Many Americans consider social media a scourge, but for a home cook, it can be a fun and informative place to get help deciding what to eat.
Sure, some of the recipes would-be influencers recommend are in fact pretty abominable -- check out @chefreactions on TikTok, Instagram or X for many, many examples -- but I have stumbled across some pretty good recipes on many occasions, too.
One that's been going viral for a while and but only recently caught my eye shines a spotlight on the creamy, tomatoey dish known as Marry Me chicken.
There are probably as many recipes for Marry Me chicken on social media as there are cooks. (Delish claims to have created the video recipe for the original dish, also known as Tuscan chicken, in 2016.) But in my opinion, the best variations hang their chef's hat on a sauce made with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and cream. Yum!
This rich and luxurious entree is a definite step above the "engagement" chicken that caused a similar stir when it made its debut in Glamour magazine in 2004. That proposal-worthy recipe -- saved for posterity in the 2011 cookbook "100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know: Engagement Chicken and 99 Other Fabulous Dishes to Get You Everything You Want in Life" -- featured a whole chicken roasted with lemon and herbs. Awesome for sure, but not nearly as swoon worthy.
I've been married for a very long time, so I'm not looking for a dish that will get me engaged. But who wouldn't want applause when they put dinner on the table? That's how Delish's original recipe made it into the latest installment of "Dinner for Four for $25."
Usually when I'm building these economical meals, I do all my shopping in one store. This time, I shopped over the course of a weekend at some of my favorite haunts to see if that made a difference. (And no, I didn't factor in the cost of gas, but maybe should have!)
First stop after downing my Saturday morning latte and Nutella mele at a street-side table at Colangelo's in the Strip District: Wholey's Market, where I found boneless chicken breast at the bargain price of $3.89 per pound. I then crossed the street and headed down the block to Pennsylvania Macaroni Co., where I found several varieties of sun-dried tomatoes to chose from. I went with a jar of Ponti sun-dried cherry tomatoes for $5.09 -- a definite splurge when your budget is only $25, but an ingredient I knew would deliver plenty of flavor.
At Aldi, I found a bag of five huge lemons for $3.89, or 78 cents apiece, and a nice package of fresh broccoli for $2.28. A bargain, considering I would only use about two-thirds of it.
The German supermarket chain known for its low prices and no-frills shopping experience (you have to deposit a quarter to get a shopping cart) also had butter -- a main ingredient in my sandwich cookie dessert -- on sale for $3.99 a pound. A bag of powdered sugar was pretty cheap, too, at just $2.09 for a two-pound bag.
"Shopping" my pantry for ingredients I always have on hand, including garlic, olive oil, spices, rice, molasses and vanilla, once again helped keep costs down. Total bill: $24.38, or 62 cents under budget.
Not bad when you consider the homemade dessert recipe makes more oatmeal sandwich cookies than a family can/should eat at one sitting.
Sun-dried tomatoes could be considered a splurge item because even a tiny jar is expensive, but their concentrated, sweet and tangy tomato goodness add so much flavor to a dish! They are certainly the star of this chicken dish that has been making the rounds on social media platforms.
Some say the entree is so good, you'll get a marriage proposal out of it. At any rate, the Parmesan cream sauce that gets spooned on top of the chicken and rice will certainly make your diners swoon.
This original recipe from Delish.com is a pretty easy dish to get on the table in quick fashion. Just remember to use a dry pot holder to take the pan out of the oven because it will be very hot; I very stupidly used a damp dish towel and now have another cooking scar.
Broccoli is a reliable veggie when you need a little something extra to round out a meal and don't want to spend a fortune. Here, it's blanched until crisp-tender and then tossed with lemon juice and zest and a pinch of red pepper flakes. I used lemon olive oil (already on hand) for an extra burst of citrus flavor.
Remember how if you were lucky when you were a kid you got an individually wrapped Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie in your lunchbox? These soft and chewy oatmeal cookies sandwiched with vanilla buttercream taste exactly the same. Actually, they're better because they're not made with corn syrup and artificial flavorings, but rather real butter and brown sugar.
It's important to let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a rack. Otherwise they will fall apart. The icing is very sweet, so you might want to reduce the amount of powdered sugar.