vegetarian lasagna

Best Italian Food in Chicago's Ukranian Village

In my neighborhood? Don’t call me, but do eat some Italian food nearby. Click on the blue bubbles to read about my favs:

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Chicken Cacciatore Recipe

Ingredients

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs and breasts
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 cup dry white wine
2 15 oz cans tomato sauce
3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

Directions

1. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with 1 teaspoon of each salt and pepper.

2. In a large heavy saute pan, heat the [...]

Chicken Sausage and Pepper Pasta Recipe

My neighbors make a lot of noise. Tonight, I thought about throwing this at them. Glad I didn't.

This afternoon, I found a sausage and pasta recipe on epicurious.com that I basically had all the ingredients for.

By basically, I mean that the ingredients in my kitchen were a little different than what they suggested. [...]

Italian Food Cures for the Flu and Swine Flu

Will contaminating enemies with the swine flu be a new form of revenge within the Mafia?

I’m no doctor, but I’ve had my fair share of flus, both the regular kind and the Irish kind.

Here are my favorite Italian food cures for the flu (and perhaps the Swine Flu):

Italian Flu Cure #1: Ditalini Noodles [...]

Chicken Piccata

Do chickens run around after getting heads cut off?

Chicken used to make me itch all over. Now they don’t. It’s one of the few benefits of aging.

This easy-but-won’t-make-you-queasy recipe comes from the one and only cook bok my mom has ever given me. It doesn’t have a name, but it was published by the [...]

Italian Fried Chicken

Most people associate fried chicken with Southern cooking, but there’s an Italian twist on the recipe too. At least I made this one up…

Mario Batali probably wouldn't call this Italian.

Ingredients:

8 chicken thighs
5 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons spicy mustard
1 tablespoon dried mustard
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/4 cups Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup [...]

Chicken Chili

Looks gross. Tastes good.

Recently, I stopped by Cherry Republic, a cafe and winery in Glen Arbor, Michigan. (Who knew they had wineries in Michigan?)

The wood paneled eatery sells everything from cherry wine to cherry salsa. They gave me a chicken chili recipe, but I made some substitutions.

I added about half of ground beef [...]

Veal or Chicken Cutlets With Peas and Tomato Sauce

Vegetarians beware…

One way to sneak peas into your diet?

Smother them in tomato sauce and make sure you sneak a little veal into every mouthful.

Ingredients:

1 pound veal or chicken cutlets
1 egg
Lemon juice
1/3 cup white wine
1 cup bread crumbs
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 finely chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
[...]