Jamie Oliver's Crispy and Sticky Chicken Thighs with Squashed New Potatoes and Tomatoes

I forgot to post this a few weeks ago, but it's worth the lateness. This was the second time I'd made this recipe and it doesn't disappoint. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half from start to finish. When I first discovered Jamie Oliver, I watched his Oliver's Twist TV show, and thought he was a weirdo. Now that I've watched more of his recent work, read a lot of his recipes, and seen his work with the Food Revolution, I still think he's a weirdo, but I have to admit he's got style. I think his combination of British food, plus healthy food, plus just his own personal taste makes for some of the most unique food I've ever seen. I totally recommend checking out his other stuff, and his philosophies on healthy eating and humane treatment of animals.

The herb Jamie Oliver uses in his original recipe is just fresh oregano, but I rarely have that on hand, so I've used Italian seasoning and parsley. And this time, I even added some leftover rosemary--fit it just right.

You can see Jamie's original recipe here; I haven't made changes very much at all. Mostly just to the seasonings.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED:

1 3/4 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed

Kosher/sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

8-12 boned chicken thighs, skin on (preferably free-range or organic)

Olive oil

Kosher salt and pepper

1 1/4 pounds cherry tomatoes (or smaller)

1 bunch of fresh oregano (or subsitute dried seasonings; oregano, thyme, Italian seasonings, rosemary)

More olive oil

Red wine vinegar

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:

Boil the potatoes in salted water. Easy peasy.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut up your chicken thighs into 3 pieces and put them in a boil. Add salt, pepper, and oil, and use your hands to combine it all together.

Heat a large cast-iron frying pan over medium high heat. Ideally, this would be cast-iron so you could transfer it straight to the oven, but if you have to transfer to a baking dish, it won't be the end of the world. Place the chicken thighs skin side down in the pan to start. Cook for 10 minutes, tossing, until almost cooked.

While the chicken is cooking, poke all your tomatoes with a knife, and put them in a bowl covered with boiling water. Let sit for a few minutes, and drain. When they've cooled off, you should be able to squeeze/pinch off the skins. This step isn't necessary, but when the flesh is exposed during cooking, the sweetness adds to the cooking a lot more. Jamie says, "They will become lovely and sweet when cooked, and their intense flavor will infuse the potatoes." How can you pass that up?

"Bash" the oregano Jamie style (or just mince it). Drain your potatoes and lightly crush each one with tongs or your thumb (burns your thumb though). Combine the potatoes, chicken and tomatoes in the cast-iron pan, or a baking dish. Coat with oil, seasonings, and red wine vinegar. Jamie says to spread everything out into one layer, but I've done it both ways--you can heap it all up into two layers, or one; it's good both ways. Bake for 40 minutes.

Creamy Roasted Tomato and Shrimp Pasta

Trevor and I have made this simple pasta a few times now, and I think it's turned into one of my favorites. It's pretty easy, but feels fancy--that's the best kind of pasta :)

WHAT YOU NEED:
for roasted tomatoes
5 roma tomatoes
2-3 teaspoons minced garlic
2-3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
for pasta
1 pound pasta (spaghetti, penne, rotini, whatever floats your boat)
1 tablespoon table salt
for sauce
1/2 pound shrimp--deveined and peeled
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes (or crushed)
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 bay leaf
1/2 tablespoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
seasonings/salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon sugar or honey
1/2 cup cream

WHAT YOU DO:

First things first, you have to get your tomatoes roasting. You'll want them roasting the entire time you're getting everything else ready. 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Quarter 5 roma tomatoes, then cut those quarters in half. You can de-seed them if you don't like the seeds and juices, but I think they add good flavor to the pasta sauce later. Place the tomatoes on a foil lined baking sheet, drizzle with oil (olive or vegetable works), and top with minced garlic, salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix it all together, then spread it out evenly. Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes while you do the rest, turning them with a spatula once halfway through. (If, by the time you're done with the pasta, your tomatoes aren't as roasted as you want them to be, turn the oven up to 500 or even broil for a few minutes to get the amount of char/roast you want. Watch carefully.)

At this point, prep your shrimp, if they aren't already. They need to be defrosted, deveined, and peeled. 

