Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

I've made this recipe a few times now and it is a HUGE hit! The only problem is that I can't stop eating it. Haha. Ok, that happens a lot but still, this is probably one of my favorite recipes. The garlic cloves are so delicious and make a great spread on crusty french bread. Make sure you make enough sauce to dip your bread in too! It's to die for.

I always half this recipe because it's just me and the husband. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 (3-pound) whole chickens
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 40 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 1/4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 24 (1/4-inch-thick) slices diagonally cut French bread baguette
• Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)

Preparation

• Remove and discard giblets and neck from chickens. Rinse chickens with cold water; pat dry. Trim excess fat; remove skin. Cut each chicken into 8 pieces. Combine butter and oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle salt and pepper evenly over chicken. Add half of chicken pieces to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken.
• Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic; cook 1 minute or until garlic begins to brown, stirring frequently. Arrange chicken on top of garlic. Add broth and wine; cover and cook 25 minutes or until chicken is done.
• Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Increase heat to medium-high; cook 10 minutes or until liquid is reduced to about 1 cup. Serve sauce and garlic with chicken and bread. Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.

Roasted Potatoes

I realize that I usually only post main courses but, I make these potatoes often and they are always a yummy and welcomed counterpart to just about any main course. They're really simple but they seem fancy.

What you'll need:Small red-skinned potatoes, cut in half or quartered (depending on how big they are)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (just enough to coat the potatoes)

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Rosemary (or Thyme)

Cayenne Pepper (optional)

Directions:Put the potatoes in a large bowl. Add all of the other ingredients. Mix together making sure that all of the potatoes are coated in oil and seasonings.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes until they are tender (but not mushy).

All done! Enjoy!

Sweet Bacon-Wrapped Venison Loin

My dad is a hunter and so every year, there is generally a surplus of venison meat in my parent's freezer. This year, my dad gifted me a few choice cuts of meat. The best of which, was the loin. After a little searching online for a recipe, I eventually landed on this one. It looked easy enough and I really didn't see how it could turn out any other way but amazing. Boy was I right!

After marinating the loin in the fridge for almost 24 hours, I was ready to start assembly (which was just wrapping that sucker in bacon... simple enough!)

After pouring the marinade over the delicious looking thing pictured above, I popped that in the oven and cooked it for about 35 minutes, until it was the perfect medium rare.

SO GOOD! This got serious rave reviews from Uriah (and myself). It was even good the next day at lunchtime. I can't wait for next year when, hopefully, my dad will gift me another loin!

Chicken Gabriella

I always have chicken in my freezer and I have grown bored of the ways that I usually prepare it. So the other day, I was looking for a recipe to make that was different and easy. That's when I found this gem on Epicurious.com! It actually took a little more effort than I originally anticipated but, oh man was it worth it! SO delicious! I made it with some roasted red potatoes and steamed veggies. The pan sauce was so addictive. Uriah and I wound up spooning it over our potatoes like gravy. Mmm... I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

Want to make it yourself? You probably should, I will surely be making it again!

What you'll need:

1 (3 1/2-to 4-pound) chicken, skinned and cut into small (about 3-inch) pieces, with bone, thighs, and wings left whole (ask your butcher to do this for you or use kitchen shears) 

2 onions, chopped 

Needles from 4 sprigs fresh rosemary (about 1/4 cup), finely chopped

5 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped

About 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 

Salt and freshly ground pepper 

1 cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio 

1 lemon

Directions:

Put the chicken pieces in a 12-inch skillet (preferably nonstick) with a lid, along with the chopped onions, rosemary, and sage. Stir well to coat the chicken with the onion and herbs. Add enough olive oil to coat all of the chicken pieces, but not so much that it pools in the skillet. Sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Set the skillet over medium heat. Cook until the onions are very soft and the chicken and onions have turned golden brown, about 20 minutes. If the onion begins to brown too fast, turn down the heat. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer gently until the chicken is tender, about 20 minutes. Squeeze the lemon over, taste for salt and pepper, and serve.

