Mediterranean Chicken

If this isn't my favorite main dish, it's in the top 5. I can't even handle it. It's such a light, fresh dish. I love using lemon to flavor, so this is perfect for me. I found it in one of Kesia's cookbooks about four years ago. I don't make it nearly enough and every time I do cook it, I wonder why in the world I don't make it more often. I can never decide what I like best about it. The chicken? The onion? The pepper? The potatoes? Each bite changes my mind. Oh gracious, I love this dish. The lemon juice and olive oil help to keep the chicken moist. Just trust me and make this dish. It'll change your life. Or at least make your mouth really, really happy. Last week I kicked off a stretch of working 8 days, so I made this dish to be my lunch for the upcoming days. Best idea ever.




2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, pressed
2-3 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
2 medium baking potatoes
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1" strips
1 medium red onion, cut into wedges
4 chicken breast

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine lemon zest, lemon juice, and olive oil in a bowl. Using a garlic press, add to the bowl. Add oregano, salt, pepper; stir and set aside. Cut potatoes and place in a 9x13 pan followed by the pepper and onion. Pour half of the lemon juice mixture over the vegetables and toss to coat.




Place the chicken on top of the vegetables, brush both sides with the remaining lemon juice mixture. (Just for kicks, I cut the lemon I used for zest into wedges and place around the chicken.)


(This picture is before I put the lemon wedges in. Use your imagination.)

Bake 1 hour or until the chicken is no longer pink.


Lunch! Genius.

BBQ Pulled Pork

I love pulled pork...a lot. Like, it's kinda ridiculous how much I love it. Since I'm trying to venture into more main dishes with meat, I decided to make BBQ Pulled Pork at home in my slow cooker. I didn't have a recipe, so I made it up. My biggest issue was BBQ sauce. I know what I like when it comes to BBQ sauce; the problem is that I rarely find one I like. I'd actually like to find a new one, so if you have a suggestion let me know. I should mention the fact that I don't like the sweet BBQ sauces.



Pork Loin
salt & pepper
3/4 cup water
1/4 cider vinegar
BBQ sauce

Put the whole pork loin (fat and all) into the crock pot, salt and pepper just a bit (how's that for exact measurements?). I used about 3/4 cup of water topped off with cider vinegar to keep the pork moist. You could just use 1 cup of water in the crock pot, but my logic was that vinegar is a tenderizer so I went for it. After 8 hours of cooking on low, take the pork out of the slow cooker. Using two forks, shred the pork and remove the fat.


Ignore the knife. I don't even know why it's in the picture. But look at the steam! Impressive, right?

Return the shredded pork (no fat this time) to the slow cooker and mix in your BBQ sauce.


Let cook for another hour to soak up the flavor. I think that the next time I make this, I'm going to brown both sides of the pork in a skillet first to give the edges a bit more texture. And hopefully I'll have found a BBQ sauce that I love to make it even better.

Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

Wanna guess who this recipe comes from? I bet you'll just need one guess. Yup. The Pioneer Woman. I'll confess that I visit her site daily. She makes me laugh, provides great recipes and photographs, and I want her life. Well, sort of. I don't think I could actually live on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. No Target for miles? Oh geez. That would be torture for me.

I enjoy malt flavoring. Chocolate malts? YUM. So I didn't hesitate for a second when she posted this recipe. Let me tell you right now, these cookie are supposed to be flat. FLAT. That kind of reminded me of my Grandma G's cookies, so it was a nice memory tucked into the recipe. Anyway, prepare yourself for a flat cookie. I've never made a cookie that was supposed to be flat; I've only had one recipe that ended up flat due to a forgotten ingredient. It was a mental hurdle I had to conquer. Anyway, these were really good and delightful and deceitful. Flat does not equal fewer calories, people. Keep that in mind when your hand wants to wander back to them because it will. Mmmmm. They were so good.


(Did you notice that I forgot the chocolate chips for the malted milk CHOCOLATE CHIP cookies? Geez. They were simply sitting off to the side...forelorn...with a single tear sliding down the bag. Sad.)

1 cup (2 Sticks) Unsalted Butter Softened
¾ cups Golden Brown Sugar
¾ cups Sugar
2 whole Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 cups All-purpose Flour
1-¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
1-¼ teaspoon Salt
½ cups (rounded) Malted Milk Powder
1 bag (12 Ounce) Milk Chocolate Chips



Look at them all lined up, ready to work. Like a little army of ingredients. I must say that laying out all my ingredients prior to mixing would be one of my top tips for you. It guarantees that you have everything you need prior to starting. I hate getting caught without an ingredient once I've started mixing.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream butter, then add both sugars and cream until fluffy. Add eggs and beat slightly, then add vanilla and beat until combined. Add malted milk powder and beat until combined. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture, beating gently until just combined. Add chocolate chips and stir in gently.




