A New Year's Resolution...and a Chicken Tagine

I am not the type of person to make New Year's resolutions. I don't think I've ever made one in the past, and I don't think I'll make a habit of it (mostly because I think that you can make changes any time of the year), but this year, I'm breaking my own rules. I am making a resolution to post at least once a week here. When I started this blog, I was working 10 hours a week virtually from Strasbourg, France. Now, I'm back in Kentucky (not really known as a hotspot for interesting ingredients), working full-time, five months pregnant, and trying to spend quality time with my 3-1/2-year-old daughter and husband. This hasn't left much time for cooking (or at least blog-worthy cooking).

But I miss this space to be creative, and I miss carrying on conversations with other food bloggers out there. So, I'm going to try my hardest to put what I can into writing here--and if that means only posting once a week, then so be it.

And after the trauma of my first trimester (in which I lost four pounds), I am finally interested in cooking again. Last night, I made a recipe from Bon Appétit--their Chicken Tagine with Fennel and Olives from the January 2010 issue along with their Couscous with Fresh Cilantro and Lemon Juice. Truthfully, I'm not sure why they call it a tagine since it's not cooked in the traditional tagine dish nor is it braised for long hours, but after tasting it, I don't really care! This was a fast, easy weeknight dinner that received two thumbs up from both my husband and myself, and even my daughter ate most of it. Full of flavor--just enough heat, the tang of the lemon juice, and the addition of the fresh cilantro really combined to make a tasty dish.

You can find the recipes in the links above, but I had to make my tagine with chicken breasts instead of thighs. Our grocery store was out of thighs, and since I'm not a big dark-meat chicken eater, I didn't mind the substitution. The breasts stayed moist and flavorful, though, so if you prefer those, then go for it! I would also add more olives next time, maybe even doubling the amount called for. I felt like I had to dig for them, and I really love olives.

Enjoy!

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