Light and Lovely Shrimp Pasta

I have made this dish a lot in the past but it had been a while since I whipped it up. It's great to use up your leftover veggies from the week and I always have frozen shrimp at the ready :-)

Yummy! Wanna make it? Follow my terrible directions below :-)

What you need:
(Sorry for being vague about quantities. I actually don't measure things unless I'm reading a recipe)

Spaghetti (or the pasta of your choice)
Shrimp (about a pound? peeled)

Asparagus (about 12 spears cut into 1 inch pieces)

Onion (1/2 a medium yellow onion sliced)
Mushrooms (about 10 button mushrooms sliced)

Garlic (3 large cloves chopped)

Italian Dressing (about 1/4 cup?)

Grated Parmesan Cheese (to taste)

-Boil pasta as directed on package.

-Meanwhile warm up 1-2 Tbs of the dressing in a large skillet. Add veggies and garlic and saute until crisp-tender

-Add in shrimp and cook until pink and done

-Drain pasta (do not rinse) and return to boiling pot. Toss in your veggie/shrimp mixture (juices and all). Add a few good shakes of Parmesan, and a couple squirts of dressing. Stir it all up well!

-Plate and sprinkle with more cheese if you'd like. You're done!

It's fancy looking but it's really easy and takes no time to make! Prep takes a minute of two but that can be done in advance and then just throw it together when it's dinner time!

Happy Birthday Pogi!!

Today is my favorite furball's 5th birthday! As something special, I baked him up some extra special doggy oatmeal cookies/treats. He really likes them. I got the recipe HERE and then I halved it because it seemed like it would make too  many. I was right. Half the recipe made 12 really good sized treats.

They're not the prettiest looking things but, Pogi doesn't really care about aesthetics ;-)

I think it's safe to say that he's having a good day (as evident by the photo below)

Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken

I tried something new today and it was a HUGE success! So much flavor! The bonus? It's super healthy!

View the recipe and nutrition info HERE and view the yummy finished product below :-)

I just ate mine with some steamed veggies but I cooked up some white rice for Uriah and he poured the remainder of the pan sauce over it (I had spooned about a Tablespoon of the "sauce" over each of our chicken pieces). His immediate reaction? "Mmm Hunny, this is delicious". That's my favorite kind of reaction!

This chicken would be AMAZING over some spring greens as a salad. Next time I'll have to remember to make some more so that there's leftovers ;-)

** In the recipe I omitted the final 2 tsp of garlic because, well, I didn't think that it would need it and also, I seasoned the chicken in the middle of the day so I figured the seasonings would have had plenty of time to make an impression**

Stuff it!

I'm not sure why I had zucchini laying around the house. It's not something that I typically buy but maybe I used it in some other recipe. I can't remember at the moment but the point is that I had zucchini and I had to cook it. So, I googled recipes and came across this one. It looked simple enough and I had everything that it required so I dubbed it the winner.

I took a picture of the 'boats' before they went into the oven but then failed to take one when they were all cooked up. They looked pretty much the same just with melted cheese.

They turned out pretty good and were definitely different! We gobbled them up!

Shrimp Parmesan

Growing up, one of my favorite meals was "Pizza Chicken" (aka chicken parmesan). My parents were brilliant relating it to pizza so that my brother and I would scarf it down. And we did.

I occasionally make Chicken Parm for me and the hubs but tonight I switched it up and made SHRIMP Parmesan. Makes it feel a little more special (also, I didn't have any chicken soooo...)

