Spicy Honey Glazed Chicken & Roasted Smashed Potatoes

Good morning all.

As the title suggests, I made Spicy Honey Glazed Chicken and Roasted Smashed Potatoes last night (both were Pinterest recipes).  It was fabulous.  So good, in fact, that it wasn't until after we were done eating that I realized I forgot to take some pictures of the meal.  That's okay, though, because I had to cook the chicken in the oven, and it was not nearly as pretty as the picture I saved from the website where I obtained the recipe.

So, here is the link for the the chicken, and a pretty picture of some awesome chicken.

Spicy Honey Glazed Chicken

Spicy Honey Chicken

 Recipe by Our Best Bites

Ingredients:

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, about 2lbs            2 t vegetable oil

Rub

2 t granulated garlic          2 t chili powder          1/2 t onion powder

1/2 t coriander          1 t kosher salt           1 t cumin

1/2 t chipotle chili powder

Glaze

1/2 C Honey          1T Cider Vinegar     

Instructions:

Combine the rub spices in bowl and mix well.

Use kitchen shears (or a pair of clean scissors) to trim off any excess fat from the chicken pieces.Pat dry. Drizzle oil over chicken and rub in with your hands to lightly coat all the pieces. Then toss chicken with the spice rub to coat all sides well. Use your hands and get in there! Grill chicken for 3-5 minutes on each side, until cooked through.

While chicken is cooking, warm honey in the microwave so it’s not so thick. Add the vinegar and combine well. Reserve 2T honey glaze for later. Take the rest and brush on chicken (both sides) in the final moments of grilling.

I’m gonna warn you that this can make a hot mess, literally. It’s sugar, and it’s gonna drip. But the smelly smoke is worth it for a minute or two. Just leave your grill on for a few minutes after the chicken is done to burn off any excess glaze. It’s totally worth it once you taste this stuff.

If you don’t have a bbq, try it on an indoor grill pan or use your broiler. Just be sure to open a window in case you burn your glaze!

Remember how I had you reserve that extra couple tablespoons of glaze? Ya, drizzle that on top now. Your taste buds will thank you.

          My review of the recipe:

I used approximations on the ingredients listed.  I didn't feel like trying to measure out all the teaspoons of this and that.  I also forgot to oil the chicken.  I forgot so badly, that I had to double check the recipe when I copied and pasted it because I completely missed that step all together.  I'm certain it would've made a difference in the way the chicken looked once it was completed; mine came out black as the ace of spades.  But, it was still good.  

As for the rub, I was hesitant about whether or not the chicken would get any of the flavor I'd just rubbed all over the skin, but I was worried about nothing.  The skin was extremely spicy; I'd never worked with chipotle powder before, and didn't think about how spicy it would be (guess I should've tasted it first).  The chicken underneath:  lightly flavored, with smoky hints of chipotle but without the heat!  YEEHAW!  So, the kids just picked of the skin.  My husband:  he just ate right through it.  The crunchy, spiciness of the skin mixed well with the chicken.  

Statements from the family regarding the chicken:

My daughter:  "I love you mom, but I don't like the skin."

My son:  "The skin is too spicy, but I like picking off the ooey-gooey fat pieces underneath.  Those are yummy."

My husband:  "Mmmm...hmmm,hmmm...(with mouth full) it's good.  I like it just the way it is."

When I mentioned that I thought it would taste better grilled, my man said, "Ordinarily, I would agree with you, but this time...I don't know."  

I don't know about you all, but hearing a Texan say that kind of thing about anything that could have, and was called to be, grilled; well, that's saying something.  

NOTE TO SELF:  Remember to oil the chicken first, and next time, use the grill!

Now...for the potatoes.

