Veteran's Day

Happy Monday!  I know, I know, nobody likes Mondays.  Well, with today being Veteran's Day, I won't be cooking.  My husband is an Army Vet so he likes to go out and get his free meal.  That means tonight is like a date night!  We decided to go to Olive Garden which is one of my favorite restaurants.  I get to eat great Italian dishes that I've yet to learn how to cook.  And finish it off with a slice of tiramisu my all time favorite dessert!  My husband called ahead, so we wouldn't have to wait for a table because restaurants get very busy when they offer free meals.  The waiter came and took our drink orders.  My husband chose a blackberry blood orange tea and I opted for water because I knew I'd like a special coffee with my dessert.  Once they picked the tea leaves from China and the waiter brought it to him, he was parched!  But it was worth the wait.  His tea was to die for I tell ya!  Throw a little vodka in that and you've got yourself a cocktail!  It was so delicious and full of flavor!  I'm sorry I didn't order one myself.  We decided to try a new appetizer.  I'm partial to their fried calimari and stuffed mushrooms, but Brian wants nothing to do with those items.  We settled on a flatbread something or another topped with beautiful red tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and fresh basil.  Is there anything they serve that doesn't make me feel like I'm in Italy?  For our entrees, I ordered the same thing I do 90% of the time:  the ravioli di portabello, which is my favorite item from their menu.  Hubby ordered from a "special" veteran's menu and got the sausage and peppers with macaroni.  He liked it alot, but it was just okay to me.  I much more prefer the rich, smokey flavor of the mushroom ravioli in that divine cream sauce!  We both saved room (or so we thought) for dessert.  We both ordered the tiramisu and I ordered a cafe latte.  I like the way the bitterness offsets the sweet of the tiramisu.  As with his tea, I thought they had to go pick the coffee beans for my coffee.  By the time the waiter decided to tell us that their machine was down, I was already two-thirds through my dessert and quite perturbed. 

After our meal, we decided to go to Bed Bath & Beyond to walk off a couple of courses.  They have a nice roasting pan with a rack, that I've had my eye on for a few weeks.  I'm tired of aluminum pans at Thanksgiving.  Especially since we cook two every year.  One for at Brian's grandma's house and one for church potluck the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  So we got the pan and we also got a set of lifting forks.  And because he is a veteran, we also got a 20% discount!  How great is that!  I'm seriously looking forward to using that pan next week because I have a Barefoot Contessa roast chicken recipe I want to try. 

So, I'll be back in the kitchen tomorrow and I can't wait!  It's the recipe I've been dying to cook since I bought 2 cans of rather pricey tomatoes at the grocery store last week.

See Ya in the Kitchen!

I Just Had a Foodgasm!

 Hey y'all!  Hope everyone is having a great week!  I've been keeping myself busy in my kitchen as well as trying to upgrade to a bigger kitchen--in a bakery!  I applied for a job at a local bakery earlier this week, that has a GINORMOUS kitchen that I'd love to get my hands dirty in!  Especially after the success of my cinnamon rolls. 

Today's project, however, is not of the baking sort.  A couple of weeks ago I was watching Rachael Ray's Week in a Day show.  I love that woman.  I could hang out with her even outside the kitchen.  She's so perky!  She showcased two recipes that I wanted to try:  chicken thighs w/spicy Italian sausage and spicy ziti.  I love cooking with fresh veggies especially when I'm cooking Italian.  But I have NEVER cooked chicken thighs in any way, shape, or form.  I'm a drumstick girl at heart or quick and easy frozen breasts.  And very seldom do I fry chicken.  Not like when I was growing up at home and my Granny fried chicken once a week.  Oooooh that smell!  I could always tell what we were having for supper!  I'd be walking home from school and you could smell my Granny's cookin from two doors down!  Her chicken make you wanna slap ya mamma!  But, I digress...

I've never tried to cook one of Rachael Ray's dishes, I usually just drool on myself watching her throw it together on TV.  So I was really excited to try this tonite.  The aroma of the sausage and the veggies were to die for!  So I'm frying the chicken (skin on) in the sausage grease while I'm chopping up the peppers and onions.  I'm really careful too, cooking in over low heat so as not to scorch the outside and leave it raw inside, and I'm checking the temp with my meat thermometer.  After so long, I just got tired of them not coming up to temp as fast as I thought they should.  The veggies were chopped and ready to go in the pan, the dishes I had dirtied were washed, and my chicken thighs were still 20 degrees away from being done.  So I did what any wife with a patient, but hungry man would do...I popped them in the microwave and got to sauteing my veggies!  Once I did that, dinner came together nicely.  I got my peppers and onions tender, threw the sausage back in the pot, and finally my chicken got thoroughly done.  I put the chicken on top of the sausage and let it simmer for about ten more minutes and just like that, supper was done!

OH.  MY.  GOD!  I cannot explain to you the DEPTH of the flavors that were going on in this dish!  It was spicy, sweet, and smokey all at the same time!  The layers of flavor were phenomenal!  This has got to be the best chicken I've ever made!  I encourage you to try this recipe and see for yourself!  Thank you Rachael Ray!

Ingredients

1/2 lb spicy Italian sausage
5 chicken thighs
1 red pepper chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 red onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
paprika to taste
salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Brown sausage, set aside
Sprinkle salt, pepper, and paprika on skin side of chicken.  Fry chicken in sausage grease skin side down first.  Salt and pepper opposite side of chicken before turning over.  When done, cover with aluminum foil and set aside to rest.
Saute peppers, onion, and garlic until tender.  Once tender, deglaze the pan with wine and continue cooking for 2 minutes.
Add chicken stock and continue cooking for 2 minutes.
Place sausage back in pan on top of veggies.
Place chicken thighs skin side up on top of sausage.  Allow to cook for 10 more minutes.
Serve the chicken topped with the sausage, pepper, and onion mixture.

Take a picture, post on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Google....oh wait, that's just me, LMAO!

The only change I made to this was I omitted the wine and used an additional 1/2 cup of chicken stock instead.  Next time I will most definitely use the wine because I'm sure it will add even more depth of flavor to this delicious dish!  I hope you try this recipe and love it as much as we did! 

See ya in the Kitchen!