Next, start a large pot of water boiling, with about a tablespoon of regular table salt (no need to waste kosher salt on boiling water). Your water should taste like sea salt--this will make your noodles actually taste like noodles later on. Cook your noodles to al dente.

While the noodles are cooking, heat some oil over medium high heat in a large saute pan. Add garlic and shrimp, season with salt and pepper, and saute quickly. Once the shrimps have JUST reached pink all the way through, turn down the heat to medium low. If using crushed tomatoes, pour them straight into the pan now. If using diced tomatoes, blend them up really quick with an immersion blender, food processor, or blender (you could even crush them with a fork) before adding to the shrimp. I like using the diced tomatoes because I can control how chunky my tomatoes are, depending on my mood.

Season the tomato sauce with italian seasoning (or oregano and thyme to your taste), sage, parsley, ground red pepper, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Taste the sauce and use your judgement. The sauce is going to be tamed by adding cream later, so you want it to taste fairly strong. To me, this sauce whispers slightly of something creole or cajun with the thyme and shrimp, so feel free to spice it up. It doesn't need to be HOT spicy to be spiced; go easy on the red pepper if you don't want a burn. Add the sugar or honey to taste.

(Keep an eye on your pasta. Drain the noodles when they're ready, and return them to the pot.)


Add 1/2 cup of any cream of your choice to the tomato sauce. I use whipping cream because, well, it will be the best. But half-and-half or 2% would work if you want to go lighter. It just won't be as creamy. Also be careful using lower fat creams/milks because they curdle when heated too quickly. Make sure to turn your heat down and slowly bring the sauce back up to temperature. Feel free to increase or decrease the amount of cream based on what you prefer. Re-season till it's how you want it to taste.


Combine the sauce with the noodles, and add your roasted tomatoes to the pot. Gently combine so you don't destroy all the roasted tomatoes.

Selling our Xbox, Fluval Edge Aquarium, and some other stuff

We've had some unexpected medical bills arise, so we've decided to sell some stuff we don't use anymore. If anyone has any interest in any of these things, it'd be a big help :)

• We're selling our Xbox and all our gaming stuff, so here's the link to the ad if you are interested in checking it out. We're trying to sell it as a bundle, but feel free to let me know if you'd be interested in pieces and you'll be first in line if it doesn't sell as a package in a day or two. There's 23 games, 3 wireless controllers, a remote, and extra memory.

• We're also selling our Fluval Edge Aquarium, which is an amazing fish tank! We've had some fish and shrimp for a few years, and have had our fill :) It is almost entirely self-maintaining. We change the filters every few months, and it keeps itself sparkling clean. All you do is add water every few weeks. I really like that the water fills all the way up to the top, so it's a complete water cube. If ever there was a classy fishtank, this is it, haha :) We're including all our fishy accessories too: food, pebbles, decorations, water treatments, cleaning tools, net, and extra filters. We probably spent $200 easily on all this stuff. Here's the link to the aquarium ad. 

• We are also still selling our mid-2010 MacBook Pro. It has been a super computer :) The display is great, and we've taken really good care of it. It is fully capable of gaming like World of Warcraft, and all my photography editing needs. Here's the ad with all the details. 

• We are also selling a Dell desktop tower we've had laying around for a few years. We actually don't even know all the specs on it, just that it works and runs XP. We dont' have any of the necessary accessories to even get into it and find out what it is, but we know it will need to be restored. Here's the link for that ad. 

Rachael Ray's Minestrone Soup w/Garlic Bread Croutons

Made this soup for lunch today and I'm so looking forward to eating leftovers for lunch this week :) For me, this is the perfect combination of broth, noodle, and vegetable that just gets my ooky sit in a blanket and fawn over all things amazing feelings going.

Plus, I love how easy broth based soups are to make. It's basically dice, saute, boil, eat. Rachael's recipe doesn't call for garbanzo beans, but to me, it's not minestrone without them.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound zucchini
2 ribs celery
1 carrot
1 onion
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
34 ounces (4 cups) vegetable or chicken stock
15 ounces cannelinni beans (white beans), rinsed
15 ounces crushed tomatoes
15 ounces garbanzo beans
1/4 pound penne pasta
basil

Croutons:
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic
4-6 slices of italian bread
1/2 cup grated parigiano-reggiano (or parmesan)
parsley

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:

Chop your vegetables: Quarter the zucchini and carrot and dice; finely dice the onion; cut the celery into strips and dice; mince the garlic. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a big pot. Add vegetables, salt and pepper, and bay leaf, then saute for 8 minutes or until vegetables are softening.