Roasted Smashed Potatoes

Roasted Smashed Potatoes

Compliments of It’s a Keeper

Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen

www.everydaytastes.com

2 pounds small Red Bliss potatoes (about 18), scrubbed

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

Adjust oven racks to top and bottom positions and heat oven to 500 degrees. Arrange potatoes on rimmed baking sheet, pour ¾ cup water into baking sheet, and wrap tightly with aluminum foil. Cook on bottom rack until paring knife or skewer slips in and out of potatoes easily (poke through foil to test), 25 to 30 minutes. Remove foil and cool 10 minutes. If any water remains on baking sheet, blot dry with paper towel.

Drizzle 3 tablespoons oil over potatoes and roll to coat. Space potatoes evenly on baking sheet and place second baking sheet on top; press down firmly on baking sheet, flattening potatoes until 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with thyme leaves and season generously with salt and pepper; drizzle evenly with remaining 3 tablespoons oil. Roast potatoes on top rack 15 minutes. Transfer potatoes to bottom rack and continue to roast until well browned, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Serve immediately.

I mean, seriously, how can you go wrong with roasted potatoes.  I followed the directions to the letter, but I did substitute rosemary for the fresh thyme because I didn't have the thyme.  I did everything else as directed, and the potatoes came out wonderfully!  The inside is like a baked/mashed potato and the outside is roasted, and crunchy.  I will definitely be making these potatoes again.  Everyone loved them.  

All in all, last night was a HIT!

A quick word about the websites from which these recipes came:  CHECK THEM OUT!  They have tons of recipes.

It's A Keeper:  Testing Recipes to See if They're Keepers:     http://www.everydaytastes.com

Our Best Bites:  Tips, Tricks, & Tastes from two Real-Life Kitchens:     http://www.ourbestbites.com

Zucchini Lasagna - YUMMY!!!

Recipe Number Two, and let me just say, WOW!  

I got this recipe off of Pinterest; however, it's original source is from a little foodie blog called "Jo and Sue."  You can find them at:  joandsue.blogspot.com.

This is a Pinterest recipe, and I pinned it for two reasons:  (1) my husband loves my lasagna recipe (which is really my mother's, which is a hybrid of 2 other recipes she tried), but would like it if I would use less pasta.  He grew up eating Mexican food all the time: beans, tortillas, and the like.  Not a lot of noodles.  So, they sit heavier on his stomach than he likes; (2) my sister's mother-in-law had sent some zucchini lasagna home with her once, and I got to try it and was instantly smitten.  So...I've been wanting a recipe ever since.  This one, as it turns out, has tons of veggies, and I am always looking for ways to get my kids to eat more vegetables, especially if I can disguise them as something they'd rather eat, like 

Enter this recipe!  

This recipe has tons going for it:  ground turkey rather than ground beef; a whole head of broccoli; a whole head of cauliflower, 2 cups of spinach, and marinara sauce.  

I added a few of my own tweaks:  a whole onion, while browning the turkey; red pepper flakes; freshly ground black pepper; and finally, some grape tomatoes I had roasted last week (with olive oil, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, some salt, and some freshly ground black pepper) before they could go bad on me!

My experience making this recipe: 

Browning the turkey and onion together, I was already liking it.  I've used ground turkey before in some recipes, BEFORE I KNEW HOW, and was not impressed with the lack of flavor.  This was years ago, though, and I was not aware that it would not taste the same as ground beef; therefore, I didn't season it the way that I needed to.  But, with a chopped yellow onion, it smells really good!  And with garlic powder and red pepper flakes, it smells even better.  But, in case that wasn't enough, then it was time to add the other ingredients.  The first thing I added was my own roasted tomatoes, and it just got better!  Next I added the marinara, broccoli, and cauliflower.  After those vegetables my pot was full.  

Now, I've cooked with fresh vegetables enough to know that they will cook WAY down, but I was still nervous to see how full my pot was, and I hadn't even added the spinach yet.  I was debating whether or not to even try.  I thought:  "Well, I can always use it for something else."  Of course, I probably wouldn't, and it would be thrown away after it sat in the refrigerator long enough to get funky smelling, which happens more than I care to admit.

