Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms

Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms

So this was a fun little experiment with my husband. Since he's been back from japan, he hasn't has much time to cook, with being in the barracks and all. So we decided to cook together at least one night a week. Last night we tried out hand at balsamic chicken, completely from scratch (no recipe being followed)


2 chicken breasts (or 4 chicken cutlets)
bread crumbs
1 cup wine
1.5 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 button mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup balsamic salad dressing
3 tbsp italian seasoning
1 tsp flour
2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 lemon, juice and zested
1 tbsp olive oil

1. Run the chicken through breadcrumbs to get it nicely coated
2. in a 10 inch skillet, add 1tbsp olive oil and cook the chicken til its no longer pink in the middle (about 4 minutes each side, but depends on thickness)
3. remove chicken and dry on paper towl
4. Add the white wine to the pan, then the chicken broth, balsamic dressing, seasonings, lemon juice, lemon zest. Let it come to a boil.
5. OPTIONAL: Depending on how thick you want your sauce you can add the right amount of flour. For a less thick sauce add about 1 tsp flour, 2 tsp for a more thick. Let the flour dissolve, constantly stirring so there aren't any clumps.
6. Turn the heat to low and add the mushrooms + chicken. Cover the skillet and cook for 10 minutes or until the mushrooms are done.

Right before the lid went on.

Dinner time =)

Now, we thought the flavor of the chicken was a little bland and the sauce was too thin. I would have added more balsamic dressing (or balsamic vinegar but we didn't have any) to intensify the flavor. I also probably would have cut down the amount of wine and added more chicken broth. The mushrooms were delicious though.

Roasted Vegetables

I am amazed sometimes at what I discover. How have I missed out on roasted vegetables this long? Roasted carrots are almost my favorite thing ever! Last night, Husband and I were watching T.V. and didn't want to eat frozen foods, but at the same time we didn't want to be stuck in the kitchen with skillets and 10 minute times... because let's face it, sometimes being stuck in the kitchen while preparing a meal sucks. So thats when we decided to just throw some potatoes and carrots in the oven and let them cook for an hour, then we would work on meat.

This is something every college student (and newlywed!) should learn to do. It's not hard at all, just you have to think ahead.

Roasted Potatoes and Carrots

5 medium red potatoes

6 medium carrots 

Olive oil

2 tbsp dried oregano

1 tbsp dried parsley

1. Pre-heat oven to 375

2. Cut potatoes into 1 inch slices. 

3. Peel and cut carrots to 3-4 in pieces, remembering that thicker sections should be shorter than thinner for even cooking time. 

4. Toss all cut ingredients into a shallow roasting pan. Coat with olive oil and toss in the dried herbs. Make sure you toss everything so it's nice and coated before putting it in the over

5. Cook for about 1 hr - 1 hr 10 minutes. Around 35-40 minutes just make sure to take out the pan and shake up the potatoes and carrots so they don't stick.  

Now this isn't a hard dish at all. In fact you can add sweet onions as well (just quartering them) or even something fancy like fennel. It's a pretty standard roasting idea that gives you 10 minutes of prep and an hour to unwind before reheating left over meat or just sauteing some chicken, pork, beef, tofu, whatever your choice. The only thing I wouldn't deviate from is the dried herbs and olive oil.

Updates

I am alive everyone I promise!

I am hoping to get started blogging Bout my awesome food adventurers soon, especially since now I am married (yay) and now living with my husband, not in a kitchen I share with roommates. Also a benefit of getting married is we have an awesome kitchen set up right now,

A lot of friends have been on my back and trying to get me to start blogging again. I suppose I have gotten out of the habit of taking pictures and remember what I cook, but my husband has been encouraging me and last night at dinner, which was an amazing lemon thyme chicken my husband made, I decided to give it a go. I haven't decided if I want to make a new blog, but I know I would lose the few readers I have.

Any who I will be updating soon. You can follow me on twitter (_pathologie)

Apricot Rum Cookies

Yummy =) 

So I made these for gameday (UF vs Tennessee!) And they were wonderful

1 package sugar cookie mix
10-12 dried apricots
3tsp dark rum
1/2 cup margarine
1 egg

1. Follow instructions on cookie mix. Add in apricots and rum. Enjoy =)

What wonderful & fluffy cookies

Crostata two ways

"A crostata is an Italian baked dessert tart, and a form of pie. It is traditionally prepared by folding the edges of the dough over the top of the jam/marmalade filling, creating a more "rough" look, rather than a uniform, circular shape" - Wikipedia

Before Baking =) 

So we made these for girls night. It was experiment inspired by a few of Giada's recipes.

Apricot

1/4 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup marscapone cheese
handful of dried apricots, diced.
1 refrigerated pie crust
sliced almonds for garnish

Pear

2 pears, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tbsp cream cheese
1/4 cup marscapone cheese
1/2 lemon zest
squeeze of lemon juice
sliced almonds as garnish
Cinnamon, Nutmeg

They were alright. Nothing special. The apricot one was a lot better than the pear one. Probably should have used apples since they are a sturdier fruit.  

Yum.

BBQ Pulled chicken

adapted from this recipe.

BBQ Pulled chicken

3 Chicken breasts
1/2 cup Honey Dijon dressing
12 oz Honey BBQ sauce
1 8 oz can pineapple tidbits
2 tbsp Worcester sauce
hot sauce to taste
1 sweet onion

1) Put everything (minus onion) in crockpot on low for 6 hours.
2) About 10 minute before you are ready to eat, sautee onion =)






This was so good. Sadly my camera skills suck hardcore. But It was delicious =)

Update

I haven't forgotten about you. My new apartment has a horrible kitchen and I'm not really motivated to cook much.