Taking Credit

Where have I been? Living through insanity.
Where am I now? Living on the edge.
Nothing dramatic; nothing bad; nothing unusual. Just life.

A few weeks ago was particularly crazy busy. Without going into detail (mostly because I don’t want to relive it), I did manual labor at work all week which helped me to realize something.

There’s a reason I have a desk job.

That entire week, every day, every hour was spent spring cleaning the children’s museum where I work. And during that back-breaking week, I learned two things:

1. Never wear blue jeans to a meeting, no matter how much painting you’ll have to do as soon as the meeting is over. Everyone else will be there in their nice duds and you’ll look like a slacker.

2. If someone is raving about a dish at the company potluck and asks if you made it, always say yes. Chances are the real cook won’t hear you claim her dish, and even if she does, you’ll at least have the glory for one brief, wonderful moment.

Thursday was potluck day. I made my Pasta Caprese salad. And of course it was good. You know, it’s really hard to go wrong when you’re using those little balls of fresh mozzarella. Cuteness and deliciousness rolled into one.

But as good as my salad was, it was not the best thing there that day. The best of show winner was Christi’s husband’s Garlicky Garlic Artichoke Parmesan Dip. Oh heavens! Creamy and rich with hints of garlic. Well, mob-style hints of garlic…slug-you-in-the-face hints of garlic…everyone-you-talk-to-the-rest-of-the-day-better-have-eaten-the-same-thing-or-you’ll-have-no-friends-left hints of garlic. And there were artichokes there too.

I begged the recipe from Christi. She said it’s one of those “What’s in the Cupboard” recipes. But I told her that was fine. I’ve got stuff in my cupboard. And if she gives me the basics, I’ll work with it from there.

So here’s her recipe for your enjoyment.

And I’m sorry if I’ve offended you with my garlic breath.

Christi’s Husband’s Garlicy Garlic Artichoke Parmesan Dip

• 2 cans quartered artichoke hearts (drained)
• 2 cups mayo
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2-5 cloves garlic (to taste)
• 1 tbsp course ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp basil

Mix artichokes and spices to taste, blend in mayo and sour cream. Fold in ½ of the Parmesan cheese and spread in bottom of a 9×9 baking pan. Sprinkle the rest of the Parmesan on the top (not too much as it will create a thick crust).

Cover with aluminum foil and bake in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and bake an additional 10 minutes (or until cheese starts to brown). Here I’ll add my 2-cents-worth. My dip separated, and while it was still good, it was pretty greasy. Next time I’ll bake at 325 for 20-30 minutes and see if that helps.

Serve with toasted baguette slices or crackers.

Happy Halloween!

You know what you do when your son’s friends all show up for a Birthday/Halloween party for one of his friends, and another friend’s mom ran out of time and wasn’t able to decorate the cake?

You grab a package of plastic skulls, dust off your food coloring bottles, and become the hero of the night!

I love being the one that saves the day!

Baked Buffalo Chicken

What do you do when your husband wants buffalo chicken wings, and you have a whole chicken in the fridge and really don’t want to fry?

Bake it!

Super spicy, but oh, so amazing and simple!

And then…to get the blue cheese element into the meal, take a steak sauce that The Pioneer Woman calls “absolutely sublime“, and turn it into a pasta side dish.

Really, you have to try it. Even if you don’t have a husband making unreasonable frying demands on a weeknight.

Buffalo Baked Chicken

Melt olive oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium heat.

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix together the flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder and cayenne. (I don’t know quantities. I just add the seasonings, mix it and taste. I stop when the flour mixture tastes good. I know, weird, but it works for me!)

Dredge chicken in flour mixture, and lay the pieces, skin side down, in the hot oil/butter mixture.

Leave the chicken pieces alone until the chicken is well browned. Turn chicken over to brown the other side.

Pour Frank’s sauce in a baking dish. Move chicken pieces from skillet to baking dish, coating both side of chicken with Frank’s Hot sauce. Chicken should be placed skin-side-up in baking dish.

Bake chicken in oven for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve with lots of blue cheese and ranch salad dressings to cool your mouth.

Tomorrow…

Blue Cheese Pasta

Learning to Love Salmon

If you asked me yesterday if I liked salmon, I would have wrinkled my nose and said something polite. I don’t like fishy-fish, and most of the salmon I’ve eaten falls into that category.