But... the broccoli and cauliflower did cook down, and there was room in my pot for the full 2 cups of spinach, and that cooked down too.  Thankfully!  Funny how you can "know" a thing, but then still have to see it to believe it!  

Once it had cooked down a fair amount, I tasted it, and it was a bit bland.  The recipe doesn't call for much salt, so I'm sure that's why it was not as flavorful as I'd like.  Furthermore, comments on the blog concerning the recipe mention that a few of the people had an issue with the final product being a little more watery than they'd like.  SO...I added more salt, and let it cook down even longer.

In the meantime, I prepped the zucchini.  A few words about that:

          1.  I did not like trying to slice the zucchini lengthwise.  I should've done what Rachel Ray recommends, and sliced a bit off one side so that it had a base to sit on.  I'll do that next time!  Trying to keep a zucchini from rolling and trying to slice it into uniform pieces is more than I am capable to doing.

          2.  The blog says to roast the zucchini for 5 minutes on each side at 425.  I did this, but only after I salted it for a while to draw out the juices.  I wanted to make doubly sure that my lasagna was not overly watery.  This worked extremely well for the pieces that were decently thick, but on the slices that were too thin, not so much.  When I baked the thin pieces (on silicon sheet pans, rather than cookie sheets with parchment paper), after they had been salted, they wanted to stick to the pan. 

Finally, the sauce had cooked down sufficiently, and I tried it again, and I LOVED it!  That being said, my kids, who were sitting in the living room, were less than impressed with the smell.  Admittedly, I am not fond of the smell of broccoli when it cooks, but I could smell it the way they were.  After I had the lasagna in the oven, I found out that they had tried to make a deal with their father to get out of eating the meal because they were not fond of the smell of the sauce.

Personally, I didn't really care, because I had already tasted it and knew that I was probably going to like it.  However, I have not gone into this project with the impression that they, or I, will like everything that I make over the next year.  My only issue is with their deciding they aren't going to like it before they even try it.  However, whenever I try a new recipe, I employ a tactic I learned from a friend of mine called the "no-thank-you bite."  You don't have to like it.  I can't dictate that.  But you do have to try it.  

Before buying the ingredients for the lasagna, I read through the comments on the blog.  There were a few comments regarding ricotta cheese, and the success those who used it had had (the original recipe calls for cottage cheese), and since I hadn't used it before, I decided to try ricotta rather than cottage cheese.  Again, A BIG SUCCESS!  

After I had the lasagna in the oven, I called my husband into the kitchen to try the sauce, to give me his opinion.  He said it was good, but seemed like it was missing something, that maybe it would be better all put together, with the cheese, and everything.  So, I took a bite of the sauce, and a bit of the left-over ricotta/parmesan mixture and - LET ME TELL YOU -  I could've just eaten those two things together.  A bite of cheese filling and a bite of sauce!  YUM!  Another bite of both delivered to my man, and we both confirmed his previous suspicions:  SAUCE + CHEESE = FANTASTIC!

Finally, an hour and 10 minutes later, it was time to dish out the lasagna.  The kids both received their "no-thank-you bite" and my man and I dished out our bowls.  And my kids - who had tried to wrangle their way out of eating the meal I so lovingly prepared for them became converts!  Any my husband, who suspected he was going to like it after trying the sauce/cheese combination, sat down with his bowl and did not put the bowl down to take so much as even a drink of Coke until after his bowl was empty!  

the gorgeous masterpiece

As for me, well...I've been doing this whole Weight Watchers/points counting thing long enough now that my stomach has shrunk to about the size of a pea.  I ate a little less than half of my serving (about 6 decent-sized bites) and I was full.  But man, were those bites heavenly!  

and, from the top

This lasagna was so good, in fact, that my husband and I decided that this is going to be the lasagna I take to our church for our annual couple's Valentine's dinner!  All I'll have to do is double the recipe!

YEEHAW! for a big hit!  I do love my mama's lasagna recipe, and this one will never be able to replace it, but it is a healthy alternative which will enable me to be able to eat more lasagna more often!  So...SCORE!!

