A leisurely search through my new books while sipping coffee and watching the girls play with their grandparents has resulted in two good finds that look yummy and meet the dietary restrictions of my in-laws: Dirty Chicken from Umbria by Julia Della Croce (http://www.juliadellacroce.com/books.html) and Beet Salad from Fresh Moroccan by Nada Saleh.
At trip to the farmer’s market for the beets was a must, they are so much better than the grocery store variety!
Now in preparing this meal, I had a first. The Dirty Chicken called for a whole chicken that needed to be cut; now I usually delegate this job to my husband, but he was working. So I grabbed the butcher knife, took a few deep breaths, tried to envision all the episodes on various food network shows where I’d seen this done, and started hacking. Well, it was one ugly cut up chicken, but I achieved eatable results, and thankfully the dish is called “Dirty” anyway! The chicken was cooked with some fresh herbs from the garden and tomatoes from the farmers market along with lots of other yummy stuff. The result was a tender flavorful dish. 
The Beet Salad however was the star. The beets were steamed, a first for me – I usually roast them – and mixed with oranges and homemade vinaigrette. I will definitely be making this dish again!
I rounded out the meal with rosemary infused rice (just add rosemary into the rice cooker with the rice and some butter) and a loaf of bread…yep, we love our bread!
The in-laws loved it – and I owed my mother-in-law a good meal, as she had been sewing on Girl Scout patches all evening!