Spicy vodka plum chicken

I'm usually hesitant to try out a new recipe, and when I do, I don't follow it exactly. I have some oranges and plums to use in the next few days and was searching for an orange-glaze chicken recipe when I came across this. It calls for green onions, but I didn't have any so I left them out. I wasn't sure about it until I took a bite - delicious! And of course I made enough sauce (mixed it together in a dish before adding some to the drippings) that I can freeze some and marinate chicken in it later. This was a wonderful combination of sweet and spicy, plus the addition of the vodka in the jam I think made it even yummier.

Spicy vodka plum chicken
some Chinese five spice powder
several pieces of chicken
1/2 c plum jam (I made my own in the bread machine, of course - 4 plums, 2 tbsp pectin, 1 c sugar, and 1/2 c vodka)
1/2 c chicken broth
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Heat a little oil in a skillet. Coat the chicken in the Chinese five spice powder. Cook the chicken in the pan until done; set aside. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan drippings and cook until thickened. Put the chicken back in, coat it in the sauce, and cook for a few minutes. Serve over rice.

Roasty risotto

Recently I've been trying to stretch our food budget without resorting to eating crap (something I will never ever compromise on - I will let my family starve before I allow ramen into our house, no matter how cheap it is). Some of my useful methods:

• Look through all the weekly ads, make a list of what's on sale, and stock up.
• Discount meat! We have an extra freezer, so if I see a good deal I grab it and save it for later.
• Freeze leftovers for lunches.
• Reuse leftovers in creative ways - for example, meat can be thrown into chili or a casserole.

Last night we had a crockpot roast for dinner (I usually don't buy these unless they're discounted or on sale - this one was BOGO). What little meat is left will be made into chili tomorrow, along with some pulled pork from the freezer from another past dinner. But what about the broth? I'd cooked the roast with carrots, potatoes, a packet of Lipton's onion soup/dip mix, and some water. Since I didn't make gravy, I had about 2-3 cups of liquid left. Sure, I could've thrown it away, but it was really flavorful. So, I used it for roasty risotto!

Usually I make my risotto with white wine and chicken stock. This time I used red wine to compliment the beef flavor. Once cooked, I mixed in a jar of mushrooms. I think a cheese like gruyere or provolone would've been best, but all I had on hand was Italian 5-cheese blend (mozzarella, Romano, provolone, Parmesan, and Asiago), so I mixed that in as well as an additional half cup or so of Parmesan. Yum!!