off the cuff.

Today I took work off my plate and decided to concentrate on Christmas crafting. Inspired by last night's button-making party/ANTM watching at my friend Carley's house (I brought those mint chocolate cookies!), I decided to sew rickrack on my screenprinted tea towels and tie up everything in ribbon. I also had plans on making felt ornaments, but didn't get as far along as I had hoped. Before too long, it was time for dinner and I had 4 chicken thighs defrosted just waiting to be used. I wanted to make an African-style meal that had a bit of spice, a bit of sweetness and a bit of sour. I looked through my cookbooks and I spent a few runs through Google typing in various ingredients, but my search was fruitless. So I decided to tackle dinner on my own. The end results were fantastic and it was a perfect meal for a chilly evening.

I used a homemade spiced pear jam in the recipe, but you really could use anything you had handy; peach jam, mango chutney, honey, molasses would all do a fine job I'm sure! I also didn't have any onions. If I had one, I would have added one. Have fun & play!

my african-inspired chicken stew
½ c flour
salt & pepper
4 skinless chicken thighs
1 T olive oil
1 large can of tomatoes
water
1 T spicy onion soup base
½ head of garlic, chopped
1 large knob of ginger, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 carrot, sliced into rounds
1 c broccoli, chopped
1 t red chili flakes
3 T raisins
2 T spiced pear jam
1 ½ t ground cinnamon
salt & pepper
juice of ½ lemon

1. Mix salt, pepper and flour together in a plate. Dredge chicken thighs in the flour.

2. Heat olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pot. Add the chicken and brown on both sides.

3. Add the can of tomatoes into the pot and fill half the can with water and add that too. Add ginger, garlic, chili flakes salt, pepper, and onion soup base to the simmering pot and mix to combine. Simmer over medium heat.

4. Add celery, carrots, broccoli, mix to combine and cover for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Add the jam, raisins, cinnamon and lemon juice and mix well. Cover and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add lemon juice into pot and mix well before serving.

6. Serve over rice or couscous.