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 - 2 tsp. seasoned salt
1 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (italian seasoned)
1 lb raw shrimp. cleaned, peeled, deveined and butterflied
2 eggs beaten
enough oil to cover the frying pan
spaghetti sauce
shredded mozzerella cheese

Directions:

- Combine flour and seasoned salt in a large ziploc bag
- Put shrimp in bag and shake until well coated, remove from bag
- Add the breadcrumbs to the bag of flour (and any other seasonings you might like. ex- grated parmesan)
- Coat the (now flour covered) shrimp in the egg and drop into the bag. Shake to coat.
- Fry the shrimp in just enough oil to cover the pan you're using (make sure the oil is good and hot before you put your shrimp in otherwise they'll get soggy instead of crispy). Fry for about 1 minute on each side so that the outside gets crispy and browned. Remove from pan and place on a paper towel to get off excess oil.
- Put a couple of tablespoons of pasta sauce in the bottom of a baking dish and spread it around to lightly coat the bottom.
- Place your shrimp in a single layer in prepared pan/dish/whatever. Then spoon some pasta sauce over the shrimp. Don't over do it. Then sprinkle with cheese (as liberally as you'd like).
- Put in your preheated oven (to broil) for about 5-7 minutes until the cheese is melted and the shrimp are cooked through. I like it when the cheese is browned a bit on the top but be careful not to overcook them!

Enjoy with pasta, garlic bread and some wine! Bon Appetit!

Sloppy Joes

I go to the grocery store towards the beginning of the week so by the end of the week I'm usually like "Hrm... what should I make with this?" It's usually chicken, but this week, it's ground beef! My go-tos for this are meatballs, meat loaf, cheeseburgers and chili. Well, I felt like switching it up a little bit and was trying to decide what to make and then it hit me... Sloppy Joes! If you've never made sloppy joes from scratch, you're missing out. I pretty much always have all of the ingredients on hand so, this makes for the perfect meal in a pinch. Also, they're delicious and remind me of my childhood so that's a double whammy of awesome! I found this recipe on allrecipes.com but I tweeked it quite a bit. You can either follow the link, or you can do it my way, either way, you're in for a treat :-)

What you need:

1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tomato chopped
1/2 cap full of vinegar
dash or two of worchestire
1 Tablespoon of BBQ sauce
3 teaspoons brown sugar
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste


Directions:

In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef and onions, drain off liquids.


Stir in the everything else (but save the salt and pepper for later). Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper (and more of anything else that you think would be good).

Pile it on some buns, maybe add some cheese and enjoy!

Wow... that was hard. Have a glass of wine and give yourself a pat on the back, you deserve it  ;-)

Tasty Tilapia Tacos!

Grilled fish tacos and Coronas. Sounds like a fabulous meal that you would eat while on your tropical vacation, doesn't it? OR it could be something that you make for yourself on a beautiful day in your own back yard. A one hour stay-cation. Fabulous!

I got this recipe from my Taste Of Home Magazine but I modified it a bit (recipe called for haddock but Tilapia was on sale and less intimidating). I would probably suggest using less chili powder in the veggie-mixture than I did because the flavor overpowered the fish a little but over all it was nice, cool and refreshing :-)

Ingredients:
1 lb. Tilapia
2 tsp. chili powder (divided)
Juice from 1 lime
1 1/2 tsp. grated rind from lime
2 cups shredded lettuce
1 medium red pepper seeded and chopped
2 medium tomatoes seeded and chopped
1 avacado peeled and chopped
3 Tbs taco sauce
2 ears sweet corn
1 Tbs butter (softened)
salt and pepper
12 Flour tortillas


Spread the butter over the corn, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill covered on medium heat for 10-12 minutes or until the corn is tender. Turn occasionally. Set aside to cool.

Once corn is cool enough to handle, remove it from the cob. Combine corn, lettuce, red pepper, tomato, avacado, lime rind, taco sauce, 1 tsp. chili powder and juice from 1/2 of the lime. Stir it up well.

Sprinkle 1 tsp chili powder onto the tilapia (or more chili powder if you feel like it). Grill on a well-oiled grill (to prevent sticking) on medium heat for about 8-10 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Turning once. To prevent my fish from falling through the grill, I covered my grill with aluminum foil and then oiled the foil pretty generously to prevent sticking.