A couple quick notes:  

          1.  During assembly, after each layer of the ricotta/parmesan filling mix, I also added a thin layer of mozzarella cheese.  

2.  I had enough sauce left over, for another whole lasagna.

Finally, here is the link that will take you right to the recipe!  Try it!  I think you'll be impressed.

ZUCCHINI LASAGNA

Time for my first shopping trip!

This is the week, folks. The week I am starting my Pinterest/Recipe Box cooking project.

For the month of February, I will be making 12 different recipes:

Albondigas Soup
Caldillo (another soup)
Quiche for Lunch
Huevos con Chile Verde
Mexican Skillet Potatoes & Mexie Mack Burgers
Spicy Honey Glazed Chicken & Roasted Smashed Potatoes
Tex-Mex Chicken Bake
Cheesy Chicken & Corn Casserole
A Pinterest recipe entitled "Eggplant instead of Pasta"
Zucchini Lasagna
BBQ Mini Meatloaf & Mashed Potatoes Ole
Crispy Herb Chicken & Cheesy Cauliflower Mash

Since he has stood behind me fiercely, I decided to let my husband pick the 3 meals I cooked this week. He chose the Albondigas soup, Zucchini Lasagna, and the crispy herb chicken meals.

Our shopping trip will begin soon, and from the recipes I am excited to see that I will be spending the bulk of my time and money in the perimeter of the grocery store!!

I am also going to begin a style of shopping I have wanted to try for a while, in hopes of saving myself some money, and being more purposeful with my grocery dollars - once a week shopping. My hope is that by going once a week, I will be able to get an idea of what my family actually needs to spend on groceries, rather than just continuing to be business as usual with my monthly bulk shopping trips. Invariably, the result of those trips is that I end up with a lot of food in my kitchen that I don't have a plan for, and we go out to eat. A LOT. Something to which all members of my side of the family can attest, and something I must have a well-thought-out and easily executable plan to rectify.

So...here we go!


Hasty la vista,
Patty

The Schedule

Hello all.  I mentioned in my last post that I have roughly 338 recipes to try in 329 days.

Today, I spent time counting out those recipes, grouping them, and combining side dishes with main courses to see how I might make some kind of meal plan or schedule for the completion of this project.

Here is what I have:

110 Main Course Meals
          Some of these use main course AND side dish recipes; Others are just main dishes to which I will add my own sides.  This works out to 2 meals per week for the next 11 months.

8 Lunch specific meals
          I will use these during the school days with the kids, or just whenever.

25 Breakfast Meals
          Of course, there is no way that I will save them all for the breakfast hours, I am sure.  This works out to one breakfast meal every other week.

11 Soups
          This equals one new soup recipe a month until the end of the year.

5 Salads
          1 new recipe every other month for 10 months

40 Beverages
          This comes out to 1 a week for the rest of the year (minus 7 weeks).

There are also 4 recipes that I set aside to use specifically for church picnics, since we always need sides/salads, and these will keep well sitting outside (no mayo or eggs!).

Finally, I also had 75 various dessert, cookie, and snack recipes.  I have decided that I am not going to stress over whether or not I get these worked into the schedule.  These recipes I will use for church picnics, special occasions, or parties.  Some of the snack recipes I could also use for quick suppers when I don't really feel like cooking.  I made this decision because, at this point in our lives, we have a retirement pending, and maybe a move, and I didn't want to spread myself to thin and have something else to stress about when this is supposed to be fun. I also didn't want to risk quitting before I really got started.

My goal:  to finish this task before the end of the year.  I will settle for completing the task in a year, but I believe that I have worked this out so that I can complete my goal by the end of December.  Since January is all but gone, I have 11 months to meet this goal.

