Stickin' to Chicken

I thought tonight's dinner was one big fail! Don't make this . . .

Juicy Flank Steak in Mushroom Sauce.

This One's for You.

I can't remember crap, but I remember this one! The reason 1) it's easy 2) we have it once a week. So this blogs for you, not me.

Last night for dinner we had one of our favs . . . Italian Turkey Sausage Spaghetti.

I use Mild Italian Turkey Sausage (we used to buy hot and it is so much better, but Liam actually loves this so we sacrifice for him - boy do we sacrifice for him!!). It comes in a pack of 5 and I usually use three and then freeze 2. Remove the casing. I cut it with my kitchen scissors and then peel it off. Brown it in a skillet, crumbling while cooking (just like you would do for ground beef). Sometimes I had a chopped onion while browning. Drain. Reach into your cabinet and grab a jar of spaghetti sauce. I usually use whatever was BOGO at Publix! Add sauce to skillet with sausage and onion. Turn heat to low and leave to simmer. Feed kid, bath kid, read books, put kid to bed. Boil pasta and add to skillet. Toss. Delish. Leftovers galore!!

I Want to Punch Monday in the Face!

This weekend was the perfect mix of gettin' stuff done, doing nothing and fun family time. We took Liam to breakfast on Saturday and lunch on Sunday. Both times he sat in a booster seat and didn't act like a dick. I am hoping this isn't a fluke and that we can actually eat out (with him) again.

**Let's try this again . . . I started this blog on Monday (obviously) and am getting back to it on Wednesday.**

So anyway, it was a nice weekend. One really awesome thing that happened . . . Saturday Erin asked if she could drop off the cd of photos from our shoot. After saying "of course" I texted her back and asked if she wanted to stay for dinner. She accepted! Fun! I love an impromtu dinner party. I made chicken enchiladas. I thought they were delicious . . . that was after a bottle of Skinny Girl Sangria (which is REALLY delicious) and two Coronas. I had the leftovers on Monday and indeed they were good!! So here is the recipe . . .

Tyler Florence's Chicken Enchiladas

I love a recipe that doesn't just say "2 cups cooked of shredded chicken," one that actually tells you how they got there! I mean, I know how to cook some chicken, but how does Tyler Florence cook his chicken before putting it in his enchiladas. I cut this recipe in half . . . 8 enchiladas. One of the things I did that made it so good is I invested in the Cadillac of all corn tortillas. It was a pack of 8 for $1.99 vs 24 for $1.99. Usually I use 8 and throw away 16 -- after moving them around my kitchen for 2 weeks -- so what's the difference!? I looked for a Mexican Spice Blend at the store but not sure it is something you actually buy so I googled it and used the spices mentioned.

Erin stayed until 11:00. We had the best time . . . just the 3 of us (Liam was asleep before she even got there) She and I polished off the sangria and then managed to finish a bottle of Skinny Girl Margarita. Fun fun!!

Sunday I marinated pork chops in Mojo ALL day. Brian grilled them perfectly. And then . . . yep, they were pork chops. I just need to accept the fact that unless they are thin and covered in shake & bake or cream of sumpin' sumpin' soup I just don't like pork chops very much.

Meatloaf Smeatloaf Double Beatloaf

Brian's a guest bloggin'. . .

I’ve always been a little wierded out by the whole blogging thing. I just don’t get it. I don’t know why, I just don’t. I have enough crap going on in my life to sit and share it with the inter-webs. So, when my wife asked me to be a guest blogger I instantly started freaking out a bit. Not to mention I was in the middle of cooking our dinner which I honestly don’t do very often. It’s not because I suck or don’t like to cook but mostly because my wife is the bomb diggity when it comes to cooking up some deliciousness. I actually spent about a decade of my life in the kitchen cooking for a handful of different restaurants. Anyway, enough about me and my pittley ass feelings and past.

In typical man fashion . . . I love me some meatloaf. I mean, who doesn’t like a big mound of ground up meat filled and covered with tasty flavors and sauce. Shit, I just finished eating and I’m ready to make another one.

Unfortunately, as fate has it, my family has a terrible history of heart disease. My Dad died at 56 my Grandpa at 58, both from jacked up tickers. So, needless to say, I’m sweating that shit just a tad. As a result, I try not to eat a ton of red meat. With my hot ass wife’s help and healthy cooking (fingers crossed) I might live to be a lot older than the past generations of males in my family. There I go with my personal history and feelings again. Maybe I’ll be good at this blogging thing after all.

Anyway, three paragraphs later... I’ll get you up to speed on how to make one f’in blog worthy turkey meatloaf with rosemary red potatoes and asparagus.

