Recipe: Lemon Greek Chicken

Happy Thursday! I was hopping around today on the Unity hop and found a great looking recipe for Lemon Greek Chicken over on Brooke's blog. Lemon...anything always sounds good to me. I think this looks like something I can't screw up.

2 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 c lemon juice
2 T olive oil
4 lg garlic cloves, pressed
2-3 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
2-3 med baking potatoes- no need to peel
1 med red bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 med red onion, cut into wedges
8 oz fresh whole mushrooms
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 400
Combine zest, juice and oil.
Add pressed garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Cut potatoes into lenthwise wedges.
Place in 9X13 stone baker or other 9x13 pan.
Add bell pepper, onion, mushrooms and half of lemon juice mixture.
Toss to coat.
Place chicken on top of vegetables;
brush with remaining lemon juice mixture.
{or if you are ME.. dump everything into a huge bowl
with all the lemon mixture and coat it all at once}
Bake 1 hour or until chicken is no longer pink.
Brush chicken and vegetables with pan juices after 30 min.
Yield: approx 4 servings.

Recipe: Liege Waffles

I was at the Seaport and came upon a waffle cart... called Waffles and Dinges. They had all sorts of options for different types of waffles and the one I chose was the Liege Waffle. Originated in Belgium in the city of Liege, this waffle is sweeter and denser than traditional Belgium Waffles(think chewy rather than crispy).

Man was that the best Waffle I ever had!!! The topping- Speculoos (Biscoff spread) has a nutella consitency but tastes like graham crackers. (Biscoff can be ordered from their website and costs $14.40 for 2 28oz jars). I think I will try eating these in the future with Nutella at $2.79 a jar...lol!

I want to see if I can make these babies for myself so I found this recipe to try.

Liege Waffle Recipe

1 (1/4 ounce) package yeast

1/3 cup lukewarm water (about 105 degF - too hot will kill the yeast)

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated white sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

3 eggs

1 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

1 cup pearl sugar*

Mix the yeast, water, sugar and salt in a bowl and let it develop or sit for 15 minutes.

Place the flour in a separate large mixing bowl (we use the bowl of our kitchen aid stand mixer) and make a well in the center of the flour.

Pour the yeast mixture into the well and mix until blended on medium speed (we use the paddle in our kitchen aid mixer).

Add the eggs (one at a time), melted butter a bit at a time, and the vanilla and cinnamon. Be sure to mix well after each addition to the batter.

Keep in mind the batter will be thick and VERY sticky (this is normal).

Remove the bowl from the mixer and let the dough rest until it doubles in volume inside the bowl.

Gently fold in the pearl sugar and let the dough rest for 15 more minutes.

While the dough is resting, heat the waffle iron

Spoon about a 2" ball of dough into the center of the waffle iron (this should yield a waffle that is about 4" in diameter).

I know that sounds small, but these rich waffles pack quite a punch.

Waffles will take 3 to 5 minutes to bake

Recipe makes 8 - 10 waffles.

*It has been our experience that pearl sugar is difficult to find in the U.S. so buy C&H sugar cubes (normally for coffee), place about 60 of them in a plastic Ziploc bag and 'crush' them with a meat tenderizer (you could use a rolling pin or heavy sauce pan as well). Then put the sugar through a sifter maintaining only the 'pearls' of sugar for the waffles. You need about 1 cup of pearls. The fine sugar that goes through the sifter can be put in your kitchen sugar jar or used to sweeten the strawberries if you are using them for the topping. I was able to find an online source at L'Epicerie or iGourmet. See the pearl sugar photo above so that you know what you are trying to obtain. The addition of pearl sugar in the batter is what gives these waffles that special caramelized Liege waffle taste. However, that same sugar makes them sort of sticky so be careful not to burn yourself when removing them from the waffle iron. The pearl sugar also makes clean-up of the waffle iron tricky. As the sugar melts, it runs in the crevices of the waffle iron. So my biggest tip is that after you finish baking your waffles, clean the waffle iron while it is still warm. If it cools completely, the caramel sugar mixture can be nearly impossible to get off the iron.These waffles freeze extremely well so consider making a double batch.

Storage: Let the waffles cool, wrap them individually in Saran wrap, and then place them in a large Ziploc freezer bag. When we want one, we remove it from the freezer and put it in the oven on a baking sheet to heat it up.

