grillin'

well, we finally got a new grill and i have therefore been going crazy. this is tabouleh salad, hummus, and grilled chicken with peppers and mushrooms. i am in love with the grill wok because you can just chuck everything in there are come up with excellent yumminess without even trying.

ps i took a little break due to my favorite aunt joanie dying. best aunt ever! my header has aunt joanie inspired shoes. zebra print is for winners.

blue messa gril

we went to blue messa grill for karen ann's birthday. it was joanie, katie and becky FTW! 

chicken curry

chicken curry with red curry paste, coconut, chicken pieces and shiratake noodles. the key, i've found for me, is to add the paste over heat, get some caramelization, add chicken, then add some broth (any kind i have open in the fridge) and let the chicken kind of boil to get it really soft. one the chicken is mostly cooked, i added another curry sauce, then coconut milk. the heat will develop more as it sits.

cauliflowers, lebanese style

one of my favorite veggies? cauliflower. mmmmmm. i found a lebanese (sort of greeky as well) packet of cauliflower spices. it was super easy, just add a little oil and cook with the spices for ten minutes. spicy and delish! i served the cauliflower with chunks of chicken (i bought a huge package at sam's, processed them, cut them into bite sized chunks, and froze them for easy dinners. i'm so awesome.) the chicken was pretty simple... but went well with the spicy, tasty cauliflower.

oven chicken breasts

skin on chicken breasts, smothered in herbs and a little olive oil, in the oven. simple, classic, wonderful.

general tso

we purchased some miracle noodles. they are pretty good sub for noodles, esp with asian cuisine. and they're gluten free. chicken with asparagus and noodles.

ps i've been told this looks gross (it does) but it's really hard to get those noodles to look good, they're gross BUT they taste ok!

chicken enchiladas (cinco de mayo style)

chicken enchiladas in the crockpot!!! yay! let's see, i boiled the chicken in water with a whole lotta spices (pepper corns, bay leaves, onions and garlic). shred the chicken and assemble with sour cream, tortillas (corn or flour), rotel, and cheese in two equal layers. crockpot it for like four hours. so easy, so yum!

whole crockpot chicken

just chuck a whole chicken (generously seasoned) on a bed of veg (i usually use onions, garlic and carrots) in the crockpot and let it go. i've done it twice so far and i think i like breast meat down. i suppose you could flip it... but i don't have that kind of time, really. come home to moist wonderful chicken and drippings to make a quick gravy. i made smashed potatoes with roasted garlic (have you made some yet? you're welcome). so easy and wonderful.

chicken spring rolls

i am in love with the vietnamese salad rolls at pei wei! they are so awesome (and with the sweet chili sauce they're gluten free). so i gave them a shot at home a la bec. they were pretty good. the rice wraps are pretty easy to work with and the ingredients pretty much speak for themselves. i would not do the snow peas or the sprouts because they did not make for elegant biting. i would also marinate the carrots a little longer in the rice wine vinegar.

grilled chicken and zucchini slash yellow squash

fall veggies. mmmmm

cuban chicken and (cuban) broccoli

bamboo steamers are cool. i really love mine a lot. i got them when i made tamales a looong time ago. you can stack them really high with tons of things to steam. like vegetables and other stuff (tiny kittens?)

i've been getting organic free range chicken because of my chicken related guilt. those poor little chickens. i used the (cuban) marinade from the chicken (with shallots) on the broccoli, it had about half as much orange juice as lemon juice and lime juice and some other cool spices but mostly juice.

dumplins

chicken and dumpling soup is the best soup ever. the most important part of the soup is to brown the chicken before starting. i used onions and mushrooms and took out the carrots and celery. the dumplings are made with milk and chicken fat. mmmm. to the right they look more like cauliflower florets, but i assure you, they are in fact dumplings. the recipe's from america's test kitchen cookbook that my mother got me for my bday or maybe xmas.

fajitas

chicken and skirt steak on the grill. they were resting here- i wrap the steak in aluminium foil and the chicken just on a plate (not as juicy) in the oven with the tortillas. speaking of which save the steak juice to add to the mushrooms and onions.

we had tortillas, mushrooms and onions, sour cream, salsa, guacamole.... black beans and rice.

chickenchickenchickenchickenchickenchickenchic

somehow i was inspired... i had an epih... and it was chicken related. i looked at my arch nemesis (GE freezinator) and i said, "alright chicken you are going to be tasty and you are going to like it." that's when it happened... i was struck by a sudden thought. there was the artichoke dip, there was the breakfast sausage... it had to be done. i can't get a good pic o' the swirl, but it had the sausage and artichoke dip inside. it was covered in a mix of onions and parm and pecans... which i chopped at considerable danger to myself and others. well somebody shouldn't sneak up on me when i have a knife... i could only eat about half on one of the breasts, so i guess it was a little heavy but it was soooo good. i have no picture of the mushrooms. this is all that was left.

aawww, the forks are cuddling♥

on an unrelated, related note i spilled ranch aaaalll over the top right hand side of my laptop keyboard. my backspace doesn't work anymore. it makes a kind of sticky noise when i try to use it (over and over and over again). we did the best we could.

chicken

i need to be chickenly inspired. i made mesquite lime chicken tonight. it was good and tender but not great. i think it would have been better if i had gotten skin-on but someone doesn't like the skin-on chicken. crispy...mmmmmm. anywhozzle, we had asparagus with it which i steamed in a foil envelope with oil and vinegar and spices. i love asparagusssesss a bunch. chicken and mushrooms tomorrow. i think i'll "bread" it with crispy onions and nuts and parm cheese and spices. i don't know if mushrooms count as a side dish... if i make a creamy sauce for them i think that will do very well indeed. i made trout last night and it was superb. i feel like i'm bragging here but it was so very easy to do. on the side, we had broccoli with lemon butter. i don't think i've ever had trout before, but i will continue to eat it in the future (were trying to do more fish, yay!). i wonder if i should do recipes on this?