For tonight’s meal, I (Max) chose to make a chicken/chorizo/seafood paella, an avocado, tomato salad with lemons, and cooked apples with cinnamon sugar and vanilla ice cream (the ice cream was store-bought). I chose to make paella after watching Bobby Flay make it on America’s  Worst Cooks, as a demonstration for all the contestants to follow. I am also studying Spanish in school and I thought it would be cool to explore that culture at a Sunday Night Dinner.  Apples were not only a major component in today’s dinner, but also a major component for today’s breakfast. We devoured cooked cinnamon apples for breakfast (in crepes–thanks Mom), making two great meals a little better.

Although Bobby Flay made the paella look simple, it was actually a lot of work.  It wasn’t hard…just lots of steps: marinating the chicken, cleaning the seafood (especially scrubbing the clams), cooking the ingredients in steps: first chorizo sausage, then the chicken, then the onions and garlic, then the tomatoes and rice and saffron and chicken broth..before adding in the chicken and chorizo, and then shrimp and clams, and finally peas. Whew. But it was worth it.

Paella! with chicken, shrimp, chorizo sausage, clams and vegetables

Spice rub for chicken (for paella)

Chicken with paprika/oregano spice rub

Cuttingonions. (Even though they were sweet onions, we had to wear goggles to cut them)

Scrubbing the little neck clams for paella

Browning chicken (after browning the chorizo)

Rice, onions, garlic, saffron and tomato simmering

Avocado/Tomato Salad with olive oil & lemon

Cooking cinnamon apples

Apples cooked with cinnamon and butter

Cinnamon apples with ice cream (not homemade this time but still delish)