Chicken Cacciatore

August 16, 2011 • Recipes

We ate. We chugged. We laughed. The tweet version of life. Food is the center of every happening. I know this well. After I had my children I dabbled in a few ideas I could do to make extra money. Making children, raising them and keeping a home was my life but filling my need to create seemed to starve in the background and beg for attention. I started out making home made soaps and skin care products out of things I could find in my kitchen. Nothing felt better to the skin than good ole’ fashioned olive oil and shea butter soap with essential oils imported from Madagascar. I was very proud when The Opry Land Hotel in Tennessee wanted to feature my products in their hotel and I’m sure if I had stuck with it success in the way of sales might have come. I spent my winters making batches of heavenly scented soap. The labor involved served to make the winters go a little faster but nothing compared to the hope and excitement that grew as I wrapped each bar to prepare for the fall craft shows. My first show was surprisingly successful. I nearly sold out of everything I had cooked up all winter long. By the way, you do cook soap. I would say it was more than I had hoped for in the way of accomplishment but in reality I never prepared myself for that thing I thought was dead in me. That thing called competition I had as a kid that gave me the will to do better, be better and win.

Even though Chayton only nine years old sold his little heart out and we loved every minute involved, I couldn’t help but notice at every craft show the line for food, any kind of food, not even home made food was always in full supply and never ending. I couldn’t help but covet that line but I wasn’t quite ready to give up my soap endeavors just yet. Afterall, I was filling the bill of providing a bit of income for us and including the boys in a lesson of entrepreneurship–at least this is what I told myself each time we attended a new show. A few years and a lot of life later, I found myself alone and needing to make money for real. I surveyed the depths of my heart and mind in hopes to find an idea perfect for my circumstances that would feed my needs of being home when the boys were finished at school but also something that would provide enough income to support us. Of course, food and that line that never ended at any and all events I ever attended made its appearance each time I thought of my career possibilities. And this is how it all began. Food is everywhere and more times than not the center of everything you do.

I recently attended church and was extremely and pleasantly surprised that you could nosh on a muffin in the sanctuary along with your cup of joe as your soul noshed on the word of God. Now that’s some heavy feeding. All I kept thinking was how easily the words of the preacher seemed to stick a little better while my belly being full and content had no reason to make its usual grumbling noises during the service. That was a first for me.

Another first, when I was fifteen I made chicken cacciatore. I suppose I spent some time in my past last night remembering my firsts and this meal came to mind. I have since beefed up this recipe even though no cows were harmed in the making of this dish. My initial version did not include wine but this baby sure does. And oh, how it lends itself nicely to forming a wonderful depth to the flavors. I’d add some feta though. For some reason my only thoughts as I slurped through this dish were it needs a pungent cheese and I think feta cheese would really knock this out. Make this your dinner centerpiece and watch the tweet version of life unfold before your very eyes. We ate. We chugged. We laughed.