Sesame oil makes chicken mmmm

I think I've mentioned before that the ingredient I'm crushing on right now is toasted sesame oil. I'd gotten really bored with some of the chicken I was cooking because I basically just knew one way to cook it (cut up the chicken, saute it in olive oil with garlic salt and maybe a few other herbs.) I don't remember what recipe called for me to by the sesame oil but it smells sooooo good and adds another layer of flavor so easily. I've been making this meal almost once a week now: Chicken, broccoli and mushrooms served over rice (or would probably be good with pasta too!)

All you need is:

• Chicken
• Broccoli
• Mushrooms (I used baby bellas this time)
• Toasted sesame oil
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Shallots
• Salt & pepper
• Garlic salt (I still throw that on everything)

I also used sesame seeds this time but those are totally optional. Now that I've made this a few times I've figured out my timing, I cut the chicken into little pieces before I do anything else, don't even heat the pan yet because it gets way too hot! Once the chicken is cut up, sprinkle it with the salt and pepper THEN turn the stove on. Put about a tablespoon of the toasted sesame oil and a tablespoon of olive oil in the pan. While that's heating up I started slicing the mushrooms and chopping the garlic & shallots (I try to make the garlic really small, Ty's not a fan of big chunks of garlic like I am...the shallots I pretty much just slice really thin.)

The pan is usually about ready by this time so I threw in the chicken. While that's cooking I cut up the broccoli into small florets (fancy term for broccoli pieces.) You have to pay attention to the chicken and flip it around a few times to get it to cook throughly. I also have a fear of burnt garlic - that smell lingers for a LONG time! So instead of putting the garlic/shallots in before the chicken like they usually do on the Food Network, I put it in once the chicken is about half way done.

One thing I will do differently next time is get the mushrooms started in another pan while the chicken is cooking. I forget how long they take to soften up! I also think I waited a little too long to put the broccoli in this time, it was a little crispier than I like. Anyway, once the chicken isn't pink anymore but also hasn't browned yet, I threw in the mushrooms, broccoli and sesame seeds. This is also about the time I got the rice in the microwave because it takes like 10 mins. to cook - I tend to forget this and the chicken, etc. is done and has to sit until the rice is ready.

Taste the chicken, etc. to see if you want to add any garlic salt then it's ready! Just serve it over rice:

Ty wanted to mix it up a little (again, this is so easy, healthy and cheap we're making it like once a week!) so I tossed some of the chicken, etc. in a General Tao's sauce and he loved it!

This also makes really good leftovers, or so Ty tells me, you know I'm not a leftover fan :)

Spinach, blue cheese and homegrown raspberries!

Ok so I technically didn’t cook anything for lunch today, but my salad is so pretty I just had to share it :)

I hit the jackpot last night by going to visit my mom who had just gotten home from Sam’s Club. She gave me all kinds of goodies including the spinach and ridiculously good blue cheese I used to make this salad. If you think the raspberries look kinda small, that’s because this is what real homegrown raspberries look like (courtesy of our good friend Debbie who lives in Staunton and makes all kinds of goodies including an amazing raspberry vodka! Ok she doesn’t make the vodka, but she uses the raspberries to make it way better than Smirnoff can.) I’d never seen homegrown raspberries and since they’re so small I thought they’d be tart, but like so many times before I had no idea what I was talking about! They’re amazing, and combined with the blue cheese (which is so creamy it literally just melts in your mouth) you really don’t even need to add dressing to this. I’m going to add a dash of balsamic vinegar though, just to make it that much more fabulous.


I’m thinking tomorrow I might add a little avocado to this? Anyone tried avocado with blue cheese before?

Mastering the Thigh

Ty and I have recently discovered a new love for bone-in pork chops. I don't know if the flavor is really any better or if he just thinks they look more manly (the last ones we ate were almost Flinstone-esque in size), but I like changing my meat up every once in a while. We discussed trying bone in chicken (which coincidentally is also usually cheaper than boneless chicken) and I had in my mind bone-in chicken breast, so imagine my surprise when he brought home bone-in chicken THIGHS.

On one hand I was surprised because chicken thighs seem slightly outside the realm of things I'd expect Ty to want to eat. On the other hand I was surprised, or maybe grossed out, by the thought of cooking chicken thighs and eating them myself. There is something about the word "thighs" that does not sound appetizing to me. I can handle the sound of most cuts of meat: chop, shoulder, even butt doesn't phase me because I know a Boston butt is not actually a chunk of rear-end. A thigh on the other hand is just that, and I think it's too descriptive for me. I'd rather it be called a chicken leg, but then again I guess that would get confused with a drumstick. Now I'm wondering how the drumstick is different from the thigh...chickens don't have very big legs for all these parts we eat...ok moving on.

I went to my trusty source of all things culinary, FoodNetwork.com, and searched "chicken thighs." They are apparently a much more popular ingredient than I thought, tons of recipes came up! I went with a Rachel Ray dish: Rosemary Grilled Chicken Thighs w/Wild Mushroom Sauce. I had to go pick up a few of the ingredients, mainly the mushrooms and the bacon. I found the dried porcini mushrooms quicker than expected (Kroger Short Pump has a much bigger fungus section than most places) but was sad to not find pancetta. They use that a lot on the Food Network and it sounds fancy (I'm sure it tastes great too), I had to settle for bacon.

I got all of the ingredients together and since we still haven't unearthed my spices from the mounds of boxes sitting in the garage, the only other ingredient I had to substitute for was the rosemary. I found thyme in my aunt's cabinet and it sort of smelled like rosemary so I went with it. About this time is when I realized the recipe used boneless chicken thighs which I assume cook faster than bone-in. So before I did any preparations for the sauce I heated up the pan with olive oil and got the thighs cooking. I also covered the pan hoping that would help them along a little.

I followed all of the directions for the most part, except for crushing the garlic because I'm not really sure how to do that...chopping it seemed to work fine. I got the garlic, shallot and portobellos in another pan smelling fabulous and just happened to have exactly enough wine for the recipe and to fill my glass :)

The sauce was very easy to make and tasted GREAT. I was still a little worried about the thighs though, they looked cooked on the inside but I'm not used to cutting into dark meat chicken so it took me a few minutes to convince myself the were done. They were in fact done and they actually looked yummy once I topped them with the sauce!

The Verdict: Not sure if I'm sold on the chicken thighs, they're a little scary to cook and a little labor intensive to eat, but this mushroom sauce is great! We actually saved some of it and used it the next night over steak (we actually used something leftover and it was good!).