Source

Trying something new...Flank Steak with Chimichurri recipe

Ok- bear with me here folks...trying something new. I saw this receipe for Flank Steak that I am dying to try so I am posting it here to my blog....mostly for my benefit... so I can watch it later and cook ;0)


http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/flank-steak-with-chimichurri

Will post again later tonight once I have pictures of the blog candy!!!

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe- like a chain letter for bakers....

I had the great fortune to get to try this yummy confection on Easter. My roomate was given a bag starter and I figured I would pay it forward!!! So I am sharing this recipe with all of you in cyberland.

I think this would be a great little gift for friends if you include a cute stamped recipe card along with bag of starter.

The sweet bread known as Amish Friendship Bread is a family favorite. It is a quick bread, meaning you don't need to let the bread rise. This sweet sourdough starter recipe makes enough to bake your own loaf of quick bread and to share with two friends, which is a traditional thing with this recipe.

Amish Cinnamon Friendship Bread

Important Tips-
It is normal for batter to thicken, bubble, or ferment

Day 1: You receive a bag of Starter ( the fermented batter in a 1 gallon ziploc bag.) Do Nothing. Just place the bag on the kitchen counter. If you did not receive a starter bag and want to create one from scratch- see Starter recipe at the bottom of this post.

Day 2: Squeeze the bag several times.
Day 3: Squeeze the bag several times.
Day 4: Add 1 c. of flour, 1 c. of sugar, 1 c. of milk. Squeeze bag.
Day 5: Squeeze the bag several times.
Day 6: Add 1 c. each flour, sugar, and milk. Squeeze bag.
Day 7: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 8: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 9: Squeeze bag several times.

Day 10: In a large, non-metal bowl, combine batter with 1 c. each flour, sugar, and milk. Mix with a wooden spoon. Pour four 1-cup starters into individual gallon ziploc bags. Give away starters to friends with this set of directions.

To the remaining batter add:
1 c. canola or vegetable oil
1 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
3 eggs
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2 c. flour
1/2 c. milk
1/2 t. baking soda
1 large box of instant vanilla pudding
2 t. cinnamon

In separate bowl, mix 1 t. cinnamon and 3 T. sugar. Sprinkle into well-greased loaf pans and coat the sides with sugar mixture. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until done.

Variations:
Banana Bread:
1 box instant banana pudding
1 mashed banana
2 handfuls of nuts

Chocolate Bread:
1 box of instant choc. pudding
1 T. cocoa
2 handfuls of chocolate chips

Helpful tips-

The traditional recipe states not to use metal utencils to prepare this. If you use metal implements for mixing...it will not ruin your bread...just don't use reactive metal like aluminum.

If you miss days or don't follow all the steps...your starter will not be ruined. You can refridgerate it for months- if it turns pink it is spoiled and you should throw it out.

You can grease your loaf pans with PAM cooking spray.

To make your own Starter-

Simply put 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar, 1 c. milk, and 1 T. yeast in a ziploc bag and let it sit on the counter. Call that Day 1, and you’re good to go.

Enjoy!

Reindeer Poop

Last night I slaved away in the kitchen to make Reindeer Poop for my friends at work. What is Reindeer Poop you ask? Well in this case it is yummy, gooey, chocolate chip cookies. This was my first time making cookies from scratch and I love them! My co-worker was actually speechless when she tried them...she was too busy eating more pieces and licking the chocolate off of her fingers. I think they were a hit.

The tag on cookie baggie has a digistamp of "Olive and Toastie" by Whimsie Doodles and reads:

Reindeer Poop
Santa's been here. How do I know? Look what I found outside in the snow!

Nestle Tollhouse Pudding Chip Cookie Recipe:

Ingredients-
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 pkg. (4 serving size) instant vanilla, butterscotch or chocolate pudding mix (I used French Vanilla Jello pudding mix)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Morsels

Directions-
PREHEAT oven to 350° F. COMBINE flour and pudding mix in small bowl. Beat butter in large mixing bowl on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in brown sugar and baking soda until well combined. Beat in egg and egg white. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop dough by rounded teaspoon 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. BAKE for 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Cool on baking sheets 2 to 3 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.