Cut fish into pieces and squeeze the juice from the second 1/2 of the lime on top. (I just put it in a bowl and broke it up with a fork but you could be more precise about it if you want)

Assemble tacos however you want. We also had sour cream and shredded cheese. Deeeelicious!

Rabbit Food

When my parents came to visit, I bought a giant bag of baby carrots because my dad's on a diet and I wanted to have healthy snacks available. Well, I still had a lot left and I really don't like wasting food so I searched for a recipe to cook 'em up into a side dish. Found one by Rachael Ray on foodnetwork.com . Turned out delicious! Sweet and buttery is a good combination!

A Little Southern Comfort

I made a new thing today! And it's not an apron, it's FOOD! Yummmmy. I got my new Simple and Delicious magazine (a part of Taste of Home) in the mail a few days ago and I spotted a recipe that looked well, simple AND delicious! Also, I had most of what I needed to make it in my posession already so, I knew that I would be making it some time soon. That time was today, my friends, today.

'What is this magical recipe?' you may ask. Well, dear friends, it's a good ol' southern staple (that I have never had coming from a yankee family), Chicken 'n Dumplin's! You have to say it like that or else it's not authentic.

SO, this was what I like to consider a "semi-home-made recipe" (hello Sandra Lee). It involves using staples from your pantry like, biscuit mix and cream of chicken soup. I didn't have cream of chicken so I used cream of mushroom but, as I told my husband earlier, I consider most of those soups to be completely interchangable. Turned out delicious! Take a gander!

Make it for yourself!
What you need:

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups frozen mixed veggies (thawed). I suppose you could use fresh ones if you're feeling fancy

2 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup undiluted (again, I used cream of mushroom)

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning (I didn't have this so I just sprinkled in my own mix of seasonings and then some extra pepper because I like pepper)

Dumplings:
1 cup biscuit/baking mix (bisquick, people!)

1/3 cup French-fried onions, coarsley chopped (to avoid walking around the store forever like I did, these are kept by the canned green beans)

7 Tbsp. milk

1/2 tsp. dried parsley flakes

In a Dutch oven (don't have one, used a large non-stick pot), combine the first 6 ingredients; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the biscuit mix, onions, parsley and milk until just moistened. Drop by heaping teaspoons full into simmering stew. Cook, uncovered for 10 minutes.

Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted in a dumpling comes out clean (Do not lift the cover while simmering - duh).

That's all! Spoon into very large bowls (trust me, you'll want a lot) and enjoy!

Chowdah

My parents are awesome and as a gift every year they renew my subscription to Taste of Home magazine. I love when I get it in the mail and I sift through it and pick out recipes to try. This time, I saw this recipe for Chicken Fajita Chowder and it just looked too good (and easy) and I couldn't wait to make it! The only thing I did differenly was that I used chicken stock instead of water because that generally makes things yummier :-)

So tonight, I did! I didn't take a picture because, well, it didn't look like it would photograph well. You'll just have to take my word for it that it was awesome! Uriah and I ate it up and there are a lot of leftovers!

What my Superbowl Sunday looked like

I was flying solo on Superbowl Sunday because Uriah was in VA on a snowboarding adventure but that didn't stop me from going all out for myself. I don't really care about football but I really love chicken wings and beer so, I went to the store to buy supplies and  then came home and made myself some delicious wings! They were crispy and yummy and just as good as any that I could by at the local bar!

Recipe:

In a large bowl mix together 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 1/2 tsp salt.

Coat your wings in the flour mixture and place in a single layer on a foil-lined and greased baking sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes turning over 1/2 way through baking.

Toss in Sauce and enjoy!

Gearing up for Christmastime!

My mom gave me the task of making cookies and other yummy treats for her Christmas Eve party that she has every year. Being in charge of the sweets at Christmas is pretty stressful (because let's face it, it's the goodies that are the most important).