Drop by teaspoonfuls (or use a cookie scoop) and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Bake less if you want chewy cookies; more if you want crispy cookies.

Cinnamon Rolls

I'm sorry. I should just apologize now. This recipe is pure deliciousness. It will be hard to contain yourself. So only plan on making them when you have somewhere to take them. But, man oh man, are they good!!!! Besides, it's the Pioneer Woman's fault. It occurred to me yesterday that I'm trying an awful lot of her recipes. I promise that this is not a Julie/Julia thing between Ree and myself....unless I can end up with a book and movie deal. Hey, I have student loans to think about.

I had never made homemade cinnamon rolls before this recipe. I was nervous, but all turned out well. I have a couple areas of adjustment for next time. For example, my dough will sit farther back on the counter. It was thisclose to spilling cinnamon/sugar/butter onto my floor. You should also know that this is a messy endeavor. Or at least it was for me. Maybe next time will be better. BUT, the important thing to know as you're seeing this mess on your counter is that they will be sooooo worth it. Yum. Okay, my final note before her recipe is that I didn't make the maple icing. I had worked a 12 hour shift that day and had to return for another 12 the next day, so I was simply too tired for the couple extra steps. Alright, let the baking (and deliciousness) begin!

Dough
1 quart Whole Milk (I used 2%)
1 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup Sugar
2 packages Active Dry Yeast
8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
Plenty Of Melted Butter
2 cups Sugar
Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon (I can't even guess at this. I think it depends on how much you like cinnamon.)

Icing
1 bag Powdered Sugar (I didn't use a full bag. Maybe 3/4?)
1/2 cups Milk
1/4 cups Melted Butter

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. “Scald” the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour. After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down). **Because I didn't read and realize how time consuming this was going to be, I ended up stopping here.

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.





Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.


See the mess? Totally worth it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 400 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.



Icing: Mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls.

Pico de Gallo and Guacamole

I love guacamole thanks to the Bowmans. I had no idea what I was missing out on until they made it when I lived with them. Guacamole and avocados are at the top of my favorite foods list. Yum. For our BBQ on Memorial Day, I quickly threw together gucamole. The Pioneer Woman has a recipe in her cookbook for pico de gallo which she then adds to her avocado. Now, gucamole is really about personal taste. Some people like smooth, some like chunky, some add tomatoes, some don't. I happen to prefer a chunkier, natural texture with tomatoes, onion, and cilantro added in. So the PW's recipe was right up my alley. Here's the key thing I learned from her (because really it's so super easy you don't need a recipe): use equal parts of onion, tomato, and cilantro for your pico de gallo. I'd have to agree. The flavor was perfect. After everything was mixed, I didn't have to add one thing to adapt the flavor. Here we go. (I'm excited now and I'm not even making it.)

Yellow or red onion
Roma tomatoes
Cilantro (fresh, please)
Lime
Salt
Avocados

I'm not putting amounts because it'll all depend on how much you're making. I think I used one onion, two tomatoes that weren't actually roma, a whole package of cilantro, half a lime, and unknown amount of salt, and three avocados.

Dice up the onions pretty finely. Not everyone loves onions (I'm one of those people- unless they're cooked.), so finely chopping makes them more palatable. Dice up the tomatoes. Then, (you guessed it) dice up the cilantro finely. Squeeze in the juice from half a lime, sprinkle with salt, and stir together. Halve the avocados and remove the pit. Put the avocado in a separate bowl, sprinkle with salt, and mash to the consistency you desire. Add as much of the pice de gallo as your heart desires and stir together. She suggests tasting your pico de gallo and guacamole with the chips to see how salty they are together before adding any other seasonings. I think that is genius. You should know that neither of these things last past 24 hours. Her other helpful hint was that to avoid browning of the guacamole, gently press plastic wrap against the surface of the guacamole until serving.

Almost Salted Caramel Brownies

I am not a brownie person. It is simply not my dessert of choice. However, I was intrigued by this recipe on the Pioneer Woman's blog. When Stalena said that she loves brownies I thought it was the perfect excuse to try the recipe. I titled this the Almost Salted Caramel Brownie because I didn't end up attempting the caramel part. Frankly, I was tired of being in the kitchen, I didn't have all the ingredients, and since I'm not passionate about brownies I wasn't as driven. However, she (the PW) even mentions using purchased caramel, so I'm not a complete heathen. So, let's bake, shall we?



