Pollo Guisado

One of my absolute favorite foods in the whole world is pollo guisado. It is delicious, fall-off-the-bone tender chicken in an amazingly flavorful broth. You can look up a bunch of authentic recipes online, but this is how I make my own version in the slow cooker, in somewhat of a "healthified" way. All the ingredients you may not have, you should be able to easily buy in the international section of most supermarkets or definitely in a Latino supermarket, for very little. They are also good ingredients to have around to flavor other dishes (especially the adobo).

Ingredients:

• 2-4 heaping spoonfuls of sofrito (either buy the can or make it using a recipe online)
• 1-2 packets of sazon goya
• 1 green bell pepper
• 2 cups water
• A few tablespoons of adobo seasoning (buy or make your own blend with seasonings you already have)
• 2-3 carrots
• 1 onion (yellow or white)
• Chicken (any cut) equivalent to 4 chicken leg quarters, with or without skin/bones

Start out by locating your slow cooker/crock pot. If you have a small one, you can always halve the recipe, but I have a large one so I like to make a lot at a time. Add the water, sofrito, and sazon to the pot and mix them up to combine. Smell the broth. If you want more flavor, add some. At this point, you can crank up your crock pot to get it heating up. Generally, go with the high setting if you are leaving it for half a day, or the low setting if it can cook all day.

Next, prepare the chicken. I used bone-in chicken leg quarters and cut them up to separate thighs and drumsticks.  I took the skin off to make it healthier, but it will be more flavorful if you leave the skin on. You can also do this with more lean cuts of chicken (like boneless skinless chicken breasts), but just remember that fat adds flavor! Once you have the chicken prepared, sprinkle each piece with adobo on all sides, and add the chicken to the slow cooker.

 I prefer to add the pepper, onion, and carrot towards the end of the cooking process (about 2 hours before I'm going to eat it) so that they aren't too soft, but that's personal preference. Cut the veggies up into bite-sized pieces before adding them in. You can always add them sooner if you won't be around until you're ready to eat it, too. If you get around to it, stir the contents of the crock pot every so often to get all the flavors melded together.

 At this point, your home will smell like heaven... Yum. About 20 or so minutes before you're ready to eat, cook up some white rice (just not the sticky kind) in your rice cooker. I went with basmati rice, because I had some around. Now add some rice to your plate or bowl, and top it with the pollo guisado (don't forget to add some of the broth!). Eat up.

A more authentic variation on this recipe would be to add chunks of potato in with the chicken to cook, but I was trying to reduce the number of carbs in this meal. Make this recipe your own by adding different veggies (red pepper, etc). Enjoy!

Oh the Places We'll Go: Caribbean 2009

Oh the Places We'll Go! (Click me!)

Michael & I created this wonderful photobook from Pixable.com based on our trip to the Caribbean in 2009 -- We had a LivingSocial deal to create a hard cover 16-page photobook for only $10.

We traveled to Miami, St. Thomas, St. John, Tortolla, Jost Van Dyke, and St. Lucia -- all in one trip. As you can tell from the pictures, we had a wonderful time on our trip scuba diving, snorkeling, laying on the beach, hitchhiking, zip lining in a rain forest, and meeting the locals. Since it was a while ago, the dates on the Jauntlet app below are all just estimates.

Above all, I would highly recommend a trip to Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands for anyone who wants to see the Caribbean that you probably fantasize about. It's such a tiny island without much commercialization. There aren't more than a few places to even stay there. Our stay at Ivan's was completely remote and amazing -- our one room cabin was just what you'd image a beach lifestyle to be. No frills, but everything you need to be comfortable so that you can hear the waves at night and walk 10 steps to the beach in the morning. Ivan's even has an honor bar, where you can make yourself the local Painkiller drink and put it on your own tab.