Add broth, tomatoes, and beans and bring to a boil.

Add pasta and simmer over medium heat until al dente. Add basil and keep on low. Add 1 cup of water if you want it to be more soupy.

While the soup is simmering, melt the butter in a small pan over medium-low heat. Add 1 clove garlic and swirl for 30 seconds. Toast the bread slices under the broiler for a minute on each side. Remove and lower oven to 450 degrees. Brush toast on one side with butter, and top with cheese and parsley. Return to oven until cheese is melted.

After I used all the butter, I scooped the leftover garlic into my pot of soup. No need to waste it :) Adjust seasoning to your liking.

Serve with croutons in shallow bowls.

Beefy Mac 'n Cheese

 Hey there buddies! I made some macaroni and cheese tonight and it let me take pictures of it :)

Mmm... cheesy

If you want to make it, it turned out creamier and cheesier than any other mac n cheese I've ever made :) Not grainy, not floury.

I started with a recipe from here for some pretty standard home made mac n cheese, and made do with some stuff I had around the kitchen haha :) Trevor and I have made a decision to try to eat only organic meat (you know, due to all the horribleness that happens to animals nowadays when they're being raised). So we got some organic ground beef from cows that are free-range, grass-fed, etc. We're eating less meat, but the meat we do want to try to eat will be happy when it was alive :)

Moving on.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED:

12 ounces macaroni noodles
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon kosher salt
ground pepper
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 heaping teaspoon ground mustard powder
ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 cups (1 can) evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups milk
2-3 cups of shredded cheese (gouda, cheddar, mozzarella)
1 cup more shredded cheddar

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:

Boil your noodles, silly. Put 2 teaspoons of the salt in with the water to make them taste good. Cook al-dente--for real. You want them to be AL DENTE so that when they finish cooking in the oven, they don't get mushy.

Brown your beef with salt and pepper. This is super easy.

Preheat your oven to 375.

Drain the noodles. In your empty noodle pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and stir, stir, stir. Cook the roux until it gets a little brown. If you learn how to do this, you'll be able to make a bagillion different sauces, and you can tell all your friends you cooked a roux.

Add the salt, mustard, paprika, and pepper. And then add the evaporated milk and regular milk. I actually really enjoyed the substitution of evaporated milk, it was creamier and harder to over-heat the cheese. Be careful when using lower fat milk because you can't heat it too high or too quickly or it will scald, and your cheese will separate. This is what causes the sauce to feel grainy.

Stir with a whisk until it's all combined. Keep stirring with the whisk over medium heat until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Turn the heat down to the lowest setting and mix in the 2-3 cups of cheese. I had 3 slices of gouda, a cup of cheddar, and a cup of pizza blend cheeses--any good strong melting cheeses would probably do just fine :) Although, the more cheddar you have, the more it will taste like traditional yellow mac n cheese. Make sure not to heat it or boil it after this point or the cheese will separate.

Stir the cheese in slowly until it's all melted. Remove from heat. Combine the noodles and beef with the sauce, then poor everything into a 9x13 baking pan. Top with another cup or so of cheese, preferably cheddar, and a 1/2 teaspoon of paprika.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Aaaand here's a few more pictures of the same thing since I love taking pictures :)

A whole bunch of stuff I thought I posted but never did: June-August 2012

This post is a bunch of stuff I thought I already posted, and a bunch of other stuff.

This year was one of the best vacations I've ever had, and we didn't really even do much. We usually don't have boatloads of money to go on a real vacation so, as many of you know, we take a periodic stay-cation. We didn't get one last year because of new jobs and not having any vacation time, but this year, we made it work.

