Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Verdict


AMAZINGLY GOOD!

So it was more the chicken than the Jerusalem Artichokes. They were unique, but not amazing. But the CHICKEN! SERIOUSLY! SO YUMMY! I made a few changes to the recipe however ... so here is what I suggest!

First, I don't use chicken thighs EVER! ... but my conclusion is that using thighs is a must! The Chicken was SO very tender and yummy. I took out the bone before cooking
Next, Saffron was $21 at the grocery store, and I am cheap (or realistic, whatever you want to call it) so I used Tumeric instead!
Last, NO NEED for whipping cream ... it was great without!

For the Rice, it could have used a little more of a flavorful rice. See below for my favorite Rice Pilaf recipe.
And on the side, CORN BREAD MUFFINS ... a recipe I got off of studio 5 about a year ago! Here are the recipes below ... TRUST ME, This meal WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE! :)

LEMON CHICKEN

1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 fresh lemons
2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided use
4 chicken thighs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup chicken broth
1/8 tsp of Tumeric
1/2 pound Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes), peeled (you could probably leave them out)
10 garlic cloves, peeled and halved (I used 7, just because I am not a huge garlic lover)
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/8 cup pine nuts, toasted

Preparation:

Finely grate 1 teaspoon of zest from the lemon and set aside. Juice both of the lemons (discarding pulp) and set aside.

Place a large, deep, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle chicken thighs on both sides with salt and pepper. Place skin-side down in the hot pan and quickly brown them, turning only once. Remove to a plate and keep warm.

Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, remaining tablespoon of olive oil, chicken broth, and Tumeric to the skillet. Bring to a boil, stirring to loosen any browned bits. Add Jerusalem artichokes (optional), and garlic cloves. Return chicken to the skillet, along with any accumulated juices.

Reduce heat and simmer about 45 minutes, until chicken and sunchokes are tender. Stir in thyme leaves. Taste and adjust seasoning, if need be. Return to a simmer and cook an additional 10 minutes. Sprinkle with pine nuts to garnish (or use pine nuts in the rice recipe below).

Serve on top of
RICE PILAF
(from Lion House Cookbook)

Ingredients:
¼ cup celery
¼ cup onion
1 cup rice
2 TBSP butter
2 cans chicken broth
1 T. dried parsley
¼ cup slivered almonds or pine nuts

Directions:
Combine butter, onion, celery and rice in a deep frying pan. Cook until onion is translucent and rice is starting to brown. Add in Chicken broth and cook for about 20 minutes on low heat or until liquid is gone & rice is done. Stir in Parsley and nuts.

Last but not least, Corn Bread Muffins - Not much nutrition, however REALLY good!

SWEET CORNBREAD MUFFINS
By Lara Wolford

Ingredients:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
optional (1/4 cup frozen corn)
Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the whole milk, eggs, butter, and honey. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.

Drop the batter into muffin paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden.

Please use my recipes, however if you do try them, PLEASE let me know what you think :) OH and if you have questions, please email me!

OH just wanted to give you another little teaser for the quilt! It is Pieced, it is Quilted, just finishing a little hand stitching, buttons, and the edge! Can't wait to share it with you!

Monday, February 21, 2011

What the heck is THIS??

So my cute neighbor introduced me to this AWESOME food Co-Op a few months ago. It is called Bountiful Baskets. The way it works is on Monday - Tuesday of each week you get onto their website (Bountiful Baskets) and place your order. This is available to a lot of the Western states. You pay $15 and then on Saturday morning I pick up a HUGE load of vegetables and fruit.

The thing I have loved about it is that the vegetables and fruit are REALLY fresh, and I try to change my cooking focus' on the vegetables I get, and I tend to eat better and cook with more vegetables & fruit ... not only that, but I try new recipes, because sometimes I get ingredients I wouldn't thing of purchasing. This week I got this:Now I am sure you were thinking what I was thinking: ... GINGER, right? Well luckily a cute lady was telling us as we were walking out that they are actually JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES! Never heard of them ... you?

So I looked them up online, and came up with a recipe! Gonna try it tonight, and hopefully it will be REALLY yummy! Can't wait to tell you about it!
Here is the recipe just in case you're curious!

