Mole Chicken or is it Chicken Mole

I've fallen in love with Cook's Illustrated's line of cook books. They have very good recipes along with cooking tips/styles to help make sure things come out right. This one is adapted from their The Best International Recipe: Chicken Mole

You'll need:

• 2 Ancho Chiles
• Olive oil (~3 tbsp)
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1 oz dark chocolate, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced or put through a garlic press
• 2 c chicken broth
• 2 cup diced tomatoes (or 1 can)
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1/4 c tahini
• ~1 lbs chicken breasts, skin/bones removed. If large, slice to 1/2-3/4" thick

To do:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place chiles on a baking sheet and bake for 5-7 minutes, until puffed
• Remove chiles to cool, leave oven on.
• When chiles are cool, break into small pieces after removing stem and seeds
• Heat oil in skillet on medium head until shimmering
• Add onion and saute until soft, 5-7 minutes
• Add chile pieces, cinnamon, cloves, and chocolate and cook until chocolate is bubbly, about 2 mins
• Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds
• Add in broth, tomatoes,raisins, sesame seeds, and tahini and cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally
• Transfer to a blender or food processor and process until smooth, about 20-30 seconds
• You can let the sauce cool and keep it in the fridge at this point for a few days
• Set oven to 400 degrees
• Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper
• Arrange chicken in the bottom of a shallow baking dish
• Pour sauce over the chicken, turning the pieces to make sure they are coated.
• Bake uncovered for 35-45 minutes
• Remove chicken from oven and tent with foil, let rest for 5-10 minutes
• Serve and enjoy

And bad me for not updating recently. Will try to be more regular.

Chicken and Rice with Mushrooms and Green Beans

This is another one based heavily on the Cover and Bake book.

You'll need:

• 10 oz of boneless, skinless chicken breast fillets (mine were cut into 4 pieces)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion
• 10 oz mushrooms (I used canned, I think it would be better with fresh button 'shrooms) cut into quarters
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 cups wild rice (I used a long-grain brown and wild rice blend)
• 1/2 c white wine
• 3 1/2 c chicken broth
• 1/2 lbs fresh green beans, trimmed and broken into 2" sticks
• 4 oz semi-soft cheese (I used co-jack. It might have been a bit mild)

And to do:

• Pat chicken dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper
• Heat old in (12") skillet until just smoking
• Place chicken in skillet and sear until brown, about 4 minutes
• Flip chicken and sear until brown, another 3-4 minutes
• Remove chicken from skillet and place on a plate. 
• Remove all by 2 tbsp of the grease from the pan
• Heat over medium heat
• Add onion, mushrooms, and garlic and stir the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet
• Cook until the mushrooms give off their juice, about 8-10 minutes (Note: if you do use canned mushrooms, you won't get this effect and it will dry out a bit)
• Add rice and cook until it starts to turn translucent, 3 or 4 minutes
• Add wine and broth and bring to a simmer
• Set the chicken down on the mixture and cover
• Simmer for 15 minutes or until chicken is about 160 degrees in the center
• Transfer chicken to a plate and cover with foil
• Add beans and stir, mixing well.
• Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes, until beans and rice are tender.
• Stir in cheese
• Serve

For the WW curious, assuming 6 servings of rice, that's about 6 points, the chicken will add a point per oz.  (I ended up with 6 services of rice-and-beans and 4 of chicken.)