We took 10 days off in May/June and packed it pretty full of whatever we wanted :)

Friday-Sunday we attended CONduit again. We attended as many panels as we could that were actually worth while for writers. Apparently, there was a new group of people in charge, and they decided to add a bunch of panels about non-writing topics, like "Is Indiana Jones Really an Archeologist" and panels on costume making. I'll be honest, I pay to go to CONduit for the writing panels, not the "fun" panels. So it's kind of beside the point if those other panels would actually be interesting. We did attend a few panels that were very informative and got our minds working, specifically panels on YA fiction outside the most popular series, non-medieval European fantasy, using mythology and religion effectively in fantasy, point of view, and a few others. The best parts are actually getting to chat with other aspiring authors, and published authors. I'm always amazed at how willing people are to talk. They have a masquerade contest, so lots of people showed up in costumes, and I got a picture with Vader. Life long dream, complete ;)

 

There was a super cool batman costume, and this impressive Chewie. 

Stalker cam.

Here are some of the new people I learned about, some people we chatted with, and some people I already knew about but for whom my interest was rekindled; you should get to know them too:

Tamora Pierce YA author

Jane Lindskold mythology guru, author of all sorts

Carter and his wife from The Zombie Nation webcomic
Bryce Moore YA author

This is also where I was introduced to the Ticket to Ride iPhone/iPad app. SUPER fun game :)

On Monday, it was Memorial Day, so we had a barbeque with Trevor's family. The weather was great, there was shade, and we made a fire. Couldn't ask for more--except maybe not having to clean up after.

The only picture on my phone of Yellowstone.

We also took a spontaneous adventure up to Yellowstone! We decided to go on a Thursday night at about 7pm, and were out the door by 9pm. We arrived at our hotel in Yellowstone around 1am. We spent all of Friday driving through the park, seeing the sights. We even got to drive LITERALLY through a heard of buffalo and take pictures. We got sunburned way bad waiting for Old Faithful, and stayed in Jackson Hole that night. Got home Saturday. 

And since this post is 3 months late, I have no idea what else we did on our stay-cation! Haha :)  

 Except for I know we went to a park and read on a blanket for a while. We did that few times in the summer.

I took my nephews to a little fair my brother-in-law did for school. It was pretty fun. They made bottle rockets, and did a bunch of crafts like painting, rock painting, shaving cream art.

We also had a big birthday party for them at my house. Almost my whole family came over and it was intense. I'm so grateful for those times though--a lot of my family lives far away, so it's pretty special to me when we all get together. 

 I got a guitar :) I was diligent for a couple weeks, grew calluses, and then got busy, haha :) I've played like twice in the last month. I don't intend to give up forever. 

This is how sucky I was the first week. 

 Trevor finished his second draft of ONLY GINGERS CAN BE WITCHES, got through a second round of beta readers, and started submitting queries to agents :) It has been stressful, exciting, infuriating, and extremely hard for him. But it's a huge step! This week he was asked by an agent to send his full manuscript so she could check it out--we're waiting to hear back. The querying process is, frankly, absurd. Basically, you write a couple paragraphs about your book that are supposed to hook an agent's attention. You're supposed to sum up everything about your book in one short email, and hope it's enough to get someone interested enough to ask to read your manuscript. They get hundreds a day. How anyone gets published, ever, is beyond me. But Trevor is good enough--I think it will happen. We just have to learn how to manipulate the situation :)

I made this super sweet duck tape wallet for Trevor using the skills I learned at the fair with my nephews. 

I found this spider on the towel I'd just used to dry my hair. Good morning!

Trevor forced me to organize our office closet--which has been overflowing with photography equipment, disc supplies, manuscripts, school books, and basically everything else we don't know what to do with. We did it all for less than $30, which is actually a miracle. Shelving is so over priced. But now our office feels nicer and I know where to find everything!

I convinced Trevor to let us do a puzzle! And now we've done a lot :) The one we're doing now has been abandoned because it's TOO HARD. But I think we'll get a new one next week for our anniversary. We even got a folding table to put in our office. It's surprisingly fun to puzzle and watch netflix. 

Trevor finally convinced ME to get Nerf guns, which we then proceeded to Steampunkify. The dudes at Lowes were all in a flutter over what we were doing with their hardware.

Most recently, we celebrated our 8 year dating anniversary, which I've already talked about. But here's us, 8 years later. We revisited the location of our first date--Arby's by WJ High, and reminisced being incredibly young and without responsibilities. We took a stroll around Gardner Village, where, by the way, they had super cute lambs and calves. Also, we checked out some Halloween decorations, and got motivated for our Halloween party at the end of October.