What you need:
1 lb Ground Turkey Breast
1 Large Egg Beaten
Big Handful Panko Bread Crumbs ( I didn’t measure this - just eyed it)
14-15 shakes of Worcestershire sauce (no scientific measurements here)
1 Large Diced White Onion
2Tbs Tomato Paste

1/4 Cup Chicken Broth

1/2 Cup Ketchup
Large Pinch of Brown Sugar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tsp Fresh Thyme (but don’t sweat it if all you have is the dried stuff – use ½ tsp)
Salt
Pepper
1 lb Red Potatos(6-8 depending on their size)
Dried Rosemary
Garlic Salt
1 Bunch of Fresh Asparagus cleaned with ends snapped off

How to Cook that Shit:
Pre-heat your oven to 325. While it’s heating up, put a large chop on to the red potatos (sometimes quartered is too big so pay attention to their sizes). Toss potatoes in a light drizzling of olive oil, a couple teaspoons of rosemary, and salt and pepper to taste. Dump those little bitches on a non-stick cookie sheet and put them in the oven once it’s all heated up properly. We like our taters’ a bit crispy so they cook for about an hour and 15 minutes.

The next part is fixing up the big ole loaf of goodness. In a medium skillet heat up a couple tablespoons of olive oil. When it’s nice and hot throw in the onion and a little salt and pepper. Cook til’ translucent not brown. Mix in tomato paste, Worcestershire, chicken broth and thyme. Keep stirring for a couple of minutes to combine. Scrape it all out on to a large plate, spread it out flat and put it into the fridge until it cools to room temperature. Once the flavor infused filling is done chilling in the fridge combine it with the ground turkey breast, Panko, and egg. Mix that sloppy mess up with your hands and form into a big f’in ball. Drop that meat into a small loaf pan and form into an evenly shaped meat log. Mix the ketchup and brown sugar and slather it onto the top of the meat. Throw it in the oven to join your tasty ‘taters. Cook the meat for about an hour or until it’s internal temp is jumpin’ up to 160.

Place a large skillet with a Tbs of olive oil over a medium-medium high heat about 15-20 minutes before the meat mountain is done cooking. When the oil is hot as shit, pile the asparagus into the pan with a sprinkling of garlic salt and pepper. Cook to desired firmness. We like ours al dente’.

There you little blog lovers go! A massive, moist, meat missile, rosemary red ‘taters, and asparagus that won’t give you a heart attack. Oh shit! My wife hates the word moist, sorry babe. However, she does love this meat missile and she can’t stop talking about how good it is.

Peace Out.

Look out weekend . . .

. . . cause here I come!!

This week has been pretty shitty. Not gonna lie. I am mentally and physically exhausted. I am so ready for some down time this weekend.

In dinner news . . . Wednesday night Brian made delicious turkey meatloaf. Stay tuned for a guest blog! He promised.

Last night was "fend for yourself." We hardly ever do this. I hate to go first because I am always nervous that Brian is going to find something better than I do. After dragging my feet until 8:00 I made a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and a bowl of clam chowder. Half way through my sandwich I wasn't feeling it so I handed the plate over to Brian. He just finished my dinner for his dinner. It's called tagteam eating. Then he had to clean up. Perfect.

TGIF!

Baked Apricot Chicken

It was warm. It was easy. It was quick. It was good. (that's what she said - haha) It was nothing to write home about . . . or even blog about for that matter. But since I seem to be committed to this (for now anyway) here are the details of last night's dinner.

I mixed some fat free mayo and honey mustard together and then smeared it all over some chicken cutlets. (I sure do a lot of mayo and smearing). I sprinkled some stuff (maybe garlic powder, salt and pepper) into some panko on a plate. I pressed the mayo smeared chicken into the panko and placed it on a aluminum foil covered, Pam sprayed cookie sheet. Cooked at 450 for about 15 minutes. Took it out and put a dollup of low-sugar apricot jam on each chicken cutlet and then put it under the broiler until the jam melted and before the panko burned. Served with brown rice* and sauteed zucchini.

*I always use brown minute rice and it makes a huge difference to use chicken broth instead of water (same measurement).

Salmon a la Mayo

Did you just throw up in your mouth a little? How can something that sounds so wrong be so good!? Here's what you do . . . cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (no one wants to clean it!), spray with Pam, put the salmon on it, sprinkle the salmon with any seasoning (anything! really. I've tried cajun, lemon pepper, Key West. It all turned out great.), smear a thin layer of low-fat mayo (or the real deal if that is what you use) over the top of the seasoning. Bake in the oven at 450 for about 15 mins . . . until the top is browning and the salmon flakes. Good shit. No lie. Served it with some sauteed fresh green beans.