So, I hope you all are ready to hear all about my cooking exploits - as well as, I am sure, many other rants and raves, praises and complaints, OH, AND, recipe reviews (maybe even from the family instead of me) and pictures of the dishes - because, FOR BETTER OR WORSE, y'all are stuck with me until the end of the year.  So just know, if you are a friend of mine in the Fort Meade, MD area (or wherever we may end up after retirement), and you are reading this, it is entirely possible you will be fed something I have never made before.  LOL!

One last thing before I go:
          I have a back-up plan already too.  Supportive as he is of my plan and my project, and as eager as he is for me to make tortillas (both corn and flour), chorizo, and tomatillo salsa, my husband has already given me the green light to order pizza or make PB-n-J if the recipes flop.  PHEW!!

Next week I will begin!  Are you ready for the ride?

What was I thinking?

Oh wow. So, I figured, how hard could my little recipe undertaking be.

The girl in the movie had 524 recipes to work through in 365 days. That's not me, so I ought to be okay.

Well, it's a different story when you decide to set out to do the task, and start committing the plan to paper.

As it turns out, I have 338 (or so) recipes to make in 329 days.

I have 45 poultry recipes alone; that's nearly 1 a week for the rest of the year. I also have 44 veggie recipes.

Now, I have to admit, right up front, that I did make a New Years Resolution this year. It may seem a bit generic at the outset, but I assure you it has kept me challenged.

The resolution: to not be dictated to by unreasonable fear. My goal this year is to stare down whatever it is that comes my way that causes me to shrink back, or second-guess myself, and really examine it. If I am deciding not to do something, say - for instance, trying octopus for the first time - simply because it looks weird and a little creepy, well...that's just not a good enough reason to not do it.

Don't get me wrong! Stupid, I am not. I have no death wish. I will not be bungee jumping unless the life of one of my children is at stake. I have never had any desire to put myself in that kind of peril. But, when it comes to food, if its dead already, COME ON!

It is from that place I am operating, and from that place that I have decided that, even though this idea feels absolutely ridiculous in the cold, stark light of day, I will proceed.

After all, we eat 3 meals a day. So when I break the goal down THAT FAR, to cop out before I even get started is nothing more than letting fear dictate my action.

To quote former President George H.W. Bush, "Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent."

So, with that, I have come up with a plan but, I'm not posting it right now because its 1:30 am, and I have to be up in 5 hours to babysit a sweet, sweet little girl.

Good night, er... I mean, good morning.

My New Project!

I checked out the movie Julie & Julia from the library last week, and have watched it 3x. I have been inspired to work through some of my recipes. I've been thinking about it for a while anyway, but the movie has convinced me. Well, that, and the fact that I do believe I am a recipe hoarder, and maybe even a cookbook hoarder in training.

In an effort to do something with my collection, I have resolved to work through my recipe box and Pinterest Foods board. And, in an attempt to pay homage to what has now become another one of my favorite movies, I'm going to blog about my experience.

I have 174 recipes (that I have never made) in my recipe box, not including the "Cookies & Bars" section. There are 52 cookie/bar recipes - one for each week. I also have 152 Pinterest foods I'd like to try.

So, I'm gonna. And as I work through the recipes, I will be deleting/discarding those we don't like or that I know I won't ever make again. This way, I can reduce my hoard of recipes or add to my repertoire of recipes that I make more often rather than falling back on the same old-same old. Hopefully, it'll turn out to be a little of both.

The reason for the blog, because I have to have a reason - that's just how I am - is: there are plenty of Pinterest recipes that I have that I would likely never try but like the looks of, and I am sure I'm not the only one. So, maybe, this will inspire some one to bust out of their "same old-same old" rut and try out some of the recipes in their stash. Of course, it's entirely possible that I'm just doing this because I like to talk and that, in all actuality, nobody really reads this or cares, but I need something to do to occupy my time. In any case, I don't really care, because I'm gonna do it anyway.

After all, it's good to have goals. Right?!

Who knows? After this project is good and underway, maybe ill start working on some of my other Pinterest board projects and subject you all to my ramblings about them as well. ;)