Lemon Chicken with Jerusalem Artichokes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 fresh lemons
2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided use
4 chicken thighs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon ground saffron
1/2 pound Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes), peeled
10 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
Hot, cooked rice
Preparation:

Finely grate 1 teaspoon of zest from the lemon and set aside. Juice both of the lemons (discarding pulp) and set aside.

Place a large, deep, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle chicken thighs on both sides with salt and pepper. Place skin-side down in the hot pan and quickly brown them, turning only once. Remove to a plate and keep warm.

Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, remaining tablespoon of olive oil, chicken broth, and saffron to the skillet. Bring to a boil, stirring to loosen any browned bits. Add Jerusalem artichokes, and garlic cloves. Return chicken to the skillet, along with any accumulated juices.

Reduce heat and simmer about 45 minutes, until chicken and sunchokes are tender. Stir in cream and thyme leaves. Taste and adjust seasoning, if need be. Return to a simmer and cook an additional 10 minutes.

Serve over cooked rice and sprinkle with pine nuts to garnish.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentines Day!

I have had a few of my readers ask what I was going to do for Valentines day, and sadly enough, I really didn't know until today! We fly by the seat of our pants at this house lately.

First a shout out to my FAVORITE 3 year old! Thank you sweet readers for the suggestions for his Birthday Party. We did a construction party last year, so I just was stumped! We did things really simple and picked out a Truck cake that he loved. Happy Birthday Yesterday baby boy! I can't believe how fast you're growing.Since I live in a house with 3 boys anything that has to do with the color PINK, or FLOWERS, or HEARTS are pretty well non-existent ... so on Valentines I have to get it all out. Here are some other things that happened today ... all of which had to do with food for some reason :)
Valentines for Bryson & Chad ... Check
Valentine Pancakes ... CHECK (see below for details and recipe)
Heart PB&J Sandwiches ... CHECK
Chad fell asleep while eating his heart sandwich ... CHECK
Bryson pooped his pants ... CHECK (Happy Valentines mommy!)
Adam gave me a VERY sweet valentine ... roses, a card, and my FAVORITE bagels from SL ... CHECK
Made heart pizzas with pink pizza dough ... CHECK
Bryson pooped his pants AGAIN ... CHECK (Happy Valentines again, just in case I didn't get it the first time)
Enjoyed eating chocolate fondue with my sweetheart ... CHECK
Relaxing and watching Castle ... CHECK!

So this morning I had my kitchen in a crazy mess from our family party last night, but I knew I wanted to make Pancakes like Jim! Mine will never turn out as amazing as his, however, we sure try!

Again after making the pancakes, I finally found a recipe that worked best with the squirt bottles. These pancakes are a very flat pancake and you have to eat a bunch of them to get full, however the taste is delectable!

Pancakes:
1 Egg
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp. Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup Flour
2 TBSP Oil

Turn on Griddle to Med-Low heat and let heat up while you make your pancakes. Combine all your ingredients in a blender to make REALLY smooth. I colored my pancakes with Homemade Raspberry Jam. Form your hearts with a line on the outside. Then after it has cooked for about 30 seconds, fill in the remaining part of the heart. It was lots of fun.

Hope you had a GREAT Valentines day!

PS ... I didn't disclose that I didn't get a shower until 3 pm. Just wanted to let you know that life is real here at the Douglass home, and I will try and simplify next year ;)

Last but not least, Winter has been such a drag for me this year. I feel like life is just getting me down. During Thanksgiving time it is always really good for me to count my many many blessings. It puts life in perspective for me. So I decided it was time for me to write a list of things that I LOVE and things that CHANGE MY LIFE, just so I can try to include more of them this week to help me get out of these winter blues!

I LOVE sugar cookies
I love to just play the piano for hours
I love to cook
I love to finish projects
I love when my house is spit shined clean
I love to organize
I love to scrapbook
I love hanging out with my husband
I love running
I love going to lunch with my sisters
I love getting calls from friends I haven't heard from in a while
I love telling people about my religion
I love going to Zumba
I love eating desert
I love going out to eat
I love reading the scriptures
I love hearing "I luboo mommy" every night
I love checking on my boys after they have gone to bed and giving them a kiss
I love finishing everything on my to-do list
I love taking pictures
I love sitting on the couch, watching a good show, and regrouping my life before I go to bed.
I love to sew
I love to shop
I love to hike
I love to snow and water ski
I love to play softball
I love traveling

What do you love?