So, with the weight of Christmas on my shoulders, I decided to try to get cracking on trying out some festive cookie recipes. While I was searching the web, I came across a recipe by Ocean Spray, of all companies, for Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

They sounded delicious and relatively simple so I gave 'em a whirl. I've actually never made any kind of oatmeal cookie so it was kind of an adventure (I spent a good deal of time in the grocery store searching for the ingredients haha).

They turned out pretty well but I like my cookies to be a little sweeter (Uriah usually comments that most cookies that I make are "too sweet"... as if there is such a thing). I suppose these are more for the adult cookie-lover.

yummmy yummy yum

  

Bargain BBQ

Yesterday, I bought a Boston Butt Pork Roast (I have no idea why it's called a butt... from all of my research, it's a part of the shoulder?). Anyway, it was 99 cents a pound (essentially 1/2 price) so, I found the smallest one that I could (6lbs) and threw it in my cart!

It's pretty cold outside in Charlotte today (by my Florida standards) and I thought that it would be a good day to make some BBQ in the crock pot!

I decided that 6lbs was too much BBQ and it would surely go to waste if I made the whole thing (being that it's just me and Uriah), so I chopped that sucker in half. I plopped 1/2 of it in my crock pot with 1/2 a large onion and some salt and pepper and decided to freeze the other half for another time. It still looks like a LOT of pork but that's okay because I'm a big fan of leftovers!

I closed the lid and started cooking it on low for 4 1/2 hours. After that, I noticed that it wasn't cooking as quickly as I wanted (dinner would wind up being at approximately 9:30pm) so, I cut it up into 4 pieces and turned the crock pot on high.

I cooked it on high for about an hour and then I removed the onions and poured about 1/2 of an 18 oz. bottle of Hickory BBQ sauce and approximately 1.5 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce over the meat, closed the lid and let it cook for another hour and a half.

Then, I shredded/chopped the pork up in the slow cooker and gave it a good stir. Cooked it on Low for another hour.

After all of that... it was ready.

I put some Tabasco sauce on mine (just a few shakes) and it was... delicious.

Best of all? Uriah loved it! He's not really picky but, when he really REALLY thinks that something is delicious, I can tell. He takes the first bite and his eyes get all big and he makes yummy sounds.

Big hit! And, really, it only cost (including the buns and the sauces) about $6. And, as anticipated, we have an abundance of leftovers. I'd say that's a (delicious) bargain!

Not your grandmother's sugar cookies

These are CHOCOLATE sugar cookies! I know, I know, they sound delicious. Well, guess what? They ARE delicious. They kind of taste like brownies but they are the texture of cookies and they are rolled in sugar (so they kind of sparkle). It doesn't get much better than that, people. It just doesn't.

I can't remember where I found this recipe, but I've made these cookies a few times now and they are always a hit.

If you want to make these yummy delicious treats, here's the recipe!

What you will need:

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

4 squares  BAKER'S Unsweetened Chocolate

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine

1-1/2 cups  sugar, divided

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

 

 

How all of those things come together:

 

MIX flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted (have patience). Add 1 cup sugar, egg and vanilla to the chocolate and butter mixture; mix well. Stir in flour mixture until well blended. Refrigerate 30 min - 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle.

 

HEAT oven to 375°F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in remaining sugar. Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheets. (For thinner, crisper cookies, flatten balls with bottom of clean glass.) I like mine nice and fluffy so, I skip the flattening step.

 

BAKE 8 to 10 min. or until set. Cool on baking sheets 1 min. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

 

ENJOY!!

Peanut Butter Cookie Time!

Peanut Butter Cookies are not something that I enjoyed as a child and I haven't made/had them in my adult like that I can remember so I decided to make some today. In order to make these special old-fasioned treats, I used this recipe from The Joy of Baking. The recipe makes about 40 cookies so, there are plenty to share! They turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. Here's a picture (to whet your appetite)! Yum!