But yesterday, a kind soul gave Paul a pink salmon that was caught in the Snohomish River right there in town.

And the kindness of this fisherwoman who I’ve never even met presented me with a huge quandry. How to cook the salmon so that we would all enjoy it.

I spent some time last night searching around, finally going to www.foodblogsearch.com where I knew that any recipe I found would be accompanied by a review. Finally, after looking at many, many recipes, I saw the magic word that always catches my eye.

Maple.

And I was pretty sure I couldn’t go wrong. I was right.

When I came home from work, I filleted out the salmon, pulled a bunch of itty bitty pin bones, mixed the marinade, dumped it into a ziptop bag with the salmon and stuck it in the fridge for 1/2 hour while I steamed some rice and cut up some broccoli.

In about 45 minutes total, dinner was on the table. While I was still taking pictures, Mom took her first bite of the salmon, and the first words out of her mouth were “mmmmmmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmmmm!”

Dad’s first comment was “I’ll eat all the salmon you cook if you make it like this.”

Don’t work Mom & Dad. Paul’s planning on going fishing later this week and stocking up our freezer. And a lot of what he brings home will be honored with this recipe.

Sweet-Salty Canadian Salmon
thanks to: Lobstersquad

1/2 c soy sauce
1/4 c maple syrup
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp sesame oil

Mix together. Add to ziptop bag with salmon filets. Marinate 30-45 minutes.

Preheat broiler. Lay salmon, skin side down on pan.

Broil until fish is cooked through (my thin fillets took about 10 minutes).

If desired. boil leftover marinade and serve on the side.

Tastes like chicken, only chicken-ier

I love recipes. It may be kind of hard to tell sometimes, because I’m so loose with them. Changing them around, adapting, adjusting, and otherwise abusing the original intent. But I really do love them. I just rarely accept them for what they are.

So you might think that the fact that this recipe was made exactly the way it was written is pretty amazing. But actually, it’s not. ‘Cause Nick did all the assembly. I only applied the heat.

This wonderful chicken recipe was sent to me by Debbie, one of our customers. We’d asked her to write a testimonial about our chicken for our website, and not only did she say amazing, heartwarming, this-is-the-reason-we-do-this things, but she also sent along a delicious recipe for Garlic Lemon Chicken.

First, here’s me immodestly telling you what she said:

I thought I would never again enjoy the wonderful flavors of chicken that I recalled from my childhood. Thank goodness I was wrong. The flavor and quality I get from your chickens, not to mention the superior nutritional value from the way they are fed and raised, is second to none. I had been concerned about my family’s health when having to settle for so much of the food found in the stores nowadays. As a result I have searched a long time, locally and online, to find this kind of quality and consider you a real treasure. To be able to find sources of food that I know will contribute to the good health of my family is invaluable. Thank you and your family for providing mine with a choice!

And now, here’s Debbie’s amazing, deceptively simple roasted chicken recipe. Of course, I’ll only guarantee it’s the best chicken you’ve ever had if you make it with one of our chickens!

Enjoy…

Garlic Lemon Chicken

Take one whole Pastured Sensations chicken. You can cut the chicken into pieces or just cut it down the center into two halves that lay flat. Poke holes in the chicken with a fork. Mix together:

1/4 c Olive, Grapeseed or Coconut oil, or just a little more if you feel it is necessary
2 large lemons, zested & juiced
8 cloves garlic, crushed (or 1 T crushed garlic from the jar)
2 T Tamari sauce (or soy sauce), low sodium is fine
1 – 1/2 t kosher or sea salt
1/2 t pepper, fresh ground
Sprig of thyme (optional)

Rub some of mixture onto chicken. Place in large bag and add any remaining marinade. Allow to sit for 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350. Brown chicken in pan on top of stove using a small amount of oil. Place chicken in baking dish (I just used a stainless steel pan to brown the chicken then put it straight into the oven.) Pour remaining marinade over chicken. Bake about 1 hour or until done.

Remove chicken from pan. Place pan on stove top, boil to reduce sauce by half. Season to taste with salt and pepper. With sauce boiling, quickly whisk in 1 T cold butter. Serve pan sauce on the side.

Oh…and when you put the pan on top of the stove after you take it straight from the oven, don’t forget the handle is VERY hot.

And if you do forget the handle’s hot, just make sure you have an aloe vera plant growing in the window to soothe your burn.

Trust me on this.