6 ounces, weight Unsweetened Chocolate, Chopped
¾ cups Unsalted Butter, Cut Into Pieces
2 cups Sugar
3 whole Eggs
1 cup All-purpose Flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter or baking spray. Cut your chocolate into pieces. (The PW has a link on her page about a comparison to see if there's a difference in baking chocolates. The Baker's Chocolate didn't fair well. I hadn't read this before my last two chocolate recipes- the brownies and previous cupcakes. I think that may be part of my ambivalence towards them. I liked the baked fudge with cocoa powder better.)

In the top of a double boiler over medium heat, melt chocolate and butter, stirring until melted.




Of course, if you don't have a double boiler, you can use a glass bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. The chocolate and butter are actually in a glass bowl here, not just sitting on the counter.



Don't walk away. It doesn't take long for the butter and chocolate to melt. Soon you'll have this...




Add sugar and stir gently until combined. Remove from heat.
In a separate bowl, gently whisk the eggs. Add a small splash of eggs to chocolate mixture, stirring immediately (but still gently). Drizzle in the rest of the eggs, stirring constantly.
Add flour and stir until combined. Pour batter into greased baking pan and spread to even out the surface.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, then remove from oven to cool completely in the pan.

We had caramel on hand, so I simply drizzled that on top of the brownie. It did compliment it nicely. I really think a different chocolate would have made a difference, so I'm going to skip Baker's chocolate in the future and see how the flavors compare. But the caramel really did help add some punch to the flavor, so feel free to use your Baker's chocolate. Just know that you may want to add a little something for additional flavor.

Mexican Black Beans with Pork

Well, it may not come as a surprise that I enjoy cooking. I also enjoy cookbooks, but I am pretty contained when it comes to purchasing them. However, I had my eye on a couple when I discovered Barnes & Noble were having an online cookbook sale. Yippee!!!!! So I purchased both of them for less than the cost of one. Pretty fantastic, indeed. This crock pot recipe comes from one of my new cookbooks. It's titled Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook. It wasn't a difficult decision to choose this as my first recipe. Mostly because it was the recipe that caught my eye in the store. I love black beans and I also enjoy pulled pork. Now, this dish isn't technically pulled pork but because of the cooking it can be pulled apart.

I have a weird thing about meat. I'm not morally opposed to eating it. It's just that sometimes meat grosses me out. And I generally don't enjoy cooking it. It's better for me to not see the starting product. When meat is pulled/shredded I tend to do better with it. Maybe because it seems less like it's starting point? Anyway, I know that I need to get over this meat issue because it's likely that the man I end up marrying will want to eat meat and at my last annual physical my bloodwork showed a trend towards anemia. (I realize I'm rambling about stuff you all don't care about, but it's my blog so you'll just have to deal with it. Or skip ahead. Do whatever you want. I'll never know.) This recipe was a good starting point for me. I had to handle to meat the trim fat and brown it a little, but then I was able to put it in the crock pot and ignore it until finished. Baby steps, you know.



1 lb boneless pork loin, trimmed of any fat and cut into 1-inch cubes
I couldn't find one less than 1.8 lbs, but with all the fat I cut off it worked out pretty well. I also cut it into more rectangular cuts for the shredded effect.)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground coriander (I didn't have any, so I skipped it.)
Salt to taste (I hate that. It's not like I'm going to taste the raw meat. Sick)
1 medium-sized yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
Two 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
One 16-ounce can stewed tomatoes, coarse chopped, with their juice
2 cups water
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
(I've realized as I've typed this that I really didn't bother to read the recipe. I didn't rinse or drain my black beans or chop my tomatoes. Oh well. If you want to save a couple minutes, skip those steps. Your recipe will survive.)

1. Toss the pork with the chili powder, coriander, and salt until coated evenly. Heat in a large ungreased skillet over medium-high heat, then lightly brown the pork with the onion and garlic, stirring.

2. Transfer the pork mixture to the slow cooker, stir in the beans, tomatoes with their juice, and water, season with pepper, cover, and cook on Low for 8 to 9 hours. (From what I've been learning about pork over the last few weeks, it's a meat that tends to do better with longer cooking. If you're needing a fast recipe, pork probably shouldn't be your meat choice.)

3. Serve the beans and pork over steamed white rice. (I had brown rice, so I tossed it in our rice cooker. Delightful.)


This was soooooo good. Good grief. You have to try it. The other benefit of this recipe: it will keep your kitchen cooler this summer since you're using a crock pot. Glorious.