We eat a lot of rice and bean dishes, and this may be my favorite yet.  The big distinction in this preparation is that some of the vegetables are added close to the end of cooking which helps them retain their freshness and add so much flavor.  I can't wait to see how close this dish comes to the real thing. 

Here is what you'll need:

• 3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 cup Goya medium grain white rice
• salt to taste
• 1 small or medium onion, diced and divided
• ½ small red bell sweet pepper, diced and divided
• 3 tsp chopped fresh cilantro 
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup, 1/2 can, black beans, liquid reserved

In a large pan on medium high heat, add 2 Tbsp olive oil and saute dry rice for 2 minutes, stirring as needed.  Add salt.  Add 1/2 of the diced onion, 1/2 of the diced pepper and cilantro to the pan and saute minutes, stirring as needed.

Add chicken broth to the pot.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover.  Cook for 20 minutes, resist any urges to lift the cover, until rice is tender.

Once rice is done, push rice to the edges of the pan leaving a well in the middle.  Add 1 Tbsp of olive oil to the pan inside the well, add remaining onion, pepper and beans.  Stir and saute for 2 minutes.  Add 1/4-1/2 cup of liquid from the beans to moisten the mixture and give it color.  Serves 4.

I had no intention of blogging this dish until I was in the middle of cooking it and the house smelled amazing!  I'm a big fan of Meseidy from The Noshery blog.  When she posted this recipe it went on my long list of meals to make.  I am so glad that this made its way to the top rather quickly since JR and I love garbanzos.  This was a winner and will definitely become part of our meal rotation.

Recently JR asked me to cut back on the spiciness in our dinners, so I substituted a smoked sausage for the chorizo.  I also cut back the amount of garbanzos used and served this over rice.  The only thing this meal was missing was a side of avocado!

This would also make a great vegetarian meal by omitting the sausage, increasing the garbanzos and using vegetable broth.

The changes I made are included here:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 12 oz. smoked turkey sausage, sliced
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
• 1 Tbsp capers
• 2 Tbsp white vinegar
• 1 15oz can garbanzo beans
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2 roma tomatoes peeled, seeded and diced (or 1/2 cup of canned diced tomatoes)

Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add sausage and brown on both sides.  Remove sausage from pan and set aside.

Add pepper, onion and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown.  Add cilantro, stir and allow to cook 1 minute.

Add capers, vinegar, beans, tomato sauce, chicken stock and tomatoes.  Reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

Add sausage to pan, stir and allow to simmer an additional 10-15 minutes.  Serve over rice if desired.  Serves 4.

Source: Adapted from The Noshery

I just love spring and summer salads.  Today I made 3 of them; fruit salad, potato salad and this Balsamic Strawberry Couscous Salad which I found on Prevention RD blog.  I could have happily eaten spinach, strawberry and goat cheese salad for lunches again this week, however, I decided to switch it up which helps keep me from getting bored.

I made a couple changes to the recipe.  I used black beans, since I had 1/2 a can leftover, and an herbed goat cheese, since I had no fresh herbs on hand.  And since I'm on a spinach kick, that made a perfect bed for this salad.  This is absolutely delicious, and will keep me fueled this week.

My changes are included here:

• 1 1/3 water
• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• salt to taste
• 1 cup dry couscous, prepared according to directions

• 2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 oz herbed goat cheese, crumbled
• Baby spinach leaves
• Scallions for garnish

Bring water, olive oil and salt to a bowl in a small saucepan.  Add couscous, turn off heat, cover and allow to cook 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork and set aside to cool.

Place strawberries in a large mixing bowl, sprinkle with sugar and balsamic vinegar.  Set aside a few minutes, until couscous is cool.

Add couscous, beans and goat cheese to strawberries, carefully mixing to combine.

Serve over spinach, which a few snips of scallions for garnish.  Serves 4.

Here is an easy salad I made up last summer when I was looking for something quick and easy to serve with empanadas.  I made this again recently to go with these Grilled Honey Tangerine Sandwiches.  I love that it is not only easy and delicious, but healthy and protein packed.  I always make the full recipe since this is a perfect for lunch the next day.

Here is what you need:

• 1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup frozen corn, cooked and cooled
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 2 Tbsp diced red onion
• 1 handful cilantro, chopped

Mix all ingredients together.  Chill until ready to serve.  Serves 4-6 as a side.

No, this isn't Puerto Rican rice and beans as you may have initially thought.  Even though that's what we eat most often in our house, I saw this recipe and decided to give it a try.  Not only do we love beans, we also love chicken sausages and I'm always looking for new ways to use both in meals.  Bonus, this is a quick weeknight meal!

JR really liked this, but I'm not sure if I like the cumin in it.  It has nothing to do with the recipe, rather my struggle with cumin which is why I used so little.  Next time I may omit it.

 
I made a few changes to the recipe which I included here:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 14 oz hardwood smoked chicken sausage
• 2 1/2 cups of cooked pink beans (about 1 1/2 (15 oz) cans)
• 1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup chicken stock
• salt and pepper

• 1 1/4 cups medium-grain white rice
• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• salt

In a 3 or 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat, heat olive oil.  Add onion, celery, pepper, salt and pepper to taste.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables softened and begin to brown.  Add sausage and continue cooking, stirring frequently until sausage begins to brown.  Lower heat to medium.  Add garlic and cumin, and continue cooking about 1 minute.

Add beans, tomatoes, and broth. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thick and the flavors have blended, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, add rice, 2 cups of water, a pinch of salt and olive oil to a medium pot.  Cover pot and turn heat to high.  Bring to a boil, then immediately turn heat to low.  Let cook about 15 minutes until you see air holes form throughout the rice. Fluff with a fork.

Serve beans over rice.  Serves 4.