Thursday, February 10, 2011

I phone!

So i have been begging my Husband for an I phone for a few years. First we decided to wait until Verizon got the phone.
So Verizon got the phone...I was ready, however we thought we now have waited this long, why not wait until june and get the I phone 5.
So I just figured I would have to wait forever...that is until phone died last night.
So it just so happens that today was the day the stores started selling the phone at 7 am.
So I had no choice than to go in my jammies at 6:30 am and finally get my phone!
A little sad I won't be getting the l phone 5 but I am so extremely happy that I have it!

Since it is my first smart phone, I was hoping to get some hints on come cool apps. What are your favorites?

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Enjoying a Sunday ... Idea's Help!

Superbowl Party with the family (GREAT JOB GREEN BAY!)
Watching movies with Adam (RED)
Making Roast and Potatoes for dinner (YUM)
A great Sunday at Church (FAST SUNDAY)
Trying to decide on a dinner menu for this week ... Any ideas??

NEXT - Selling my Sillouette ... cause I got the new one. Email me if you're interested!
OH & My husband is wanting to sell his XBOX. Includes 3 Controllers, XBOX live camera, 5 games (Halo 3, Cabellas big hunt, Madden 10, Tiger Woods 10, a superhero game, and a race car game. We'll give ya a great deal! Fun present for your Valentine!

Bryson's 3rd Birthday is this week! (the 13th). Plus Valentines Day ... Looks like a fun filled week!
Any fun truck party ideas??

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Winners and Potty Progress

CAN YOU BELIEVE January is already over! WHOLY COW! I felt like I blinked and time passed. This is a little bit of a lengthy post, but has LOTS of good info!

The winner of the Haircut goes to:

Congratulations Jennifer Slaugh! Email me your info so I can send you the certificate!

I also there is a few people who I didn't hear from on the Planner, so I thought I would pick two more winners!

Andrea said...
This would fit perfectly with my New Years Resolution. I'm trying to be more organized and to forget LESS. I also love that you can keep a journal in the same place as your schedule. Love your blog, and thanks for the chance to win such an awesome product.

Andrea

AND

Brandi said...
Wow Mandy, I'm newer to your blog and just read your post from last year about your health scare, congrats from the bottom of my heart. I have been going through my own scare and my nightmare won't be over until March...hopefully. As you did, I dug myself into a giant hole emotionally and I think this would be very therapeutic. Thanks for sharing and a chance of winning.

PLEASE email me your address' so I can get you your planners (and because it is already FEBRUARY! YIKES! Where does time go!)

Last but not least - An update on Potty Training.
Here is my dilemma ... I have to first of all, get pregnant, survive 9 months of getting fat, then nursing, then stopping nursing and getting saggy boobs, then deal with naughty terrible twos, and now potty training? Not only that but then we have to take birth control? Can't the men at least get the joy of Breast feeding, I mean COME ONE!

(My sister keeps telling me, you think that this is bad, wait until they are TEENAGERS!)

I appreciate the AWESOME comments and advice. I have taken your advice and did a potty chart, went to get potty treats at the dollar store and after a week, here is the progress:
Not awesome, but not bad either. I think he might not have been fully ready when I started, however ... I think I am too far into it to stop and start again in a few months. I guess that is why you have a second child, so you can make up for the mistakes on the first, right?

As a THANK YOU for your awesome advice, here are the documents to print this chart yourself.
Click here for the chart and Potty Treat Bag decals.

Next, I turned 30! (January 18th) Why is it that we all get so weird when it comes to birthdays? Can't we just shout to the whole world? IT'S MY BIRTHDAY? Well I guess I can do that next year. For now I guess I'll move forward and enjoy the 30's while it lasts, right?

Next will be Bryson's Birthday ... I have a fun project teaser. It is going to take lots of work ... hence the reason my posting has lacked the last couple of weeks ... however I can't wait to show you the end results.

On top of all that here is what else I have been up to:
* Searching for houses
* Organizing all my mission pictures
* Preparing some design projects for a few companies
* Taking care of two CRAZY boys
* Balancing becoming a single mom for yet another semester
* Trying to stay warm
* Enjoying a fresh popped bowl of popcorn each night.

How was your January?